Arlee gets ready to face Charlo after win over Troy
Arlee High School football coach Chuck Forgey knows with the changing dynamics of the Class C 8-man conferences, he can’t get too excited about his team’s 66-19 home season-opening win over Troy Friday night at Arlee High School.
Forgey knows every game is important, and with his team playing perennial Class C 8-man powerhouse Charlo Friday night, he knows his team will have to play well in order to topple the conference giant.
In order to overhaul the Vikings, a team that finished second in the Class C, 8-man championship in 2016, falling to Ennis 30-22, and a quarterfinal loss at the hands of Forsyth in 2016, Forgey is aware his team will have to execute if they are to pull of what would be considered an early-season upset headed into week two of the season.
Forgey, and his coaching staff, will begin their preparation work for Vikings QB Landers Smith. Smith, who is arguably the top player in Montana Class C 8-man football, is now playing in his senior season, and will enter his third-consecutive season as Charlo’s head signal-caller. As a sophomore, Smith guided his team to a state championship appearance.
“He is an outstanding football player and he is athletic and mentally he reads the game and sees things happening on the football field before they are happening and makes great adjustments on the fly,” Forgey said. “They are hard to line up against because everyone (on our team) needs to know their responsibility and if we have any types of breakdowns their kids can exploit it.”
Charlo’s performance in the opening week was cause for concern, according to Forgey. The Vikings manhandled the big and physical line of the Plains Horsemen, despite being undersized in the game, to defeat the Horsemen 44-6 to win the season-opening game at Plains High School.
Forgey expressed confidence in his teams own ability to execute and knows they just have to focus on improving every week.
“What we saw in our game is a pretty good effort and that is what it boiled down to is the little things like lining up correctly and applying the correct foot work when the ball is snapped in the right zone,” Forgey said. “We are cleaning up some stuff on both sides of the ball and are boys played very well (against Troy) but we won’t do them any justice if you aren’t working the things that you did wrong and strive to make your level of execution higher.”
Forgey knows in order for his team to continue to compete in the now ten-team conference, they must keep winning
In the Warriors 66-19 victory over Troy, Forgey said he was very pleased with the maturation of senior quarterback Lane Schall.
Forgey credited other senior members of his team for the time commitment they’ve devoted in the offseason to improving including Darshan Bolin, Schall and Chase Gardiner.
“They’ve been on some pretty good teams in their four years here and they’ve grown a lot and have made big strides for them personally,” Forgey said. “We are happy where we are at and excited to keep going and excited for this (week’s game against Charlo).
“We are putting things together and we’ve come out with a plan to execute to the best of their abilities.”