Bulldogs prepare for showdown with conference rival Mission

During the preseason, Charlo High School football coach Mike Krahn expressed his concerns multiple times about the up-and-coming team in his conference — Mission High School.

The Bulldogs, who began their second season in Class C 8-man football after transitioning from Class B in 2017, have positioned themselves to be in the upper brass of the MHSA Class C 8-man Northwestern Conference with a victory over perennial MHSA Class C Charlo at 7 p.m. Friday at Charlo High School.

This Mission Valley match up was amplified by Charlo’s 52-8 loss at the hands of defending MHSA Class C 8-man champion Flint Creek and Mission High School’s 66-6 victory over Clark Fork.

Flint Creek’s victory over the Vikings gave them a definitive edge over the rest of the conference and they are now in sole possession of first place. Charlo, Mission, Darby, and Arlee are four teams now gunning for three additional playoff spots in the conference with two wins apiece. The loser of this game will get caught in a log jammed battle for the two remaining playoff spots and the winner will put themselves in position to possibly win the conference.

Charlo, a team that placed second in the 2016 MHSA Class C 8-man playoffs and lost to Forsyth in last year’s quarterfinals, was decimated by injury and circumstances in their 52-8 loss to Flint Creek.

Bulldogs football coach Tyler Murray isn’t focusing on the fact the Vikings were depleted by injury against Flint because he knows regardless of who plays for the Vikings, they still have plenty of weapons.

“We are going to treat them like they are a playoff team because I think they are,” Murray said. “We will have to get after them. We were better this week as a team and our physicality was better also. We will work on some things to get better as a team.”

Murray knows Charlo is still one of the best teams in the state, even if they suffered a lot of injuries in last Friday’s game with Flint.

“Charlo is still Charlo and they are very well-coached,” Murray said. “It doesn’t matter if they have a player playing at any position. Their players and coaches know what they are doing and they do their job well. I expect them to be playing competitive. I expect some other guys to step up and start making plays such as Isaiah Allik and Garett Vaughan. I expect (both of them) to make some good plays.”

In order to have a chance to upset Charlo, one of the top-ranked teams in MHSA Class C 8-man even after falling to Flint Creek 52-8, the Bulldogs will be focused on the fundamental elements of football.

“Against Clark Fork, we didn’t work as much on tackling and offense as we did scheme-wise,” Murray said. “We are going to work on what needs to done in order to win. Obviously we will scout them but we have to make sure our kids are good at tackling. That is the focus point this week, our tackling.”

Because Mission took care of business with a 66-6 victory over Clark Fork Friday night, they’ve made their conference showdown with Charlo pivotal, and with that comes increased attention.

“I’ll make sure my players don’t overlook anything and if they think Charlo is banged up, I’ll make sure that isn’t an issue,” Murray said. “If Charlo isn’t injured, they are a very, very good team. They try not to over think the opponent and make sure they aren’t worrying too much about what happens. We have to be able to bounce back from big plays and overcome adversity. We are working on being prepared and this is going to be a big week of practice. If everyone (on our team) is squared away, the game should take care of itself.”