Vikings fall to Eagles

It’s been four weeks since the Vikings football team has lost a game, but that streak ended Friday night in Fairfield as Bigfork fell 26-7.

Although the Vikes knew they would find a tough opponent in the Eagles, who have played in the Class B State Championship game four of the past five years, they weren’t expected to be standing in their own way of a victory.

Bigfork’s game was riddled with costly errors, including seven turnovers.

“It’s really uncharacteristic this season for us to have seven turnovers,” said Todd Emslie, Bigfork’s head football coach. “We have won the turnover battle in every game except the first and we know how that one turned out (a 61-34 loss to Loyola). You can’t turnover the ball seven times and beat anybody, let alone the best team in the state.”

Two of Bigfork’s biggest mistakes resulted in nearly back-to-back touchdowns in the final minutes of the second quarter after the Vikes had been able to hold Fairfield scoreless up until that point.

The first costly error was a botched punt attempt in which the ball went over the Vikes heads and gave the ball to the Eagles just outside their red zone. Fairfield capitalized and made the quick trip into the end zone.

“That stuff happens, but Fairfield doesn’t do that stuff,” Emslie said. “That’s why they’re so good.”

Then, with about 20 seconds left in the half Bigfork had a mishap on the kickoff.

“We let one get over our heads, which is a designed play and they executed it well, but those are tough to swallow,” Emslie said. “I blame myself for that. For not letting those kids know what to expect in that scenario in that play of the game. I could have done a much better job of having them get back.”

The Vikings didn’t let the mishaps in the first half bother them as they headed into the second half ready to fight back.

“We came out alright. We put some first downs together,” Emslie said. “It was a football game. We were in a football game and it has been a long time since we’ve played a whole football game like that and it was good for us. It wasn’t a blowout on either side. It’s been four weeks since we’ve had that caliber of an opponent.”

The Vikes held Fairfield off for most of the third quarter, until the Eagles used an interception off Bigfork’s quarterback Christian Ker to score their third touchdown of the game with two-and-a-half minutes left in the period.

With the Vikings still scoreless, Fairfield extended its lead to 26 with a touchdown off a 5-yard pass with a little over four minutes to play in the game.

Bigfork finally made it on the board with 1:35 left on the clock. Ker connected with Connor Coleman for a 27-yard pass play and Dillon Charlebois put up a successful extra-point kick to give the Vikes a total of seven points and save them from a shutout.

“We stayed together to the end. We managed to put together a scoring drive at the end of the game when the game was out of reach really,” Emslie said. “We stayed in the game and scored on their starting defense.”

Senior Travis Knoll, who has scored multiple touchdowns in every gave this season, was unable to do so against Loyola. The team’s leading scorer was clouded by mistakes as well.

“Travis had an uncharacteristic game in that he put the ball on the ground three times,” Emslie said.

Although he was still the rushing leader, Knoll had just 95 yards in 24 carriers. He had 80 yards receiving with four catches. Coleman had three catches for 39 yards.

Ker threw for 149 yards and had 12 completed passes and two interceptions.

“Christian did alright. He was getting frustrated, but he did well,” Emslie said. “He held it together and got us a score at the end of the game.”

As a team, Bigfork had 289 yards of total offense, which was just shy of Fairfield’s 296.

“Some of things we’ll talk about this week is the kind of caliber of team we played,” Emslie said. “Things don’t always go the way they have with nearly 300 yards of offense and streaks of unanswered touchdowns. We’re going to see more teams like Fairfield in the playoffs and we have to be ready for that.”

In order to prepare for such future foes it will be back to the basics for Emslie and his team.

“Blocking and tackling. Fundamental football,” said Emslie of the areas he intends to focus on with his boys after seeing their mistakes in Fairfield. “That’s what it comes down to. Trying to play mistake-free. We need to get back into that groove of creating some turnovers as well.”

It is important for the Vikings to get those things under control by Friday, Oct. 15, when they host Troy, who is looking to be a hidden threat.

The Trojans are 1-2 in conference having beat Mission 40-21, but lost to Plains 26-20 and Eureka 45-26. However, on Friday they beat the No. 5 ranked team in Class B, Florence, 34-23, and gave it its first loss of the season.

“I don’t know what team we’re going to get Friday,” Emslie said. “It’s nerve-wracking not knowing, but it’s good for us to know that we’re going to have to play a football game. “

The implications of the game are big. With two weeks left in regular season play, Bigfork needs to win to secure the No. 1 seed in District 7B and get the home field advantage for playoffs.

“We match up much better against Troy than we do against Fairfield,” Emslie said. “We should be just fine on Friday. We just have to play our game and watch out for some of the tricks that they like to play.”

Tomorrow’s game against Troy will start at 7 p.m. and is the final home game scheduled for the regular season for Bigfork.

JUNIOR VARSITY

The Bigfork junior varsity football team traveled to Whitefish on Monday night and returned home with a 32-14 victory.

The young Vikes drove in two touchdowns during the first eight minutes of play.

A third was added before the end of the period and the defense was able to hold off the Bulldogs to leave the score at 18-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Vikes turned out their reserves in the second quarter and started wholesale subbing to allow other kids playing time.

Whitefish was able to score two touchdowns and one two-point conversion in the second to bring the score to 18-14 at the half.

Bigfork scored again in the third quarter and secured a two-point conversion.

With about five minutes left in the game, the Vikes intercepted the ball for their fifth touchdown of the game to wrap it up with a commanding victory.

“The boys did a wonderful job,” said Ken Sharr, Bigfork’s head JV football coach. “They played great defensively. We had at least four interceptions and a couple fumble recoveries. All the kids got a lot of playing time. Offensively, we could have doubled the score.”