Vikes shoot down Coyotes, 46-14

The Bigfork Vikings pretty much had their way with the Shelby Coyotes last week, and are preparing for a Homecoming game Friday against Troy.

At Shelby, the Vikings racked up 296 rushing yards and 222 passing yards, only punted once, and rolled to a 46-14 win.

The Vikes led 28-7 at halftime and never looked back.

“We’ve had two weeks in a row of a good offensive attack,” coach Todd Emslie said. “Passing was part of our game plan.”

Junior quarterback Josh Sandry completed eight of 13 passes and threw for three touchdowns, 33 and 29 yards to tight end Cameron Nissen and eight yards to fullback Vinny Quirk.

Other scores came on the ground. Quirk got things rolling by running the pigskin in from 23 yards out. Boyd Rieke scored three times, twice on 5-yard runs and once from 10 yards.

Rieke ran for 142 yards on 19 carries, while Quirk added 108 yards on 14 totes. Isaac Martel caught two passes for 103 yards, and Nissen had 90 yards on three catches.

Defensively, the Vikes were led by Tyler Iverson’s 10 tackles and Quirk’s nine. Sandry made 4.5 and Christian Ruiz four.

A couple negatives for Bigfork were fumbles and PAT kicks. The Vikes turned the ball over twice on fumbles, one of which Shelby capitalized on. Sandry made his first four PAT attempts, but missed the last three. One was blocked and the other two missed as a result of a combination of a poor snap, poor hold and poor kick, Emslie said.

“Our extra-point blocking was not good,” he said. “We were not executing. We’ve got things to work on. Every one of those plays matters.”

Homecoming Friday

Emslie said the Vikes face a tough test Friday when the Troy Trojans come to town. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

The Trojans are 2-2 and feature a well-balanced wide-open offense led by senior quarterback Gabe Hickman and runningback Sean Opland.

Emslie called Hickman a “top-knotch. He’s probably the best quarterback we will see all year. I have much respect for him. He’s been a starter since his sophomore year.”

Defensively, Troy uses both a four- and five-man line and sometimes crowds the line with a linebacker.

Troy started the season with losses to Conrad, 34-13, and Ronan, 53-13. They followed those with wins over Cut Bank, 32-26, and Plains, 63-16.

The key to the game will be controlling the line of scrimmage, Emslie said.

The Vikings were ranked No. 4 among Class B schools last week, but could advance this week after No. 2 Huntley Project lost to No. 3 Baker 21-19. Missoula Loyola  is ranked No. 1.