Vikes clean up in All-Conference honors

The Bigfork Vikings are well

represented on the District 7B All-Conference and Class B All-State

lists for the 2010 football season that were released last

week.

Senior Travis Knoll and juniors Connor

Coleman and Austin Cantrell were given top honors as they were

named All-State.

Knoll was Bigfork’s leading rusher with

2,066 yards on 250 carries. He also led in receiving yards with 535

on 22 catches and all-purpose yards with a total of 2,914.

Knoll scored 33 of Bigfork’s 56

touchdowns this season.

Additionally, he was credited with the

second-most tackles on the team with 59.5. Junior Cody Dopps led

the team with 63.5 tackles.

Coleman was Bigfork’s most successful

receiver with 24 catches for 337 yards and six touchdowns. He was

also one of the team’s most productive tacklers with 37.5.

Cantrell took the lead on 16 tackles

this season and assisted with 32 others.

Cantrell had the season high for most

tackles in a game. He had 10 in the team’s final game of the

regular season in Mission

“They are three outstanding, deserving

football players and there should of been a few more (from Bigfork)

on that list,” Bigfork head football coach Todd Emslie said.

Voting takes place at the end of the

regular season, which Emslie said contributed to more of his

players not making All-State and others earning lower spots in

All-Conference than they may have had voting been held after

Bigfork won the state championship.

One specific example of this is senior

Christian Ker, who earned honorable mention at quarterback rather

than first or second team All-Conference, despite his strong

performance during the playoffs

“In terms of Christian getting

honorable mention — what he did in that state championship game is

legendary and it will live on forever,” Emslie said. “Actually,

what he did in some of those playoffs games leading up to it was

remarkable too.”

Despite a few disappointments, Emslie

said he was very pleased to see so many of his players make the

All-Conference list.

In all, 14 players combined to earn 22

honors.

First team All-Conference honorees for

offense were senior Jerry Rose for his work at center, Cantrell for

guard, senior Anthony Curtis and junior Dillon Fraley for tackle,

Coleman for tight end and Knoll for running back.

First team All-Conference award winners

for defense were Coleman and Fraley for defensive end, Cantrell for

tackle, Dopps for outside linebacker and Knoll for defensive

back.

On special teams, first team

All-Conference went to junior Dillon Charlebois at kicker and Dopps

at punter.

Earning second team All-Conference

honors were Dopps for fullback and for punter, James Vale for

defensive tackle and Alex Ruiz for outside linebacker.

Honorable mentions included Ker at

quarterback, Ian Lorang for receiver and for defensive back, junior

Kevin Countie at defensive tackle and sophomore Blake Weimer at

middle linebacker.

“Our boys that played for the title

have something else that every boy that is on that list from

another school wishes that he has,” Emslie said. “If you are a

player on that field at the end of the championship game, and you

were a contributor to your team, then you have something much

bigger than an All-Conference or All-State. In 10 or 20 years no

one is going to remember who was named All-Conference, but they

will remember who won the state title.”