Vikes battle into final four

Bigfork’s athletics teams haven’t

really been known for being the type to win a crucial game in the

final minutes, so it would’ve been easy for the Vikings to hang

their heads Saturday as they trailed Townsend (Broadwater County)

12-0 until the last 30 seconds of the third quarter. Instead, they

kept fighting and came away with a 15-12 victory in the

quarter-final playoff game.

“We are becoming an all-around better

football team,” said Todd Emslie, head coach of the Vikings. “We

are able to go out and do what needs done. It seemed like we just

couldn’t catch a break in the first half. We had a couple of big

penalties in the first couple of quarters that really hurt us, but

we didn’t let that stop us. That’s important because that’s how

football games between teams like these are played. It is not

always going to be 48-7.”

Neither the Bulldogs or the Vikes were

able to score in the first quarter or for most of the second as

both teams’ defense kept third and fourth down efficiency rates

low.

“Townsend is just an all-around good

football team,” Emslie said. “They have some big boys up front.

They are solid.”

With just under two minutes left in the

half, Collin Hoeffner slipped by Bigfork’s defense on an 18-yard

run that landed him in the end zone. The extra-point attempt that

followed was no good.

Late in the third quarter, Townsend,

which went into the contest 8-1 and was ranked seventh in the state

prior to playoffs, scored its second touchdown off of a 19-yard run

by Dane Zipperian. The Bulldogs went for a two-point conversion

using a pass play, but the Vikes kept that attempt from being a

successful one.

However, concerns were growing on the

Vikings’ sideline as nearly three quarters had passed without a

score and they were trailing by 12 points. Then the unthinkable

happened — senior standout Travis Knoll, who prior to Saturday had

scored 29 touchdowns, did not get up after a hard hit. It was soon

concluded that he had just had the wind knocked out of him, but it

did little to ease the nerves of the Bigfork fans. However, Knoll

did that a few plays later the best way he knows how. He broke

loose from Townsend’s defense, which had him marked all game, and

took the ball in for a 75-yard touchdown. Dillon Charlebois pulled

off a successful extra-point kick, and things began to look up for

the Vikings as they narrowed the margin they trailed by to just

five.

“They battled,” Emslie said of his

boys. “We finally got that first touchdown and it energized

them.”

From there both teams fell back into

not completing their drives and making mistakes at crucial

points.

“Our field position on offense was not

good all game even though we managed to get the ball moved and get

out of bad positions,” Emslie said. “We just couldn’t finish our

drives.”

Bigfork’s defense did its best to shore

up its side of the problem. Though the Vikings defense struggled

with tackles in the midfield, it was able to stop the Bulldogs when

it counted and keep them from converting their drives into points

on the board.

“The defense just played great,” Emslie

said. “I think the difference in the game was the goal line stands.

As bad as it is to go out as the offense and try to battle your way

out of that bad field position, those goal line stands say a lot

about the day.”

With Townsend’s offense held off,

Bigfork was able to make its move. Quarterback Christian Ker

connected with Connor Coleman on a 4-yard pass for a touchdown.

With the help of the Vikings’ linemen, Knoll pushed through to the

end zone for a two-point conversion following Coleman’s touchdown.

For the first time, the Vikes took the lead.

However, Townsend wasn’t interested in

trailing quietly. The Bulldogs stringed together a series of plays

that landed them on Bigfork’s 20-yard line with just over a

minute-and-a-half remaining. More mistakes left the Bulldogs with a

do-or-die 3rd-and-10. Led by Coleman, who sacked Townsend’s

quarterback Zipperian on the play, the Vikings sealed the Bulldogs’

fate.

“Connor had a very good football game,

especially on defense,” Emslie said. “It’s hard to play the

quarterback position when No. 45 has his helmet in your chest.”

With that play, the Vikes won the game

and the right to advance the semi-final round of the Class B State

Playoffs — a place the Vikes haven’t been since 1995, the one and

only year they made it to the championship game, which they lost

12-0 to Frenchtown.

The stadium, which even when the Vikes

trailed by two touchdowns never got quiet for long, erupted with

excitement as Ker took a knee for the Vikes and allowed the clock

to run out.

“The crowd was absolutely incredible,”

Emslie said. “When we scored that first touchdown, I could feel the

sound wave. A crowd like that helps you win points.”

The fans weren’t the only ones to go

nuts. For the first since the win over Plains last season to break

Bigfork’s 28-game losing streak, the Vikings football team was

visibly overflowing with excitement.

“I think they’re starting to believe,”

Emslie said of his team. “There’s a lot of confidence on this

football team right now. I wouldn’t want to play us right now.”

The Vikings possessed the ball for just

13:54 on Saturday, but they were still able to tally up 304 yards

rushing. Knoll was responsible for 275 of those yards. While he is

known for making multiple touchdowns using long-yardage rushing

plays, Townsend didn’t allow that. So, instead Knoll carried the

ball 30 times and still had more rushing yards than the Bulldogs

did as a team   — 227 in 52 attempts.

Ker was having a somewhat off game

himself. Although he was able to complete his pass to Coleman when

it counted, he was only successful on three of his nine passing

attempts overall for a total of just seven yards.

As a team, Bigfork had 59 tackles, 28

assists and six tackles for a loss.

Cody Dopps led the Vikings in tackles

with eight-and-a-half, which included five assists and two tackles

for a loss. Knoll had seven-and-a-half, and Coleman had

six-and-a-half, as did Dillon Fraley. Blake Weimer had six.

Now the Vikes, who were ranked 10th at

the end of the regular season, are focused on the semi-finals,

where they will face No. 3 Cut Bank, the No. 1 seed from 1B that

beat Colstrip 38-21 on Saturday.

“They’re a good football team,” Emslie

said of Cut Bank. “They like to throw the ball around. But, we’re

at home. I wouldn’t want to have to take a bus to Cut Bank on

Saturday.”

The Wolves’ only loss of the season was

at the hands of Townsend, who beat them 27-14 in the second week of

the season.

“It’s going to be another battle on

Saturday,” Emslie said.

If the Vikings come away with a win

Saturday, they will host the Class B State Championship Football

Game against the winner of the Fairfield-Manhattan/Manhattan

Christian game, which like the Bigfork-Cut Bank contest will also

be played Saturday at 1 p.m.

Fairfield is the No. 2 seed out of 1B.

They beat Superior last weekend 54-21. Prior to the start of

playoffs, Fairfield lost its final two games of the regular season.

The first was a 30-27 loss to Cut Bank and the second was a 21-16

defeat by Choteau. The week before falling to Cut Bank, Fairfield

beat Bigfork 26-7, but lost some players for a few games due to

injuries sustained against the Vikings.

Manhattan, the No. 1 seeded 5B team

beat Columbus, a No. 2 seed out of 4B, 27-14 on Saturday. Manhattan

has a 10-0 record. They have beaten all of their opponents handily

except Townsend, who they edged for the district title with a 15-14

victory.