Vikes fall to 'Dogs on gridiron

By JORDAN DAWSON / Bigfork Eagle

The Vikings traveled to Whitefish to play in their Northwestern A football season opener, and although they scored more points than they have in any other game this season, Bigfork still couldn't capture their first win. They lost to the Bulldogs 55-18.

"We're still finding ourselves as a team," said head Bigfork coach Bruce Corbett. "We continue to make mental errors that allow our opponent to score one or sometimes even three touchdowns. We're certainly not in any place to be helping other teams like that."

Whitefish scored in the first 14 seconds of the game when Alex Elespuru stripped Bigfork of the ball and returned the fumble for a 26-yard touchdown. Elespuru also kicked the extra point. This is the third game of the season that the Vikings fumbled on their first possession.

"Protecting the ball has become an issue," Corbett said. "It's minor things like that that can be major problems."

Whitefish scored three more times before Bigfork got on the board. The first two touchdowns were passes from Mac Roche to Aaron Tkachyk. The first was 68 yards, the second was 24 yards. Derek Crittenden scored the next touchdown for the Bulldogs on a 41-yard run. Elespuru kicked the extra point for all three the touchdowns.

"We've worked very hard on stopping the run," Corbett said. "Our defensive line has done a great job, particularly juniors Brandon Mc Donald and Garrett Hibbs."

Vikings senior Cheyne Valentine scored the team's first touchdown on a 41-yard pass play from sophomore Christian Ker. The kick for an extra point failed.

Whitefish's Matt Whitehead scored for the Bulldogs off of a 65 yard pass from Roche. Then Josh Backer intercepted the ball from Bigfork and ran it back 39 yards for a touchdown.

Valentine made another attempt to help the Vikings catch up when he scored off of a 19-yard pass from Ker. The team's two point conversion pass play was unsuccessful.

Bigfork allowed Crittenden and Elespuru to each score touchdowns for the Bulldogs on run plays of 5 and 21 yards, respectively. One of Elespuru's two kicks was good.

Valentine came through with another touchdown for Bigfork on a 48-yard pass from Ker. The Viking's run play for the two-point conversion was not completed.

"He has a tremendous ability to catch the football," Corbett said of Valentine. "Coupled with his speed, Ker was able to find him on the field. We have started to develop some things that put Valentine into play. That is a big part of the improvements we are making in our offense."

Corbett is also impressed in the progress he is seeing in Ker, who is a first year quarterback. He played in just four games last year, and has served as quarterback for all four of this year's games.

"To be that inexperienced and make the kind of reads he did against Whitefish shows great promise," Corbett said.

The Vikings have a new addition to the team this week. Stueart Koch, a BHS soccer player, has put in enough practices to begin kicking for the football team.

"He is someone that we feel that when we're inside the 30-yard line we'll come away with three points," Corbett said.

Although they still haven't won a game, Corbett said that he and his coaching staff continue to see improvement.

"We're still on track," Corbett said. "We're suffering through some young players and some inexperienced players. We continue to stand behind them. We're in it for the long haul. We know it takes two to three years to build a football program especially when you're using young players like we are."

Bigfork is dealing with some issues of injury and illness at linebacker. Senior Prescott Mitchell is out with a non-football related injury. Senior Errik Huckins is out with pneumonia.

"We're going to need to move some players around and find a good solution for that to play a team as big and physical as Polson," Corbett said.

The Vikings host Polson tomorrow, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m.

"Polson is a big physical team," Corbett said. "We're working really hard on defense. Our biggest focus is to not come out and turn the ball over. We need to come out ready to play football."

Bigfork 0 12 0 6 - 18

Whitefish 21 21 6 7 - 55

Whitefish -Alex Elespuru 26 fumble recovery (Elespuru kick)

Whitefish - Aaron Tkachyk 68 pass from Mac Roche (Elespuru kick)

Whitefish -Tkachyk 24 pass from Roche (Elespuru kick)

Whitefish - Derek Crittenden 41 run (Elespuru kick)

Bigfork - Cheyne Valentine 41 pass from Christian Ker (kick failed)

Whitefish -Matt Whitehead 65 pass from Roche (Elespuru kick)

Whitefish -Josh Backer 39 interception return (Elespuru kick)

Bigfork -Valentine 19 pass from Ker (pass failed)

Whitefish -Crittenden 5 run (kick failed)

Whitefish - Elespuru 21 run (Elespuru kick)

Bigfork - Valentine 48 pass from Ker (run failed)