Vikings bring home second win

The Vikings football team showed that winning games is no longer a fluke for the Bigfork program, as they beat Thompson Falls 22-20 on the road Friday night.

Bigfork had not won a game in three seasons prior to their victory over Plains last month, and this is the first time the Vikings have won more than one game since the 2003 season when they won two conference and two non-conference games. With three weeks left before playoffs for District 7B, which includes six teams, Bigfork is in a three-way tie for first place with Eureka and Plains-Hot Springs who are all 2-1 in league play.

The top two teams in the district will advance to the playoffs, which may require the use of a tie-breaker rule depending on the outcome of the remaining games. At this point, each of the three teams has beat one of the other two teams and lost to the other, so the tie is broken by the number of points each scored.

Friday's game did not start as well as it ended for the Vikings. Bigfork had the first of many fumbles made by both teams during the game in their first possession. Turnovers were a problem for everyone as the game was played in a down pour of rain.

"It just came down," said Todd Emslie, Bigfork High School head football coach. "It was like being in the shower."

The fumble gave Thompson Falls prime field possession and three minutes into the game Bigfork gave up a touchdown, which was made on a 1-yard pass play from Thompson Falls quarterback Will Dalby to Stephen Block. The kick was made by Dalby and Thompson Falls carried a 7-0 lead through the end of the first quarter. Bigfork battled back in a big way in the second quarter. Vikings quarterback Christian Ker got things started with a touchdown in the opening minutes of the quarter. Ker's 3-yard run was followed by a successful extra point kick by Ian Lorang to tie the game. Travis Knoll broke the tie with a touchdown off of a 43-yard interception return for Bigfork.

"They are starting to believe that they can score on any given play," Emslie said.

Thompson Falls tied the game back up at 13 with a touchdown by Mike Wood off of a 6-yard pass from Dalby. The extra-point was not good. Bigfork's Derek Minemyer kept the game from entering into half-time with a tie score. With six seconds left on the clock, he made a 25-yard field goal and gave the Vikes a 16-13 lead, making it the first time they have ended the half ahead this season.

The effects of two quarters of pouring down rain were seen on the scoreboard in the third quarter as neither team was able to score.

"The conditions were terrible," Emslie said. "We couldn't open up the offense at all."

Bigfork held their three point lead until there was just over four minutes left in the game and Wood caught a 5-yard pass from Dalby for a Bluehawks touchdown, and, after a successful kick, a four-point lead.

With the clock running out it was do-or-die time for the Vikings and they made it happen.

Ker shot a 17-yard pass to Knoll, who took it into the end zone with less than a minute left in the game.

The extra point was unsuccessful for the Vikings, but they secured the win.

Knoll rushed for 105 yards in 30 carries. Cody Dopps had 54 yards rushing in 15. Ker had 89 yards passing and a success rate of seven of 16, despite the rainy conditions.

"Christian Ker is improving with every game," Emslie said. "This was not a good game to play quarterback in with the rain, but he handled it quite well."

As a team Bigfork had more than twice as many rushing yards, 163, passing yards, 89, and total offense, 252, than Thompson falls.

"This was the fifth game in a row that we've ran over 60 plays on offense, which is a good thing," Emslie said. "When you run the ball that much, you're controlling something on offense. Our lines did a great job."

Defensively the Vikings made huge improvements from their game the previous week in Eureka.

"We attacked on defense," Emslie said. "My defensive ends played great games – Dillon Fraley and Brandon McDonald. Conner Coleman had a huge game at nose guard. He was in the backfield constantly. James Vale did some good things for us at defensive tackle. They were the difference makers in this game."

Bigfork will face No. 2 ranked Fairfield at 7 p.m. Friday night for Homecoming.

"Fairfield is tough, but so are we if you analyze the scores," Emslie said. "We can compete with anyone. It's just a confidence thing."