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.”