The man who helped lift the Vikings

football team to its first state championship has earned an honor

of his own for his efforts this season.

Bigfork High School head football coach

Todd Emslie was named Class B Coach of the Year by the Montana

Coaches Association.

The honor is voted on by all of the

coaches in the division across the state and winners were announced

by the MCA in an e-mail to media outlets at the end of January.

“It is very cool and very humbling,”

Emslie said. “There are a ton of great coaches out there. You could

make an argument for every coach in our district let alone all of

the coaches in the state. So it is a really neat thing.”

Emslie’s players have no doubt that he

is the right pick for the honor though.

“He stood right by our side and always

lifted us up and motivated us,” senior lineman Jerry Rose said. “He

never left our side and always made us feel like we could succeed.

He spent a lot of time with his linemen and not just with his

quarterback and receivers. I don’t know that a lot of head coaches

do that.”

The Vikings’ quarterback, senior

Christian Ker, agrees that Emslie is more than worthy of the award

after the way he helped the team turn a 28-game losing streak into

a state championship over the past two seasons.

“I think he really deserves it for not

only what he did for the program, but what he did for us kids as

well,” Ker said. “He taught us to believe in ourselves and that we

could be successful, and that we are state champions.”

Emslie’s coaching success has made him

a wanted man for this spring and summer’s round of all-star games.

He has been asked to help coach in the MonDak, Shrine and Class B

All-Star games this year.

Appleby recognized

Another hard working Bigfork coach was

recently presented with a top honor.

Speech, debate and drama head coach

Charlie Appleby was named Northern B Drama Coach of the Year.

“It was a surprise because I don’t get

to see many of those coaches during the year, and I was honored and

humbled that they thought to vote for me,” Appleby said.

With the dedication he gives to the

students, they were not shocked that he was given the award.

“During the speech season, Charlie is

like our dad and Shannon (Appleby, assistant coach) is like our

mom,” junior Zoe Gaiser said. “We’re all just so close to him. He’s

always making sure that we’re fed and that we’re at the top of our

game. He stays so late after school to work with us on our pieces

dozens and dozens of times. He knows all of our pieces by heart and

could probably perform all of them.”

The award was voted on at the

divisional speech meet and was presented to Appleby at the close of

that meet.

Bigfork’s drama team took first at the

Northern B/C meet and placed fifth at the Class B/C State meet the

following week.