True to their mascot’s name, the Charlo Vikings sack Darby with

some serious offense

DARBY - Over the past two weeks, the Charlo Vikings suffered a pair of close shootout losses to tough competition. Heading into their game against the Darby Tigers, the Vikings knew they needed a victory to keep their postseason hopes alive and their effort and performance reflected that feeling. Charlo stormed out of the gates with 22 first-quarter points and never looked back in a 52-18 thrashing of Darby on Friday, Sept. 16.

"It was really big," head coach Mike Krahn said. "Just looking at the schedule, four spots go to the playoffs and possibly three teams will have one loss. If you get a second loss, you might be out. Our kids had their backs against the wall and knew they had to come out strong. [The back-to-back losses] did provide some focus."

The Vikings added two points in the second and only held a 24-18 halftime lead, but again came out on fire at the start of the third quarter, outscoring Darby 28-0 in the stanza to blow open the close game.

"We worked on offensive tempo; urgency has been a big word at practice," Krahn said. "We've got to want to score. Whenever we went to the two-minute offense, kids seemed focused so we used it for most of the game."

Viking running backs were unstoppable as Charlo used an inspired offensive line performance to dominate the ground battle against the Tigers. Junior Tra Ludeman carried 16 times for 163 yards and a touchdown, while three of sophomore Jacen Petersen's 18 carries ended in scores as part of his 115 yards rushing.

"Our offensive line played a lot better this week," said Krahn, also the team's offensive line coach. "When we have success on offense, it's usually because of them."

Not to be overshadowed was the performance of the defense, which rebounded from a pair of tough battles with a big game, led by junior Webb O'Neill's three interceptions.

While the win was a big one for the Vikings, they have a huge game awaiting them against the Victor Pirates this weekend. Victor, at 3-1, is coming off a 70-6 obliteration of Seeley-Swan. Krahn, however, insists his team is ready for the challenge.

"Victor's a good team with good size who played tough versus us last year," Krahn said. "If we win, it puts us in the driver's seat. Our kids will be focused; it's pretty much a must-win."

Charlo faces off against Victor on the road at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.