Click the image above or use the arrows to see more photographs from Bigfork’s Class B state title win.
BIGFORK – On a brutally cold November Saturday, a man dressed as a Viking paced across a frozen football field above Bigfork High School with tears streaming down his face.
The man was Billy Knoll and he will make you a believer in happy endings. He will remind you why we care about sports, why we insist that they are more than mere games.
Knoll had just watched his son Travis catch a touchdown pass in the waning seconds of the Class B championship game against Fairfield to give Bigfork its first state football title in school history. Up until recently, Knoll had not been able to watch any of his son’s remarkable year in person because his job required him to be on the East Coast.
But five friends pitched in to bring him back home so he could attend the Vikings’ 28-14 semifinal victory over Cut Bank on Nov. 13. Then he stayed a week to watch Bigfork defeat Fairfield 24-21 in the title game, a historical win capped of by his son’s touchdown catch.
For the occasion, Knoll and a friend dressed up like Vikings and cheered from the sidelines, right next to the team. When the game ended, he embraced his son – a bearded Viking hugging his warrior son.
“I cried at the last game, I cried all week, I cried at the pep rally,” Knoll said after the victory. “And I’m crying now. How can it get any better than this?”
Knoll took a few steps, paused and turned around.
“I think that’s the first time my son’s seen me cry and it was on his shoulder.”
If someone were to write a movie script involving an underdog rising to the top and pulling a whole community along with it, the Bigfork story might seem too perfect – not only in its overarching storyline, but in the way everything transpired, particularly in the title game.
The temperature hovered in the teens on Saturday, but the Bigfork High School stadium was packed to its brim. The fans were bundled and boisterous from before the opening kickoff to when they charged the field after the game.
After a scoreless first quarter, both defenses remained stingy in the second period, but Fairfield managed to squeak in a 14-yard touchdown pass to Troy McInerney on a well-designed play with 44.7 seconds remaining before halftime.
Up 7-0, Fairfield began to find its offensive rhythm in the third quarter behind quarterback Matt Patterson’s efficiency in running the option and passing. After marching the Eagles down the field on the quarter’s opening drive, Patterson dropped back to pass on third and 13 at the Vikings’ 16-yard line.
Junior linebacker Cody Dopps, who very well could have been Bigfork’s player of the game, picked off Patterson’s pass at the 12-yard line and raced down the sidelines all the way to Fairfield’s 29-yard line. The play set up a successful 30-yard field goal by junior kicker Dillon Charlebois to make the score 7-3 with 6:50 left in the third quarter.
Later in the quarter, Bigfork had a third and three at Fairfield’s 13-yard line. Knoll dragged two Eagles defenders for a four-yard gain. On the next play, senior quarterback Christian Ker ran a bootleg left and decided to head for the end zone. He dove, knocking over the pylon for a touchdown. Charlebois tacked on the extra point to put Bigfork up 10-7 with 1:21 remaining in the quarter.
Fairfield’s Patterson, a senior, responded by leading the Eagles down near Bigfork’s goal line where junior Chad Barrett punched the ball in on a short touchdown run. Fairfield was up 14-10 at the beginning of what was to become a wild fourth quarter.
With around four minutes left in the game, Fairfield had a third down with three yards to go at its own 47-yard line. Knoll slipped into the backfield and tackled the ball carrier for a one-yard loss, forcing the Eagles to punt.
Dopps, also the Vikings’ fullback, fielded the punt at his own 23-yard line, followed his blockers right, juked a couple of Fairfield defenders and then cut it back to the middle of the field before making his way to the opposite sideline. He outran the rest of Fairfield’s defenders for a 77-yard touchdown return. With 3:28 left in the game, Bigfork claimed a 17-14 lead.
When Fairfield got the ball back, Patterson again carved the Vikings’ defense up with his mobility and passing. Patterson connected with senior receiver Colby Hardin who broke through the defense and sprinted toward the goal line.
But Hardin coughed up the ball and there was a brief moment of joy among the Bigfork fans, though the moment ended when the referees ruled that the ball had been recovered by Fairfield in the end zone for a touchdown, giving the Eagles a 21-17 advantage with 2:42 left. At the time, it appeared to be a devastating momentum swing against the Vikings.
Bigfork began its final drive at its own 34 with 2:31 remaining. The freezing weather had made passing a difficult chore all day but with the game on the line, head coach Todd Emslie put the ball in his senior quarterback’s hands. Ker started off the drive with a 12-yard pass to junior tight end Connor Coleman.
Several plays later, Bigfork was faced with a fourth and eight at its own 48-yard line with 1:12 on the clock. Ker dropped back, briskly scanned his options and found an open Ian Lorang for a 12-yard gain and a first down.
Ker then got the ball to Dopps, who rumbled for a 21-yard gain down to Fairfield’s 19-yard line. The Vikings called a timeout with 37.1 seconds left.
After the timeout, Ker rolled right and ran 12 yards before stepping out of bounds at the nine-yard line to stop the clock at 26.9 seconds. Two straight incomplete passes intended for Lorang brought the clock down to 17.4 seconds. Following a one-yard run by Knoll, Bigfork called another timeout with 12.3 seconds left, leaving the Vikings with a fourth down and eight yards to go.
People on the sideline could be heard saying: “It all comes down to this.” Ker then did a quick drop, set his feet and zeroed in on Knoll. His pass was perfect, hitting Knoll between the numbers as he streaked down the middle of the field in the end zone. Touchdown, Vikings.
Charlebois put the finishing touches on Bigfork’s victory with a successful extra point with 8.6 seconds left. When the final whistle sounded, adults and kids alike traded tears and gleeful shouts.
And in the middle of the field, the Knoll boys, father and son, embraced. Twenty minutes later, the younger Knoll was still trying to digest it all.
“I can’t even describe it – it’s unbelievable,” Knoll said. “I can’t even put it into words. I don’t know what I would have done if (my father) didn’t get to see it. But he did.”