Bigfork rallies for big game

Arnie Aklestad bought some toe warmers the other day in preparation for Bigfork’s state-championship football game on Saturday, and that’s a good thing.

Saturday’s weather forecast calls for a high of 18 degrees and a good chance of snow, but if community spirit could be converted to warmth, the Bigfork crowd will be smoking hot.

“It’s gonna be cold, but I’ll be there,” the 80-year-old Aklestad promised. “It’s the only game in town.”

Aklestad is a fixture at Bigfork sporting events, and he’s saved all the newspaper clippings leading up to Saturday’s momentous showdown.

He knows of a few Bigfork supporters who are jumping ship to catch the Cat-Griz game in Missoula the same day, but he’s not passing judgment. There will be more than enough fans to fill the Bigfork stands, he said.

Community pride is off the charts in the resort town this week. And with good reason.

The only other time Bigfork vied for the state football title was in 1995 when the Vikings lost to Frenchtown. The last time any Flathead Valley team won a state football title was 31 years ago when Whitefish claimed the Class A championship.

At 1 p.m. Saturday the 10th-ranked Vikings will host No. 7 Fairfield, putting behind them the struggles and heartbreak of a winless streak as a Class A school that chalked up one win and 31 gridiron losses over a recent four-year span. The Vikings returned to Class B a year ago.

This time, it’s about redemption.

“These situations bring people closer together,” Bigfork activities director Matt Porrovecchio said. “The school and town are one and the same, and this is something positive to hold onto.”

Porrovecchio talked about how intertwined the football families are in the community. Some parents of football players own local businesses; many work in those businesses. There are numerous families that have called Bigfork home for generations.

Porrovecchio’s own roots run deep in Bigfork. The 1994 Bigfork High School graduate played for current head coach Todd Emslie when Emslie was the assistant coach.

“I’m a Viking. For me this is more than a job,” he said. “I love to see the kids get this recognition.”

Bigfork roots also run deep for Village Floral owner Bonnie Triepke, whose grandson, Connor Coleman, is a member of the winning team and a fourth-generation Bigforkian.

“This has really brought this town together,” said Triepke, who coaches baseball in the summer. Triepke and her daughter, Kim Coleman, a coach for eighth-grade volleyball and basketball, made pennants that will line the uphill trail to the football field for Saturday’s game.

“Whatever we can do to support the team, we’ll do it,” she said.

Mary Knoll, whose son Travis is a star running back for the Vikings, said she’s “excited more than nervous” for the championship game.

“There’s no way any of us can lose in any of this,” Knoll said. “The spirit is so elevated, and the depth to which it’s affected people is amazing. It’s been unifying and galvanizing. We’re thrilled for the town, thrilled for the boys.”

Eda Taylor, the longtime clerk for Bigfork schools, said excitement among the students and faculty has been palpable. At a school board meeting this week, “everybody was pumped up,” she said.

Taylor told how Gordon Durham, head of school maintenance, is ready to paint blue lines on the field if the snow gets in the way of visibility.

“He was plowing the field off yesterday,” Taylor said Thursday morning. “He said he had to paint lines on the field one other time during the playoffs and he’ll do it again if he has to.”

Bigfork businesses have pulled out all the stops in supporting their Vikings.

On Wednesday the team was treated to breakfast at Echo Lake Cafe. A steak dinner awaits them tonight. Parents of the football players have been pitching in to provide dinner for the boys every Friday night during the season, and when one player came home and told his mother that the guys wanted steak, the mother’s first reaction was “Yeah, right,” Triepke recounted.

But the wheels were quickly put in motion.

Dave Carlson of the Swan Bar, a big Vikings supporter, and Mark Langlois of the Garden Bar spread the word around town for donations, and long story short, the boys are getting their steak dinner.

Porrovecchio said Bigfork businesses always have gone above the call of duty to support the teams.

“That’s always been the case and not just with the boys,” he said. “It’s magnified right now with the state championship, but people always do what they can within their means.”

Wayne Loeffler, a former longtime Bigfork activities director who still helps with stats on the sideline, said he’s proud of what the students have accomplished.

“This is a pretty neat deal,” he said. “They had a couple of dry years and now this; it’s unbelievable.”

To keep the community spirit flowing, everyone is invited to a pep rally in the Bigfork High School gymnasium at 2:40 p.m. today.

And if Bigfork wins it all, Loeffler, who also is the Bigfork fire chief, said he’s sure he can arrange to parade the team through town on a fire truck.

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen very often,” he said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.