There’s nothing like built-in chemistry for a football team, especially at the high school level.
That is something that North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings hope will pay off for them this year as they look to return to the ‘A’ playoffs in the Saskatoon High School Football League.
“Last year we had a brand new coaching staff and a number of young players on both sides of the field,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said.
“Everyone’s been working on a lot of stuff during the summer and it’s shown so far here at training camp. We’re working more on the team game rather than fundamentals, and the senior players know the expectations that we have. They are really blossoming into leadership roles and they are helping the younger guys with what they can expect here at the senior level.”
The players have noticed that sense of routine as well once practice officially got underway on Monday.
“To have all of these guys coming back is a great thing,” Grade 12 centre Luciano Jolly said. “We have all of that chemistry built up from a year ago and to have everybody back is pretty awesome.”
The offence will be led by Grade 11 quarterback Damon Dutton, who is entering his second season in the starting role.
“He did a lot of work during the off-season and he attended a few football camps,” Humenny said. “He took the majority of the snaps for us last year and that will make it easier for us to work on game plans and when we need to make halftime adjustments.
“We have a very strong group of receivers that are back as well so our offence should be very strong.”
With a number of players returning on defence after starting as Grade 10s, their improvements have been visible right away in practice, especially for the offensive line.
“They are pretty big and heavy so we have to push hard to try and plow through them as best we can,” Jolly said.
“Facing them on a regular basis is a good thing for our offensive line. We lost a couple of good players to graduation but we have a number of guys coming up from junior that fit right in with us.”
The Vikings will open their season at Beaver Lions Stadium at 6:30 p.m. Thursday when they will host the Tommy Douglas Tigers of Saskatoon.
“We had a close game against them last year, but unfortunately we came out on the losing end,” Humenny said.
“They ran the ball a whole bunch last year but they like to employ a 5R (five receiver) offence as well when they want to air ball out. We should be able to make adjustments to that on the fly this year, which is something we were unable to do a year ago.”
While Jolly is gunning for a chance to compete for a 3A provincial title, which is something the Vikings haven’t done since 1995, he knows that the Saskatoon league will present a number of tough challenges.
“Tommy Douglas, Bishop Mahoney and Marion Graham always have strong teams that you need to be ready to go up against,” Jolly said.
“You really don’t know where everyone stands until the season starts and that’s what makes it exciting.”
