The last week of the Saskatoon Kinsmen Minor Football Bantam League regular season will be a busy one for the North Battleford Comprehensive High School Junior Vikings.
After their road game Wednesday against the Prince Albert River Riders was cancelled due to the weather, the Vikings will now have to play three games in a little over eight days.
“It’s a pretty tough spot to be in for sure,” Junior Vikings head coach Wade Wakelin said. “That’s not a busy stretch for some sports, but for football that’s quite a lot.
“It’s going to be a matter of trying to keep things interesting at practice since we don’t have any games for the next two weeks. It will give us time to have our guys rested before we have our first game Sunday.”
In between their makeup game with the River Riders on Oct. 19, the Junior Vikings will be travelling to Saskatoon for a pair of games.
They are slated to take on the Leidingham Steelers on Oct. 16 and the Babineau Warriors on Oct. 23.
The Junior Vikings currently have a 0-4 record, with their latest setback coming at Beaver Lions Stadium on Oct. 2 in a 25-6 affair against the Martensville Maddogs.
Despite their struggles, Wakelin has liked the effort his team has shown, especially against the Maddogs.
“We were down by quite a bit at halftime and our guys just never gave up,” Wakelin said.
“We scored the same amount of points as the other team did in the second half and they kept fighting hard.
“It was quite a difference from what happened a week earlier (against the Tinkler Raiders) in Saskatoon. The guys got down early in the first quarter and we weren’t able to bounce back. So to see them bring that effort despite being down by a number of points is something that we liked as a coaching staff.”
Part of that improved effort came from a strong performance from the Vikings defence.
“They have a never give up attitude out there,” Wakelin said.
“Sometimes when a team puts up a lot of points early, it can be hard for a defence to keep up with a strong offence. Our guys just kept getting better and better as the game went on, which is something we hope can carry over for the rest of the season.”
The Junior Vikings have also had to deal with a number of injuries this year, including one to their starting quarterback last week.
“Colten MacNaughton got hurt early in the game so we had to bring in our backup quarterback Donovan Schiele,” Wakelin said.
“He ended up having a fairly good game for us. He played really well in a tough situation.”
With signs of improvement, the Junior Vikings will look to gain some much needed momentum before the playoffs get underway, even if their coach isn’t looking that far ahead yet.
“To be honest with you I have no idea where things stand at the moment for us,” Wakelin said.
“We’re just taking everything one game at a time at this point and we will see where we end up when the season ends.”
