As the North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings senior boys’ football team look to make a run at the Saskatoon 3A city championship, the things that the players will be working on during practice will be very similar to what they did when they joined the program.
“We’re just building upon the things that we’ve been working on here for the last couple of seasons,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said.
“When we took over as a coaching staff, a lot of what we were telling the guys seemed very foreign to them. When you talk to them every day and that message is always consistent, that’s something the players are striving to have. We’re going to be working on our fundamentals and our approach all year and I think that will pay off for us as the year moves forward.”
When the Vikings began their training camp last Monday at Reuben Mayes Field they did so with a team that only lost a handful of players after making a trip to the Saskatoon 3A semifinal game.
“I think nine guys were seniors a year ago, which isn’t a lot when you think about it compared to some of the other teams,” Humenny said.
“On offence, we lost a couple of offensive linemen and a wide receiver, but we can have as many as nine guys returning. We’ll also have seven starters back on defence, especially with a really strong defensive back group that will have a lot of players in their third season with us.”
One of the key returning cogs on offence is Grade 11 running back JT Lamb, who missed the start of the 2016 campaign with a wrist injury that he sustained while playing with the provincial team.
“He’s had a really good off-season and he’s entering this year completely healthy,” Humenny said. “We’re expecting some big things out of him.
“On our offensive line we’ll have Apete Tuiloma coming back as a third year starter and Angus Reid will playing as a centre. Damon Dutton’s returning for us at quarterback as another third year starter and we got a number of really good receivers in Zach Wolfe, Presley Peterson and Rett Taggart. This is a group that have played a ton of football over the last few years and we’re expecting big things from them as a unit.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Vikings have another group of veteran players that will be ready to slow down opposing offences.
“One guy who’s a key player for us as a third year defensive tackle is Zack Weber,” Humenny said. “We also have Nolan Mutch and Karstin Rawlyk who can step up and make big plays as linebackers, plus we have some good defensive backs that are led by Brayden Bartkewich and Trevor Southgate.
“I’m not saying that they go unnoticed, but we have been a defence by committee over the last couple of years, so I think you’ll see some more guys stepping up into bigger roles this season.”
The Vikings finished last season with a 4-2 record in the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate 3A Division and earned a berth in the semifinals, where they lost a 32-20 affair to the Marion Graham Falcons.
They’ll be tuning up for the 2017 campaign with an exhibition game Friday against the Lloydminster Comprehensive High School Barons.
The start of the regular season will be an interesting one for the Vikings, as they open things up with a visit to the Evan Hardy Souls in Saskatoon at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8 and will be on the road for the first four games of the season.
“Sometimes it just happens to work out that way and our first game at home isn’t until October,” Humenny said.
“With that said, starting out with a few games on the road isn’t a bad thing. We’ll have a couple of road trips to get to know each other and then we’ll have a few home games to build off of as we get ready for the playoffs.”
Their first game at Beaver Lions Stadium will take place on Friday, Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. when the Holy Cross Crusaders of Saskatoon come to town.
One of the most intriguing games on the Vikings schedule will be their second matchup of the season on Friday, Sept. 15, as they’ll visit the Warman Wolverines, who are making the jump up to 12-man football after being one of the powerhouses in the provincial nine-man ranks for the last few years.
“The community and the school has been expanding rapidly there, so it made sense for them to make the jump up,” Humenny said. “There’s growing pains when you make that change from nine-man to 12-man, but we aren’t anticipating them to be pushovers to say the least.
“They are a well-coached team with lots of good athletes and I think it might become a bit of a natural rival for us as we’re both programs that are outside of Saskatoon and competing in their league.”
The Bishop J. Mahoney Saints enter the season as not only the defending city champions, but they also took home the provincial crown in November as they stopped the Peacock Tornadoes of Moose Jaw from winning a fourth straight title.
The Vikings hope to be in that mix, but they know they’ll have to keep focused on the task at hand without looking to far ahead.
“We’ve set some goals as a team but we will have to work hard each and every day in order to achieve them,” Humenny said.
“It’s not about coming up with the some fancy scheme that blows everyone away. It comes down to executing the fundamentals.”
