The North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings football season ended in a one-sided game, but the team's willingness to battle until the final whistle is what the coaches wanted to see.
"I know as a staff we were very proud of the kids and we can work with this group because they battled," said head coach Jamie Sommerfeld. "Even with the score as lopsided as it was, our kids hit hard right until the end. That shows some pretty good attitude and make up from these boys."
The Vikings' season came to an end last week with a 68-0 loss to the Bishop James Mahoney Saints in the 3A semifinals. It was far from an easy matchup for the young Vikings, as the Saints outscored opponents 252-9 through five games.
"They're the best team in the city, by far, as far as Saskatoon goes I think. 3A, 4A, doesn't matter. It's a tough matchup for anybody, but we went in with six Grade 12s and it was a case of men against boys, but it was a good game for our guys to realize what they need to do in the offseason so that we can compete with teams like that," said Sommerfeld.
It was that experience and fight in his young team that makes Sommerfeld hopeful for the future. The Vikings were full of fresh faces and still managed a playoff win and only the Saints came between them and a championship berth.
However, the extra year of experience won't cut it and Sommerfeld said the hard work doesn't stop just because the season is over, it's time to train for next year.
"It does show a very good future. We have to do the right things in the offseason, though. We gotta be in the weight room, we gotta be going to camps, we gotta get better," he said. "If we're just going to rely on another year, we're not going to get better. Now the onus is on a lot of our kids to go out and do the right things, so that's what we're trying to stress right now."
The top two teams from the regular season, Bishop James Mahoney and Marion Graham, met in the championship game Monday night for league supremacy. Both rolled through the regular season with BJM going undefeated and Marion Graham's lone loss coming against Bishop James Mahoney.
