STORY BY: KEITH KANE
The Bryan Vikings are looking forward to a new season with the start of District 14-5A play Friday (9/28) at Conroe Oak Ridge.
“It was a lackluster effort,” said Vikings Head Coach Ross Rogers about the team’s 43-3 loss to Pflugerville Hendrickson. “I was kind of embarrassed for the Bryan Vikings fans and hopefully this will never happen again.” Even so,Rogerswas complimentary of the Vikings running game saying “That’s a plus. Bobby Johnson seems to be getting up to speed. We’re real pleased at how that’s come along and hopefully we see that get better and better.”
This week the Vikings start afresh with the District 14-5A opener on the road atOak Ridge. The War Eagles have a new head coach this year, Derrick Rush, who comes toOak RidgefromJohnTylerHigh School. Rogerssays the War Eagles will run a spread offense with a lot of jet sweeps and screens. According toRogers, the offense is run well by quarterback Colby Kitterman and j-back Jarmarqus Durst has had success running the Wildcat plays. Defensively,Oak Ridgewill line up in a standard 4-3 after showing a 9-0 early in the game and will bring pressure from the edges with an occasional blitz up the middle.
For the Vikings, they will have Chris Johnson back at the quarterback position bringing back the deep ball threat. However, Zac Slaydon will be a game time decision. Slaydon will suit up and may punt, butRogerswould still like to protect his tender knee and keep him off the defensive line, if possible. Rogers says the Vikings are still tweaking some of the defensive calls and alignments and expects to see improvement this week.
Overall,Rogers says the practices have been good this week and the Vikings are maintaining a positive attitude. “We’ve not given up on a District Championship and won’t until it’s not in front of us,” saysRogers. “So, we’re still working and we believe there’s still something left for 2012 Vikings football.”
The Vikings will kick off from Woodforest Bank Stadium in The Woodlands againstOak Ridgeat 7:30 pm Friday night with the game to be broadcast on 1150 The Zone starting at 7 pm.