Vikings Defence Silences Gators

The U14 Vikings arguably have the toughest defence in the Moose Jaw Minor Football League.

Going into Friday evening’s matchup it’s something the Vikings wanted to maintain. For the Gators it was a wall they wanted to crack.

At the end of it all the Vikings defence held up against the siege with the Vikings defeating last season’s champions, the Gators, 41 - 0.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted to get off on and I think it just snowballed from there,” said Gators head coach Jordan Taylor.

Despite the Vikings’ seeming dominance Taylor said he could see some positives for the team.

“In the second half I think we found our energy and started making some plays.”

The first half saw a Gators team continually frustrated by the Vikings’ defence. The Gators offence made first downs few and far between.

“They’ve got the talented linebackers there and a good line. It’s tough to play against those guys,” he said.

Despite the difficulties Taylor said the Gators were “starting see some catches. We are are starting to see some catches. We are running great. Our running backs are starting to give the effort.”

The coming week of practices is to focus on fundamentals.

Vikings head coach Brock Montgomery said he was pleased on how well his team performed.

“It’s a bit of a tougher game than we’ve seen in the first two given the hometown rivalry…I think us getting that opening kick for a touchdown set the tone for the game.”

Montgomery said despite the Vikings dominance on the scoreboard it’s not indicative of the true nature of the game given “the Gators are a good team…that’s a good team we were up against.”

Defensively the Vikings continued their league dominant play.

“They are playing good as a unit. We don’t have any one guy who can win us a game. They play well together and it works.”

Offensively the Vikings are strong.

“We have two good running backs. We call them Thunder and Lightning there, Logan and Cohen, they both compliment each other there. And they just run the ball hard.

Montgomery said the Vikings key to success on Friday evening was being good with the details especially the special teams.

The Vikings also - despite being aggressive - managed to keep penalties low which helped deny the Gators yardage they hadn’t earned.

The big problem for the Vikings was injuries losing three players off of the offensive line due to it.