Vikings Win Two Straight
Story and photos by Robert Thomas
It was a confident Vanier Vikings that strode out onto the Elks Athletics Field gridiron on Friday evening and after 48 minutes of play the field had magically turned into a garden party of jubilant players, coaches, fans, friends and family.
The Vikings - in their last regular season home game - had turned up big winners defeating the visiting Maple Creek Redmen 40 - 14.
The win gave the Vikings a 2 - 1 record and a strong hold onto third place in Conference 2 of 9-aside football.
A Redmen player heads down the sidelines - MJ Independent photo
The Vikings scored on their first drive of the First Quarter to take a 7 - 0 lead and never look back.
Vanier would lead 14 - 0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Second Quarter saw a massive over the shoulder pass with 10.2 seconds left on the clock to score another Vanier touchdown. The score at Halftime was Vanier 30 and Maple Creek 0.
A Vanier player tries to break past Maple Creek defenders - MJ independent photo
The Third Quarter saw the Redmen score a touchdown on their initial drive.
The Vikings would add a single point to make the score 31 - 7.
The Fourth Quarter saw the Redmen add an additional touchdown after a horrendous punt.
The Vikings would respond with a touchdown and forcing the Redmen to cede two points.
The Final Score was Vikings 40 and the Redmen 14.
For Vanier Vikings head coach Ryan Gottselig the win was a good showing for the team
“It was a good game. For the most part we played pretty good. We are a couple of moments where we lost some of our coverages but other than that it was pretty solid,” Gottselig said.
A Redmen player picks up a kickoff - MJ independent photo
Asked if the move to the new 9-aside league made it harder to prepare for games as each opponent is new and little is known about them he agreed.
“I do feel a little less prepared as a coach than normally but actually we are just focusing on ourselves.”
A Vanier player recovers a Redmen fumble - mj independent photo
Right now the Vikings are happy to just improve their play in 9-aside football and it’s more wide open field.
“We are starting to learn this 9 man game a little better now and just focusing on our execution. And by the time we get to the playoffs, we will have seen anyone we have to play at that point,” Gottselig said.
Regarding going from perennially losing games to winning he said it has had a positive affect on the coaches and team.
“It’s always nice to win for sure. Our kids are having much more fun than I’ve seen them have in years. I think it’s a good level playing field for us against schools our size and yes we’re having fun and making plays,” Gottselig said.
The wave of optimism has spread to the players as well. Vikings defensive lineman Aydan MacNevin said the team is adapting and playing is a positive experience this season.
“There is a little more enthusiasm around our program. I know the kids are excited. The other students at school pickup on that. I think Friday night makes a little bit more of an event for kids to come over here after school and have some fun,” Gottselig said.
Regarding the Redmen only able to field 17 players Gottselig said despite injuries Maple Creek showed up to play.
“They have some guys banged up I know that got hurt last week,” he said adding, “you know credit to them. In the second half that usually where those things start to wear down when your numbers are lower. And they came out and battled that whole second half.”
Having lower numbers and being unable to compete later in the game is something the Vikings experienced in 12-aside football.
“We were in that boat forever,” he said.
The game afforded the opportunity for Vanier to play all of their players.
“They’ve got good hard-working kids over there that play hard. We’ve got a lot of our young guys in and it’s awesome they got a chance to get a little bit in there more.”
Gottselig said no matter who was on the field for the Vikings they had to make the plays.
“Whoever is in there has got a step up and make plays for us. We’ll just keep working on that.”
Asked about negatives in the game he said they were few and far between.
“We stayed healthy for the most part and we got in the win and everybody got in the game so overall it was a pretty good day for us.”
The Vikings being competitive is changing the atmosphere around the team Gottselig said.
“As I said, the kids are having more fun than they have for years. These are great football teams as I said and they can play. We’re just trying to make sure we can compete every week, keep getting better and see how we do.”
Vanier ball carrier forced out of bounds - MJ Independent photo
Playing home games on Friday nights has been positive for the Vikings Gottselig said.
The move to Friday nights has brought out more students and families to watch and cheer on the Vikings than their previous matchups on Saturday afternoons at Gutheridge Field, he said.
