By Nathan Kanter

Vikings keep on rolling in week 2 win over Warman

Sep 18, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Two games into the 2017 season and all is pretty much going according to plan for the North Battleford Comprehensive High School senior Vikings football team.

This past Friday, they defeated the Warman Wolverines in week two action by a score of 30-13 to improve to 2-0.

“We put a gameplan in place that was very similar to our previous week against Evan Hardy,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said, referring to their 56-20 victory in week one. “Our run game was a big part of our success in the first half. It was 20-0 at the end of the first half. I was very pleased with our rushing attack. That being said too, I know it’s not the most pretty thing to watch, but it got the job done for us.”

Running back J.T Lamb was his usual dominant self, but Humenny also said the offensive line and defensive line stepped up.

“We have some guys on the offensive line that don’t really get a lot of attention unless it’s in a negative way but those guys, all five of them, all game long they were punishing people and it was really good to see,” he said. “At times throughout the game our five defensive lineman as well as our linebackers Nolan Much and Carston Rollack, those guys controlled the line of scrimmage. In passing situations when we were bringing the heat and bringing just some different blitzes, our linebackers got some very good pressure on the quarterback.”

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The Vikings are trying to identify as a dangerous rushing team. When the offensive line has a strong game, it creates extra room for Lamb and means he doesn’t have to do all the work himself.

What it also does is allow five-yard runs to turn into 10-yard runs, and 10-yard runs to turn into 20-yard runs or even a touchdown.

“I think at times, some of our guys, they kind of get a bit lazy at times and expect that Lamb will do the majority of the work for us,” Humenny said. “But our blocking was much improved from week one to week two, especially downfield by our receivers.”

On the opposite side of the field, Warman is coming off back-to-back nine-man football provincial championships and has just moved up to 12-man football.

Understandably, there has been an adjustment period as they lost their season opener 36-0 and are now 0-2.

But Humenny said he could see the potential.

“I was impressed. You can tell they’re not used to losing. They came out and they were physical, which was good to see and then offensively they have some skilled guys,” he said. “I was talking to their coaches before the game and they said nine to 12-man has been an adjustment for the players. But I would anticipate them being in the mix at the end of the year.”

The Vikings are now focused on their week three opponents in the 1-1 Tommy Douglas Saints.

The Saints fell to Centennial 40-21 in their opener but are coming off a 49-13 win over Bethlehem where quarterback Hayden Sabadash threw for 230 yards and five touchdowns.

“Offensively Tommy Douglas is very good,” Humenny said of this week’s matchup. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us, slowing those guys down. They can throw the ball and their quarterback is a good runner as well. But we’re just going to go forward with the same mentality. We’re going to attempt to rush the football just like we’ve done the past two weeks.

“We’re just going to look at getting better each week. All of these games are big because it [impacts] seeding at the end of the season, with all these 3A opponents in our league. We can’t take anybody lightly.”

This week’s game is set for Thursday at 5:15 p.m. in Saskatoon.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11