By Nathan Kanter

Vikings to keep leaning on experience in playoffs

Oct 23, 2017 | 5:00 PM

The North Battleford Comprehensive senior Vikings football team finished the regular season in first place in the 3A division of the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate (SSSAD).

But now, the real work begins.

They’ll open up the playoffs this Thursday in Saskatoon against the Evan Hardy Souls, a team they beat handily 56-20 in week one.

“They’re a vastly different team than they were that day,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said in a phone interview on Monday afternoon. “They’re very well coached on both sides of the football. Just doing some preliminary scout work on them, it looks like they’ll have some guys in some different spots to better their chances of success. That being said, I think we’re a lot better than we were in week one as well.”

Offensively, Humenny said the Vikings did a very good job of not just putting up plenty of points (283 points in seven games; first in SSSAD), but also of hitting opponents with a variety of tactics.

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He said it’s something that should continue in the playoffs.

“We’ve come out throwing, we’ve come out running, we’ve had the ability to score with big plays, and we’ve had the ability to grind it out, so I think our offence is at a point where we’re playoff ready,” Humenny said. “But it’s always a little bit different in the playoffs. There might be a bit of nerves and guys tend to react a little bit differently when they know that it could be their final game. So although we’re going to be working on getting fundementally better still at practice this week, we’ve got to talk to the guys about their mindset and what it’s going to be like on Thursday at 5:15.”

Humenny said improving fundementals was preached all season long. And all year long, the players responded well.

With 25 Grade 12 players on a roster of 45 guys, that is likely thanks to all the experience many of them accumulated over the last few seasons.

“I think we’re seeing a product of three years’ worth of work paying off and a really good group of kids putting their best foot forward,” Humenny said of the team’s success so far. “Lots of those guys have been starting since Grade 10…they’ve had three regular seasons worth of quality game reps to get better. It’s just a product of those guys working hard in the off-season…and guys finding the correct spots that they’re comfortable playing in.”

In terms of preparation, Humenny said about half of the focus this week will be prepping for what Evan Hardy does well, and half will be on looking internally on what they need to do well.

Part of that internal focus will be on starting out strong on Thursday.

“It’s pretty much 50/50 based upon us and them,” he said. “We’ve got to worry about what they’re doing but once again I think were going to be able to dictate how things go with our players. If [we] come out and play the way [we] can, things should go favourably for us.”

Evan Hardy finished their regular season with a 4-3 record, while the Vikings were 5-2.

Kick-off for the elimination game is set for 5:15 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11