Ryan Clary
Each Week following Spartanburg Viking Football games, I’m going to take a couple of days and think about the 3 most important things I saw on the field. Some good, some great, some not so good. I’ll try to break through what mattered, and what not to overreact to. So here’s 3 things from Week 0’s loss to Gaffney.
- Since we lost 31-12, let’s start with the most important thing we need to improve on: Special teams. Four blocked kicks in one half isn’t ok and everyone knows this. (1 punt, 2 FGs and 1 Extra Point) The blocking up front has to be better and in a hurry. We have an outstanding kicker in John Love and he could be a real weapon for us. There’s not much else to say here that you don’t already know.
- Drek Carter is for real. With Jeter on the sideline Friday Night, the run game solely relied on the RBs and Carter had a monster game. He showed speed, elusiveness, power, and frankly a will to fight for every single yard. Carter earned it by rushing for 149 yards on 22 carries and 2 TDs. When Jeter gets back, those two are make a dynamic duo and eat some serious clock for the Viking Offense.
- The defense was outstanding through the first 3 quarters and frankly just got worn down late. But I was really proud of this group all night. Gaffney had outstanding field position all night and had 17 points with 6 mins left in the game which included starting on the Viking 20 one time and not gaining a yard. The FG attempt was tipped at the LOS as well. Yes, we missed a few tackles and made some mistakes of course, but overall our effort was fantastic and the D absolutely gave our team a chance to win.