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 6’s 36-23 win over Byrnes.
1-Spartanburg has a ton of team speed. This is clear to see at many times this season but when you play a team as fast as Byrnes, and you see Vikings at all positions staying with and running past the Rebels, you realize just how far we’ve come in a couple of years. The team speed was noticeable in all areas of the game, especially the pick 6 by middle linebacker Terrian Nelson. Our corners, DEs, RBs, the team speed is fast enough to win it all.
2-Last week I wrote about our rush defense and how good it was despite the numbers. Byrnes RB R.J Livingston is the real deal and the Rebels OL is very good. The Viking front 7 took away the Rebel run game – held them to under 100 yards on the night. For good measure, the Viking Defense also held Byrnes passing attack in check as well. When you factor in the Vikings forced 5 turnovers including INTs by Nelson, Charles Woodruff and Demario Bookhart, the Spartanburg Defense is for real.
3-Region two 5A is stacked with great teams that are all great at a lot of things. Each team has something they do better than anyone else. What Spartanburg has is more ways to beat you offensively than anyone. The Vikings have so many WRs, 3 different running options…all with different styles, and the best Sr QB in the state. Raheim is special, there’s no other way to say it. Against Byrnes, the Rebels dropped 8 into coverage several times and Jeter never forced anything, took what the defense gave him including a bunch of 6-8 yard runs, and let the game come to him. He’s the best I’ve ever seen at the High School level at moving onto the next play following either a good or bad play. The Vikings were in 2nd and 34 at one point, and Jeter dropped back, stayed in the pocket under pressure and hit Que Moore on a bullet for a 1st down following back to back penalties. Nothing phases Raheim and he’s even a better person off the field.
This team really has something special. As every team does, we have a long way to go but there’s something about this group and they’ve shown it through tough times and in big moments this season. They play through chaos.
