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 South Pointe.
1-Let’s say this first of all before we break down the Vikings. South Pointe’s defense was excellent, they have a lot of really good players on the DL and in the Secondary. I was impressed with all of their returning starters on Defense. Now…the first thing that jumped off the page for us…our OL has some work to do. We replaced 4 starters from last year and that matters..so I don’t think it’s fair to judge our guys opening day or be concerned long term. However after watching some plays again this weekend, it’s apparent that our OL has to get better all around. QB T.J Johnson had no time to throw.
2-Spartanburg is ridiculously fast. Johnson saved the offense many times with his speed and ability to juke. The score could’ve been worse if TJ didn’t make the plays he made. When Spartanburg was able to get the ball out of Johnson’s hands, the speed the Vikings showed was eye opening. This is the fastest team I’ve seen in years.
3-Spartanburg’s Defense was outstanding. The only TD South Pointe had was a 1 play 11 yard TD pass after an INT. That’s it. South Pointe was able to move the ball between the 20s, but each time the Viking Defense buckled down and made big plays led by Cam Smith’s 16.5 tackles and 1 sack. The Viking Defense didn’t get a lot of pressure when we didn’t blitz but when we did, the sacks mounted up.
There’s a lot to build on here. When the OL comes together, this team will be scary good.
