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 4’s 49-6 win over Riverside.
1-There we go. We said over the summer that the offense will need some time to develop rhythm, overcome mistakes, and with the brutal start to the schedule, it may take 5 games or so. Well on game #5, the offense found its stride. QB TJ Johnson had 338 total yards, 4 total TDs and only had 4 incompletions. He has a 75% completion percentage through 5 games. Freshman RB Trenton Lynch added 8 carries for 145 yards and his first Varsity TD (it won’t be his last). 9 different WRs caught passes and Raheim Harris scored his first Varsity TD as well on a 48 yard perfect strike from Johnson. The blocking has come a long way, and overall the offense, is hitting its stride. The multiple formations is going to be a problem for Defenses going forward.
2-Will Love is a machine. I can count on one hand the amount of times Love has Not kicked a Touchback. Game after game, his kickoffs find the back of the endzone, he’s money on FGs, and his punting has been really good overall. Let me remind everyone, he’s just a Sophomore.
3-The Viking Defensive Line is 9 deep and it’s not a drop off 1-9. It’s amazing how good this group is and with just a 3 man front getting that much pressure on the QB, it frees up the LBs to make plays, and make plays they are. CJ Woodruff, Kaleb Williams, Quez Smith and Bennie Littlejohn are in a rotation at OLB and these guys are improving every week, especially in open field tackling. You already know about the studs at middle linebacker but this defense is arguably the best in the state.