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 the Round 3 35-9 win over JL Mann.
1-What a difference a year makes. In November of 2023, the Vikings couldn’t run the ball on JL Mann at all. The OL struggled all night long and the Patriots won a game by scoring just 3 points on offense. In November of 2024, while the JL Mann defense looked outstanding early, the Vikings ran for over 200 yards and dominated the 2nd half behind Trenton Lynch’s 193 yards and 2 TDs, as well as an OL that physically dominated the Patriot DL.
2-What a difference a year makes. In November of 2023, QB Trey Burke threw 2 pick 6s and struggled to complete anything in our loss. In November of 2024, Burke threw for 166 yards and 2 TD passes. While he missed on some go routes (and others were right there but incomplete), Burke made huge throws when needed and the Vikings were able to be 2 dimensional in the 2nd half. It’s great to see Justin Rice healthy as he made 3 big catches for 90 yards and 2 TDs.
3-New year, same story. The Viking defense for the 2nd straight year continues to dominate and control games. Another great group of RBs could do nothing against our run defense…holding JL Mann to 100 yards on 37 carries. The Vikings recorded 6 sacks with Sr DT Ty Rimmer getting 2.5 of them. Cam Smith led the way with 12 tackles and Peyton Jones, CJ Woodruff, Don Kinard and Quincy Haywood all had 7 tackles each. Watching this defense over the past 2 years has been a highlight of my play by play career. Here’s to hoping for 2 more games.
