September was an odd month for the North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings senior football team as they played all four of their games on the road.
Come Friday night, they will be back under the familiar surroundings of Beaver Lions Stadium, as the Vikings will kick off a three-game homestand with a 6:30 p.m. battle against the Holy Cross Crusaders.
“It was kind of a weird start for us as having all of those games on the road to begin a season was something that we’ve never done before,” all-around offensive player Zach Wolfe said.
“We’re really looking forward to getting thing started against Holy Cross on Friday, as it should be a really good game.”
The Vikings are entering their home opener with a 3-1 record as they picked up a 42-33 win in Saskatoon over the defending 3A provincial champion Bishop J Mahoney Saints.
“We had a similiar offensive game plan to what we had used over the last couple of games, but we ended up going to the air a little more than we had been,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said.
“Our quarterback Damon Dutton was 28 for 33 passing for 325 yards and we had Pressly Peterson back in the lineup to make some really timely catches, along with Wolfe, Rett Taggart and Riley Rathwell all steping up in the passing game.”
Friday’s game will give the Vikings a good idea of where they sit in the Saskatoon league, as the Crusaders have gone to win the 4A title for the last six straight years.
They haven’t broken through on the provincial stage since 1995, however, as they lost to Regina Riffel Royals in 2011 and have be beaten the last five seasons by the Regina LeBoldus Gold Suns dynasty.
“That’s a team that we have a lot of respect for,” Wolfe said. “We’re really focussing on our fundementals and keeping things simple for our game against them.”
“That’s a massive benchmark for where we want to be as a program going forward,” Humenny said. “We’ve seen them play live and they are a really good team once again, so it should be a great test for our team.”
The Vikings final two games of the year will take place at Beaver Lions Stadium.
The Prince Albert St. Mary Maruaders will come to town on Friday, Oct. 13 and the Marion Graham Falcons will face the Vikings on Thursday, Oct. 20 in a rematch of last year’s Saskatoon 3A semifinal that the Falcons won in Saskatoon.
