Vikings gear up for home opener
The Crescent Heights High School Vikings have championship aspirations — and they’re off to a good start.
After beating the Strathmore Spartans 23-6 last week, the Vikings home opener is 7:30 p.m. Friday against Brooks at the Methanex Bowl. Head coach Dustin Ressler is happy with how the Vikings played in their home opener but knows they need to bring more Friday.
“Strathmore gave us a bit of a scare; they came out hard, but we were able to hold on — we’re happy to take the win,” said Ressler. “We’ve got a couple of practices before our home opener. We just need to keep working and we’ll see the results we want.”
One of the Vikings’ biggest performers in their home opener was running back Creed Willette, who racked up two touchdowns and 229 yards. He says the team needs to be better from kickoff.
“We went with our base offence against Strathmore and they came at us strong with a defence we weren’t ready for,” he said. “They came out strong and gave us a hard time at the beginning. We switched to the ground-and-pound and things started clicking.”
One of the biggest things for this year’s Vikings team is a stronger sense of teamwork compared to last year, says Ressler.
“The attitude has vastly improved over last year. We’re winning by committe this year, and I really like to see that,” he said. “This is a group that has always gotten along and have really jelled over the years These guys are leading by example, and not calling others out. They’re leading by doing, not by saying or putting anyone else on the spot.”
Ressler says he knows Brooks is going to be a tough task, but believes his team can handle it.
“We need to go out there with our best foot forward and match the intensity that Brooks will bring,” he said. “They’re a strong team, but we’re confident. If we can play like we did for parts of our game in Strathmore, we should be able to match their game.”
Ressler says no matter what, he wants to see his time constantly getting better.
“The end goal is to always improve,” he said. “Our goal, as always is to make the RFC Final, giving us a chance at a championship, and giving us a shot at provincials. Those goals always remain the same. To make it through those goals, we need to improve every week and every day, from game to game and from play to play.”