(Avoca) Five weeks into the season the AHSTW football team is starting to identify some strengths. The Vikings take on St. Albert this Friday night and both teams are 2-2 overall.
AHSTW has admittedly been up and down this season. They lost to Shenandoah in a game they’d like to have back, beat Missouri Valley big, lost to SW Valley, and beat Sidney by comfortable margin. Coach GG Harris says Blake Holst, Denver Pauley, and Raydden Grobe are emerging as go-to players on offense. “They’ve really come forward as playmakers and guys we want to get the ball to. They are guys that other teams have to prepare for.”
On defense they’ve shown some good things. “When we can really play assignment defense we are pretty good. When we want to go rogue a little bit and aren’t doing our job we aren’t very good. We are showing some things, but need to find some consistency.”
After non-district losses to ranked, larger squads Lewis Central and Logan-Magnolia, St. Albert is getting on track with back-to-back wins and is the lone unbeaten in the Class A District 9 standings. “They are good. They always get better every week and play their best football at the end of the year. They haven’t been healthy and probably haven’t looked the way they’ve wanted. They are starting to click and get their guys back. They are a force.”
Coach Harris admits it’d likely be considered an upset to knockoff the Falcons, but it’s one his team is capable of. “We have to win the games we are supposed to and we are going to have to find ways to win the games we aren’t supposed to. If you ask anyone we are probably not supposed to win this game, but the guys in our locker room are excited for that challenge.”
Coach Harris says the team was physically dominated in a 28-14 loss at SW Valley in Week 3. They responded nicely by beating Sidney 48-22 last week, but they need to find a way to settle in quicker and put together four strong quarters of football.
