“I expect us to be a very good football team this year,” said Haugen.  “Our ability to run and pass offensively will be a key for us.  There will be four new starters on the offensive line.  I think they will play pretty well.  They will need to adjust to the speed of varsity football quickly.  Defensively, we have a lot of physical players that really enjoy hitting and tackling.  Our overall team speed, combined with physical play is going to allow us to compete real well every week.”

Returning starters include senior Matty Ziebell (RB/LB) who returns with a lot of experience on both sides of the ball.  “Defensively, he will have a lot of responsibility of getting everyone in the right spots and I expect him to make a lot of plays for us both defensively and on offense,” said Coach Haugen.

Juniors McHale Korf (QB/DB), Liam Sytsma (OL/DL), Johnny Ziebell (RB/LB) and Jayden Rutherford (RB/DB) are also returning starters.

“I expect McHale to build off of the experience he gained a year ago,” noted Haugen.  It should result in some good success for the Vikings offense as well as strong play defensively.  Liam is the only returning starter on the offensive line.  He had a good sophomore season and will be even better this year with the experience he gained.  He might be moved to tackle defensively, but either as a tackle or outside linebacker he should be very disruptive to the opponents’ offense.  Like his brother, Johnny Ziebell returns with a lot of experience from a year ago.  Johnny runs very hard and has good instincts defensively.  I expect him to be in the middle of a lot of our success this year.  Jayden is the fastest player on the team.  We are looking for explosive plays from him in both the running and passing game.”

Key losses for the Vikings were Tucker Fladmark, a two-year starter at center, and Hayden Christenson who will be very difficult to replace as he was a key contributor on offense as a big-play receiver and on defense as one of the leaders in the secondary.

Haugen sees Barnesville and Crookston as top teams in Section 8AA, while Wadena-Deer Creek and Frazee are the favorites in the Northwest District, South Division.

“I expect us to put together a strong running game,” added Coach Haugen.  “When we are successful with that, the rest of the game will open up for us.  We can go with a power run game or to the outside as we also have enough speed for that.  The run game will allow us to set up the pass off of it.  Our depth is definitely an area of concern.  We have some really good football players, but some of them are young.  These young players will need time to develop in JV ball before they are ready for varsity games.  The guys are very coachable and working very hard.  I expect to see steady improvement throughout the year and that we will be one of the top teams in our division of the Northwest District.  It is going to be exciting and a lot of fun.”