One more time, with feeling Newly confident Vikings hoping for rivalry momentum CHICO — The Pleasant Valley High football team’s recent turnaround, which has the Vikings on the cusp of the postseason and a victory away from hosting a playoff game, can be attributed to an unlikely source. A Monday team meeting. Not a big game. Not a new gameplan. A meeting. It was Oct. 14. With an agonizing 21-19 loss to previously winless Foothill still fresh from the previous Friday and a 5-1 Shasta team looming next on the schedule, the team talked. “We had a big, huge team meeting for an hour and a half, and I think it was the turning point of our season. We talked for an hour and half, and it paid off,” Coach Mark Cooley said. He said he saw immediate results, even in practice as the Vikings followed through with a less is more approach. “It was just more of them not worrying about other people’s spots,” Cooley said. “‘You’re just asking me to do this, and that’s all I’m going to do.’ It’s been a huge difference.” Then PV beat Shasta 7-6. “ That was the one game where they played an entire four quarters of football of just doing their job,” Cooley said. “They’re starting to understand, focusing and just doing their job instead of trying to do too much. Kids are starting to settle down.” PV responded the next week, trailing at halftime and rallied for a 35-28 victory at Red Bluff, outscoring the Spartans 14-0 in the final two quarters. “ Second half, complete defensive domination and offensive line started blowing people off the ball,” Cooley said. “It was great. We had a 7minute drive for the go-ahead score.” Some of the defensive turnaround was a midseason switch of Chad Olsen back to linebacker. The three-year varsity starter opened the season at defensive end, but opponents decided to focus on which side of the field he wasn’t on. “I think he has the best closing speed of any linebacker in the section,” Cooley said. And while the defense doesn’t solely rely on Olsen, a player who has attracted attention from a handful of college programs — Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Sacramento State and Eastern Washington — it has helped to have the 6- foot- 5, 225- pound playmaker at middle linebacker, where he has chances to make plays no matter where the offense goes. Olsen said the Vikings knew they were capable of turning things around. “ You ask anyone on this team and the coaching staff, we’ve had the potential to do whatever we want to do,” Olsen said. “As we saw against Shasta, whenever we all finally said, ‘ You know what? Enough’s enough.’ And we’re going to do what we want to do, the result was wins. That’s all you could ever ask for.” Fellow linebacker Ryan Steindorf, a 6-2, 190-pound junior, looks to be a budding star who Olsen said he’s the hardest player on the team to put a hit on, and Cooley has likened Steindorf to another Olsen. “When Chad’s not making a play, Ryan is,” Cooley said. Making sure those two are free of offensive linemen has been a young interior defensive line that has progressed as the season has. Key in that is freshman nose guard Syrus Tuitele. “ He makes freshman mistakes at times, but he is such a strong individual that when he does his techniques he’s as good as any senior any day and he’s had to be double- and tripleteamed several times this year,” Cooley said. “He just has raw, brute strength.” Flanking Tuitele are two junior defensive tackles Josh Alvarez and Christian Darden with senior defensive ends Zack Suttles and Houston McGowan. Tonight, those five need to free up Olsen and Steindorf so they can go sideline to sideline as they will have to keep an eye on Chico quarterback Clayton Welch, who is as much of a threat as a runner as he is a passer. The secondary will be tested with the Panthers’ spread attack. Cornerbacks Jack Soza and Brandon Romero team with free safety Zane Ferguson and strong safety Cale Crawford. “The big thing is our kids being aggressive,” Cooley said. “We’ve been better at that.” Ferguson, who is 6-3, was switched over to cornerback at Red Bluff to help with taller wideouts. He, along with the rest of the Vikings, are looking forward to the Almond Bowl. “We’re going to have go out and play with their athletes. They have some good ones, but I think we’re up to the challenge. We’re definitely ready,” Ferguson said.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 14:56:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015