Vikings Show Signs of Life in Scrimmage

Earlier this season, Latta High School’s new head football coach Kelly Williamson said that Latta just wanted “to put a solid football team on the field on Friday nights.”

This past weekend, the Vikings put all their hard work on display in their first scrimmage game of the year. The Vikings took on Region AAA’s McBee Panthers out of McBee, South Carolina.

While no scores were kept in the scrimmage game, Latta impressed with a strong showing, raising hopes that this could be the year that the Vikings turn things around.

Latta’s football program has had only eight wins in the last six seasons. The Vikings were winless for three of those seasons, including last year, when their strongest showing was a 64-36 loss to Blacksburg. Latta didn’t manage more than eight points in any other game last season, failing to get on the board at all in four outings and with an average of 47 points scored against them in each game.

But Williamson’s winning record at Dillon Christian School – he lead the Warriors to two back-to-back SCISA championships – has helped revive Latta’s hopes for 2011. The Vikings have been practicing since June and saw their highest turn out in years with 55 players showing up at the first practice. Though the numbers have dwindled under Williamson’s grueling training regiment, the results were obvious in Saturday’s scrimmage.

It remains to be seen how they will fare during the regular season, but the layout of the 2011 schedule may help, with all four non-conference games starting things off. Latta is scheduled to kick things off with Waccamaw on August 19, followed by East Clarendon, Dillon, and Blacksburg. Last season, all four schools delivered brutal losses, with Waccamaw and Dillon completely shutting out the Vikings.

Latta’s chances for the season will be much clearer by the time they play their first conference game against Carvers Bay on September 16. Then they’ll begin a run of conference games leading up to the playoffs in November.

Williamson plans to continue working the team hard to see them improve each day. “We want to have a powerful program,” he said earlier in the season. “If we work really hard, it’ll come.”

The rest of the Vikings coaching staff includes Coach Douglas Jackson, defense and special teams; Coach Tony Whittington, offensive line; Coach Chris German, receivers; and Coach Daniel Little, defense.

The Vikings next take the field tonight in the Lake View Jamboree at Lake View High School. They’ll be kicking things off against Hannah-Pamplico at 6:00 p.m.

On Saturday, the Vikings travel to Carvers Bay for the inaugural Geathers Family Jamboree, where they’re scheduled to take on Andrews.

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