The Vikings suffered their first conference game loss against host East Los Angeles huskies with a final score of 13-20 on Saturday.
Teshawn White rushed for 147-yards giving the Vikings their first touchdown in the second quarter of the game.Â
“That was a devastating defeat against East L.A, it was a team we felt we should have beaten we just didn’t play well enough to get it done,” said head coach Brett Peabody.
“We just need to eliminate the little mistakes, whether it be penalties, turnovers or just mental mishaps,” said running back coach Jeff Evans.
Going into this weekends homecoming game against Bakersfield, coach Peabody hopes the Vikings pull out a win to get a chance for playoffs.
The Vikings have won five consecutive homecoming games and they hope to make this number six.
“We’re in trouble right now, because we lost our first conference game to East L.A,” said Peabody, “we need to start winning quickly or there won’t be any playoffs or bowl game.”
“We’re taking the game away from ourselves, we are battling two teams at once; the other team and ourselves. If we can get back to the basics and know who we are we’ll be fine,” said Evans.
The Vikings need to win conference to qualify for playoffs but will need to win six games to go to the bowl game.
“We’re a great team, we’re surrounded by great players and coaches, but if we can get back to the basic fundamentals of things and just remember what we’re good at, things will start to click again,” said tight end coach John Aponte.
The Vikings will play against the Bakersfield Knights this Saturday at 5 p.m. for the homecoming game at Veterans Memorial Stadium.