After a tough battle between the Vikings and the Golden West College Rustlers, the Vikings fell short with a final score of 31-24 on Saturday.
At halftime, the Vikings were down by seven points with a 10-3 score due to their field goal and the Rustlers touchdown and field goal.
The Vikings made a tremendous comeback in the third and fourth quarters scoring three touchdowns, by wide receivers Norvell (PJ) Holmes, Semaj Dunn and Tyson Bordeaux, but it was not enough to secure a win.
Despite the loss, Coach Peabody was extremely proud of how the team played, especially since they were down 17-3 up until the end of the third quarter.
“I was just very disappointed at some of the calls that went against us, I thought some of those unfortunately had an impact on the outcome of the game,” Peabody said.
Although they faced setbacks like this, the Vikings still powered through the rest of the game and fought hard until the end.
“This team is really easy to coach because there’s been great buy-in, so I know that Monday they’re going to come to work because they want to keep fighting and they want to win,” Peabody said.
The Vikings’ season started off rough with a two game losing streak but the team managed a five game winning streak up until this game.
Quarterback Jett Peddy admitted that in the first half he had a couple mental mistakes but was proud of the efforts displayed by his team in the second half.
“We started off 0-2, our backs against the wall, but this team really came together as a family and we’re in position, but it just didn’t go our way tonight,” Peddy said.
Peddy is confident that the team has what it takes to win every game, taking the loss as a learning opportunity and chance to grow so the Vikings can be victorious for the rest of the season.
Defensive end Zeph Misa shared that the game was full of ups and downs, but he understood that he and his team didn’t capitalize on opportunities that were handed to them by the Rustlers, which ultimately led to their defeat.
“We as a team have grown to hold each other together as a family and push through the adversity and this game was just one of those lessons for us,” Misa said.
Misa shared that although this was a tough loss, the team’s goals are still the same from the beginning of the season and they’re going to attack and execute their assignments and continue to grow their bond on and off the field, so that they’ll become an even stronger team.
The Vikings are set to play their next game at Mt. San Antonio College on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. with hopes to reboot their winning streak and make a comeback for the rest of the season.