Seaman Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Lincoln says now is the time for the team to come together.
Last week, Seaman head coach Blake Pierce suffered a heart attack. Pierce is back at home and recovering, but he will miss Friday’s game. Lincoln will be the Vikings head coach as they travel to face the Junction City Blue Jays in a game that will be televised statewide on Cox Kansas 22.
“Our kids know the situation,” Lincoln said. “This is one where we need to come together as a family and just concentrate on getting better each week. Coach Pierce wouldn’t want us to do anything different. So we’re just focusing on Junction City and trying to get better from last week.”
The Vikings held a 16-7 lead over the Topeka Hayden Wildcats at halftime, before Pierce began to feel ill and left for a local hospital. Hayden scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to earn the season-opening victory.
“We didn’t come out in the second half,” Lincoln said. “We had a kid who cramped up a little bit and that hurt us a little bit. We had a couple key mistakes early in the second half. Hayden is a good football team, and they took advantage of the mistakes we made. And when they made a mistake, we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Now, the Vikings will try to avoid starting the season with an 0-2 record.
“I always say a win cures a lot of things,” Lincoln said. “Right now, we’re lost a little bit because we felt we had that game controlled at halftime. Then we came out in the second half and let it slip away. Starting out 0-1 and with the way we lost the game, getting a win would cure a lot of things. You get a little more pep in your step at practice and start believing. A win for us would be extremely important.”
Seaman quarterback Ryder Chaffee completed 9 of 14 passes for 134 yards in the loss.
The Vikings will attempt to get speedster Joseph Reagan more involved in the offense this week. Reagan, one of the fastest players in the state, caught three balls for 48 yards and a touchdowns last week but was limited to 10 yards rushing on four attempts.
“Joseph is a very fast and talented young man,” Lincoln said. “We got to get him a few more touches than we did last week. He’s a key weapon. We do have some other weapons, too. Obviously, everyone is keying on Joe so other guys have to step up.”
Similar to the Vikings, Junction City enters the game trying to avoid an 0-2 start after falling 27-22 to Hays in the opener. Unlike Seaman’s game, the Blue Jays fell behind 14-0 at the half and then rallied to make it a close game. Jerma’l Campbel scored on a 2-yard run before Junction City quarterback Will Ervin hit Samaj Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-13. The Blue Jays later took a 15-14 lead after a bad snap on a punt led to a safety.
Lincoln said he expects a difficult opponent in Junction City.
“Junction is a very good football team,” he said. “They present many problems with some of their sets. They do some overloads. They’ll spread you. They’ll run smash mouth. We have to be prepared to stop all the aspects.”
This will not be Lincoln’s first game as a head coach. He directed the El Dorado football program for nine years and Highland Park for six. He’s worked under Pierce at Seaman since 2004.
“Obviously, he needs to get some rest so he’s not going to coach this week,” Lincoln said. “Hopefully, he’s back by next week. We’re just conducting our duties as if he’s still here.
“Coach Pierce is a great guy to work for, because he lets you do your coaching. Our main objective is to do what Coach Pierce wants us to do. We’re not going to deviate. We’re going to go out and treat it like he’s right there.”
SEAMAN’S PROJECTED STARTERS
OFFENSE
QB Ryder Chaffee
FB Reid Ferh
RB Joseph Reagan
RB Sam Mizell
WR Zach Mumford
OT Malcolm Mikkelson
OG Brett Lichter
C Garrett Streets
OG Brad Appelhanz
OT Noah Pittman
TE Tyler Weishaar
DEFENSE
DE Wyatt Hendrix
DT Malcolm Mikkelson
DT Tanner Lavin
DE Wyatt Steenson
LB Hunter Poort
LB Nick DeVader
LB Reid Ferh
SS Chase Bauer
FS Brady Barnes
DB Jordan Jenks
DB Brad Piel
JUNCTION CITY’S PROJECTED STARTERS
OFFENSE
WR Nate Funk
LT Tre Brown
LG Chris Franklin
C Tyler Crenshaw
RG Jay Brine
RT Jeffrey Clark
TE Semaj Johnson
WR Danny Thornton
QB Will Irvin
FB Jerma’l Campbel
RB Dequan Davis
DEFENSE
DE Immanuel Cason
DT Josh Henre
NG Trevor Daily
DE Shelby Moffith
WLB Justice Rexrode
MLB Tyrik Nas-Carmikel
SLB Micah Felton
CB Eli Lamberty
S Andrew Milsap
S Ray Wilson
CB Christian Ozores
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