The drive toward a seventh straight playoff bid starts Friday for Posen

The Posen Viking football team will be looking for its sixth straight season-opening victory against the Cedarville Trojans when it begins competition in the upper peninsula Friday at 7 p.m. The players have been practicing since August 8 and are looking forward to going up against competition that means something in the win and loss column. ?I?m looking forward to going out there and showing everybody around here what we?ve got, because nobody thinks were are going to do too hot this year,? said senior Matt Szczerowski. The 2004 team is a tough act to follow.

After qualifying for the playoffs, the Vikes made themselves comfortable, traveling to Pickford and knocking off a team that dominated them earlier in the year, and then traveling to Mid Peninsula to win a district championship. The season ended against who the Division VIII runner-ups. It?s the most games Posen has played in a season (12), the most playoffs wins in a year (two), and the longest trip into the playoffs. They finished 8-4. Senior running back Richie Kroll, who will get a lot of attention from defenses this season, wants his teammates to be focused on the here and now.

?EVERYTHING IN the past has been put behind us and we?ve just got to do what we?ve got to do this year,? said Kroll, who is a tri-captain with Szczerowski and Isaac Kowalski. The Vikings? last loss to Cedarville was an 8-0 game in 1999. Posen has won six of seven from the Trojans. Cedarville is coming off a 5-5 season and qualified for the playoffs before getting thoroughly trounced by Mid Peninsula, 55-28. Posen defeated the Trojans 16-6 last year but had some players recovering from injuries.

Coach Glenn Budnick hadn?t received a lot of information on Cedarville earlier in the week, but he knew their opponent is part of a combined program with De Tour, and that their starting backfield is returning from a year ago. ?We?ve had the upper hand on them the last few years, and I?m sure they are going to be looking to get one back on us,? said Budnick. Other than playoff games, the Viking football program hasn?t lost in the UP in the regular season since 1999 against Pickford, two weeks after the shutout loss to Cedarville.

BUDNICK BELIEVES special t

eams might play an important role in the outcome of the game and his squad should have an advantage with Kroll returning as kicker. ?When you return a guy who can kick off, punt for you, and pin a team deep in its own territory and make them go the whole length of the football field to score, that just makes it easier on the defense,? said Budnick. The defense had a lot of holes to fill because of graduation, but played well in poor weather conditions during last week?s scrimmage. ?I think our defense performed very well. We?re ahead of schedule in getting our base defense in and adding the stunts,? said Budnick.

The offense has a lot of weapons and may be destined for another 300-point season. ?We made some mistakes and that?s what we?ve been working on this week,? he said. ?We were able to get the ball up and down the field like we wanted to.? More details on the team will be included in the fall sports preview in next week?s Advance.