Underdog Vikings anxious for playoff game

By Brad Norman | Statesville R&L

Published: November 12, 2008

South Iredell had to sweat it out a bit, but the Vikings were one of 16 football teams to qualify for the 2AA West playoff bracket.

Now they want to take it one step further.

South (4-7) drew the No. 15 seed and will travel to play East Henderson (10-1), which earned the No. 2 seed.

"We're excited to be in the playoffs," Vikings coach Ed Masterton said. "We knew we were going to draw a tough team, but we're exited. We can play with East Henderson. It's a good opportunity to show how good we really are."

The Vikings have been an enigmatic team this season. Despite a 4-7 record, they have outscored opponents 285-235.

"We've got to find a way to eliminate the three or four bad-play stretches that are just killing us," Masterton said.

East Henderson is a team with similar makeup to South Iredell — it likes to run the ball and has some speed in the backfield.

"They have some really good running backs," Masterton said. "They're really fast, they like to run it a lot. And they load up the box on defense, they make you try to throw the ball."