A week after narrowly defeating visiting conference rival Onalaska to remain undefeated on the season, the Holmen Vikings (1-0 conference, 3-0 overall) will be hosting the Sparta Spartans (0-1 conference, 2-1 overall) at Empire Stadium in week two of Mississippi Valley Conference action.
The Vikings offense struggled to gain momentum last week and had 4 costly turnovers that could have cost them the game, however, their special teams play and bend but don’t break defense kept them in the game until the fourth quarter when they were able to take the lead on their final drive with a 72 yard halfback option pass from Jack Barth to Ryland Eickhoff and then their defense was able to hold off a late charge by the Hilltoppers for the win. If the Vikings are to continue their winning ways, they will need to find a way to return to the high powered offense that has averaged 275 yds/game on the ground and 65 yds/game through the air and minimize costly turnovers that plagued them in week three. Holmen’s defense will also need to continue to be stingy (allowing an average of approximately 9 pts/game) as they will be tested by the passing attack of the visiting Sparta Spartans.
The upstart Spartans are coming off week 1 of conference play where they lead the Logan Rangers through three quarters before allowing the Rangers to score 23 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Coming into this game, the Spartans are bringing a balanced offensive attack behind the quarterback play of Everett Laufenberg (482 yds passing), running back Camden McTaggart (340 yds rushing) and wide receivers Kayden Kaat (268 yds) and Gus Tripp (167 yds).
Every conference game counts on the road to the playoffs, so expect both teams to show up and leave it all on the field this Friday night as the #7 ranked (Division 2) Holmen Vikings take on the Sparta Spartans who look to get their first conference victory.
Streams starts at 6:45 pm and kick-off is at 7 pm.
Go Vikings!
Watch all Holmen’s games on the WKTY app or online https://wktysports.com/hhs/, as well as on the new Holmen Vikings channel on ROKU streaming devices.
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