The Snohomish County Vikings are looking to carry over the momentum from their final regular season game into this week’s first-round playoff contest.
Snohomish County defeated Pierce County 27-12 in a non-league game June 30 at Bonney Lake High School.
The Vikings led 19-12 at halftime and then went to the ground game in the second half with good success.
“In the second half we were able to run the ball pretty well,” Snohomish County head coach Wes Fischer said.
Running backs Ben Kruse and Erik Emme both were extremely effective, Fischer added.
Snohomish County (3-5 overall) already had clinched a berth in the Pacific Football League playoffs. The Vikings face the Yakima Mavericks July 7 at Marquette Stadium in Yakima.
“We played pretty well (against Pierce County),” Fischer said. “Overall, we’ve improved. … We’re going to need to be able to run the ball and get down in the red zone and score. Some three and outs on defense would be good.”
Mike Mattila started at quarterback for Snohomish County but was pulled in the second half after injuring his right knee. Charlie Combs then took over for the rest of the game.
“He did a good job for us,” Fischer said.
The Vikings, however, didn’t take advantage of all their scoring opportunities when they got deep into Pierce County territory.
“The biggest frustration was getting inside their 15-yard line and turning the ball over on downs,” Fischer said. “We probably could have scored two or three more times.”
Snohomish County also had a field goal blocked.
“We’re going to really focus in practice on run scenarios in the red zone and see if we can’t get it done,” Fischer said.
The Viking defense shut down the Bengals fairly well. One of Pierce County’s two touchdowns was an interception return.
Yakima defeated Snohomish County 46-12 on June 23. The Vikings turned the ball over four times and were in the red zone three times without scoring any points.
“We’re going to have to travel well and have a little bit of luck,” Fischer said.
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