The Vikings will open District 14-6A play on the road at Tomball Memorial on Friday in the first of eight straight league matchups.
Bryan has been searching for answers after a 49-7 loss to A&M Consolidated on Sept. 4, using last week’s bye to help aid in the hunt.
“The main thing is to look at the schemes that we are using, the offensive things that aren’t going good — do we need to improve it or do we need to go somewhere else?” Bryan coach Ross Rogers said. “You’d like to have it figured out before so you don’t have to do that, but when you play a team as talented as Consolidated, they show you your weaknesses and things you need to be better at going into a district that is going to be pretty tough as well.”
The Vikings (1-1) also had a few players walk gingerly off the field after the Consol game. Senior starters on defense Nick McDaniel and Caleb Merrell will be ready to go after not finishing against the Tigers.
Through the first three weeks, 14-6A appears not to be so top heavy but is much more balanced than last season, especially with Bridgeland and Cypress Park having senior classes for the first time.
“I said when we came in that I didn’t maybe think we had that top team, but we had more at that [middle] level,” Rogers said. “Now after watching Cy-Ranch, I’m not sure that they still aren’t the top team and everyone else is trying to be at the next level.”
The Vikings will open district against three teams Rogers says are serious playoff contenders — Tomball Memorial, Langham Creek and Bridgeland. That starting schedule plus the fact that 14-6A is a nine-team district means it’s going to take some work for the Vikings to end their two-year playoff drought.
Bryan’s focus begins with the Wildcats, who have flashed a strong offense so far this season. Tomball Memorial has the top rusher in the district in junior Carbrey Barnes and the second-most proficient passing game with junior quarterback Colton Marwill throwing primarily to wideouts Logan Kyle and Joseph Manjack. Barnes has 528 yards rushing, more than 200 yards better than his closest competitor in the district, and averages 8.1 yards a carry.
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“He is more of grinder inside,” Rogers said in comparing him to former Wildcat running back Christian Lovick, who ran for 174 yards last season in a 20-14 win over the Vikings. “It’s not that he doesn’t have speed. He is just going to pound you and pound you, which opens things up if he’s able to do that.”
Kyle, who has committed to sign with Vanderbilt, is second in 14-6A with 17 receptions, and Manjack is fourth with 15. The two combined have caught all seven of Marwill’s touchdown passes.
“Manjack, I don’t know his top-end speed, but I do know Kyle can take it to the house in a hurry,” Rogers said. “It gives them weapons on both sides.”
Defensively, the Wildcats return nine starters and play a scheme the Vikings probably won’t see again this season.
“It’s a helter-skelter defense, and it’s not what old coaches think is sound,” Rogers said. “They do a lot of slanting, and they will go over two gaps, and a lot of times you look up and they have two helmets in the same gap. But it seems to work out for them.”
Bryan is the lone 14-6A team not to have played a district game and is hoping to avoid falling behind in the playoff race like last season, when it took the Vikings until the third week of district to get a victory.
But the veteran Rogers knows the playoff hunt isn’t a sprint and will keep his focus on improving week by week.
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