Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NILES — The sound of helmets crashing and whistles blowing has filled the air around Vikings Stadium this week as the Niles football team prepares to start the 2024 season.

“It’s good to get back at it,” said Head Coach Scot Shaw. “It’s good to be in a game week when you can put together a game plan instead of trying to get everything organized. Now it’s for a purpose, so it’s been a good week.”

Last year, the Vikings burst onto the scene with a 10-2 record that ended with a loss to Portland in the Division 4 Regional Final. According to Shaw, his team has embraced becoming the “hunted” heading into this season as it doesn’t change their quest for a championship.

“I think we’re okay with it,” he said. “Regardless of what people think of us, we can’t change it, we can only add to it. If you’re competitive and you want championships, that’s where you’ve got to be. You’ve got to be in front of everybody’s eyes.”

Senior Talen Bennett steps in to replace Talon Brawley at quarterback. Bennett will play behind an offensive line that returns most of its starters from last year’s unit. Seniors Paul Hess and Sam Rucker return as two of the area’s top playmakers along with wide receiver Brenden Olsen.

“Talon Bennett is doing a great job at quarterback,” Shaw said. “We haven’t lost a step there and our backs are still fast. Defensively we’ll see if we can hold up up front against bigger teams. We’re not undersized, but we’re not huge and we weren’t last year either. Hopefully we fly to the ball and can make stops and turn the ball around and give it back to our offense because I think we can score.”

For Shaw, the offensive line was the strength of a Vikings offense that averaged 46.5 points per game. Having the majority of that unit return has been a boon for the team.

“When we started in June, when we wanted to walk through a formation, our kids knew right where to go, who they had and all that kind of stuff. That’s good for us in the sense that their confidence level is higher when they know what they’re doing.”

Shaw said the program is starting to reap the benefits of fielding a freshmen, junior varsity and varsity team for the first time in his tenure at Niles.

“Now that we’re gonna have three teams, (the consistency) is going to happen year after year because they’re doing the same thing we’re doing,” Shaw said. “It’s what a program’s supposed to be.”

For Shaw, the sky is the limit for this year’s group and St. Joseph was the first test.

“We tell these guys that last year’s success was last year’s team,” Shaw said. “This team has to make its own success and it’ll be this year’s seniors and I truly believe that. The team personality is a little bit different  we’re a little bit quieter but that doesn’t mean that we’re not gonna be as fast or as excited or anything like that. We have a quieter demeanor but I think that we’re bigger, we’re stronger and just as fast as or maybe even faster than we were last year.”