varsity.roanoke.com

Marcus Yam | The Roanoke Times

Northside's Tyler Fisher (12) celebrates with his teammates after the Vikings scored a touchdown against Stuarts Draft last week.

Last week was a big one for the Northside football team.

The Vikings defeated Stuarts Draft to win their first playoff game since 2000.

This week, an even larger challenge lies ahead.

Northside will face off against the No. 1-ranked Group AA team in Virginia, Brookville, and a powerful offense helmed by Virginia Tech commit Logan Thomas in the Region III Division 3 semifinals on Friday.

And if that seems daunting for a team that hadn't been to the playoffs since 2002, the Vikings don't show it.

They are just sticking to what get them here.

"We've stayed positive, blocked out what everybody's saying," senior tight end and outside linebacker Xavier Duckett said. "Keep focusing, keep proving people wrong."

And according to Duckett, there are a fair amount of people in Northside High School's own halls to prove wrong.

"There's a lot of stuff at school. 'No way we can win,'" he said. "All they keep talking about is Logan Thomas and that he's going D-I, but they don't see what we see and how far we've come."

They've come pretty far. The Vikings have won twice as many games this year -- six -- as they had in the two previous seasons combined.

And now they have a chance to do something that no team has been able to accomplish all season.

Beat Brookville.

"It's a good opportunity," said senior offensive guard Phillip Bailey. "We made it to the playoffs and ... Stuarts Draft's a good team, and now it's time to really validate ourselves in the playoffs against the best team."

And while Northside's players know what opportunity they have, they also realize how good their next opponent is.

"There's a reason they're 10-0," said senior cornerback and receiver Andrew Mitchell. "They're obviously a good team, but I think we like being the underdogs and we like knowing that no one has any respect for us right now.

"We like going into it with a chip on our shoulder."

The Vikings do have chips on their shoulders. They are underdogs. They do have a huge opportunity.

But they are also excited.

"I think after the game Friday night [if] anybody was anywhere near our locker room [they] would have been able to answer that question for you. They were extremely excited," said head coach Burt Torrence.

"Just with the opportunity, you know? Everybody's gonna say that we don't have a chance and all those kinds of things but ballgames aren't won by word of mouth."

And even if things don't go the Vikings way on Friday, they have to be pleased with how far they've come in Torrence's three-year tenure.

But they hope they're able to prove people wrong again this season.

"This season's been, like I said, the whole mood around the school, now that we're doing a lot better, it's totally different," said Bailey.

"It's a different place in there now.

"I just come to school Monday morning after a win and I feel good because we did something good Friday night instead of people asking me, 'What happened?"

All the Vikings would probably like to feel that way after this weekend.