CHAMPAIGN — For more than 2 hours, the Danville Vikings sat on the bus thinking about a 70-18 loss to the Crete-Monee Warriors.
It’s the type of defeat that can make lesser athletes quit.
But, that hasn’t been the case this week for the Vikings (1-4). Instead, according to head coach Marcus Forrest, there has been a good deal of energy and positive thoughts as Danville prepares for a Big 12 rivalry contest against the Champaign Central Maroons this Friday night at Tommy Stewart Field in Champaign.
“It’s been a licking our wounds and building confidence back up,’’ Forrest said. “They know realize and understand just how good of a team that Crete was, but they also know that we still have an opportunity to use that game as a lesson for the rest of the season.
“The kids have been upbeat. It’s been a lot of positive work this week and the kids are ready to redeem themselves.’’
Senior Diddy Robinson, who accounted for 97 yards of offense, a touchdown, an interception and a team-high 9 tackles against the Warriors, acknowledged that it was a “demoralizing defeat.’’
“But, we can’t let last week’s game faze us this week,’’ he said. “We have to get over that and prepare for the next game.
“Last week is over. We can only keep pushing forward and hopefully get started on a winning streak.’’
Right now, the Vikings have lost three straight and with four overall losses this season, their playoff hopes are reliant on a four-game win streak to end the season.
“We still let them know that we have an opportunity, but we have to take it one week at a time,’’ Forrest said. “We still need to minimize our mistakes and focus more.
“This week is another Big 12 team and a rivalry that basically dates back to start of football in Danville and Champaign.’’
Forrest said after Friday’s game at Crete-Monee that is was a good learning lesson for Danville.
So, what did the Vikings get from the Warriors?
“It was a hard-fought lesson about how we need to play harder and a 100 times faster,’’ Robinson said. “Hopefully, it’s a lesson that will push us harder in practice and the game.’’
Champaign Central (2-3) is in its first season under Matt Leskis, the former coach at Hoopeston Area.
“They are a team in transition with a new coach, offensively and defensively,’’ Forrest said. “They have athletes that can run around and move. Instead of keeping everything tight (offensively), now they spread it out. They have linemen that really finish blocks. We have seen on film a couple times that their linemen will drive a defender 5-10 yards downfield before putting them on their backs.
“Defensively, they fly around to the ball really well. They have changed from an odd-(man) front to an even front and they move their athletes around. They bring them on blitzes and they are a lot more physical defensively. They are a really, really stout defense.’’
In their two victories over Urbana and Peoria Richwoods, the Central defense has surrendered just 14 points — one touchdown in each game.
Last week, the Maroons defeated the Knights 9-8 at Preston Lee Carney was 1-for-3 on field goal attempts.
“They have a kicker with a really good leg,’’ Forrest said.
Kickoff at Tommy Stewart Field is set for 7 p.m. Friday and the game can be heard locally on WDAN-AM 1490.