DANVILLE — After and up and down first three weeks of the season, the Danville football team have more of an hold on what to work on.
Danville head coach Marcus Forrest said after Friday’s loss to Normal West, he had the team look at the game like he and his coaching staff would.
“Our loss last Friday wasn’t about being overpowered, but it was just the kids were being tentative,” Forrest said. “We are getting them to understand that a lot of things change if you play hard. To get them to see it on film and see what we saw changed their mindset about what we meant. A lot of them were apologetic about what they did and for them to find that realization hopefully can translate to this game.”
Even with the loss, there was an highlight when senior quarterback Aiden Henderson threw his first touchdown pass of the season with a 37-yard strike to Jamen Smith.
“Aiden gained some more confidence and experience,” Forrest said. “He was able to run the ball well with physicality and those are things that come from the experience of doing it. He had been tentative about it all summer and when he was able to run the ball, he got excited and was happy about it. He felt good about making a pass and it going for a touchdown. It is a growing process for him and I am happy for his growth. I am excited about the team and where we are.”
Forrest said that there has been some settling in from the team, but it is still a matter of handling a lot of firsts for the Vikings.
“We still have somewhat have settled in and some that are growing. Playing on Friday nights are new, playing someone’s homecoming game was new to them. There have been a lot of firsts weekly,” Forrest said. To go through all of that and experience all of that were the growing pains that we knew they would have. But the fact that they keep coming back, keep staying energetic, and stay ready to learn and get better makes us excited and encouraged. This weekend is about what we have to do because we don’t have to worry about anyone else if we can’t do what we do yet. If we do everything together, it will translate to success.”
The Chargers are 2-1, rebounding from an 42-0 loss to Peoria on Week 1 before pulling off an 8-6 win over Champaign Central and a 46-0 win over Peoria Richwoods.
“They are a physical team and an athletic team,” Forrest said. “They have physical, athletic linebackers, defensive linemen. They cover ground well and play together. They had an athletic quarterback last year and they found another this year. We still have to get better at the small things and once we master our small things, we can press about the others. I never know how they are going to respond until we get in it and they do it.”
The Vikings can expect a lot more fan support at Tommy Stewart Field and also a lot of competition from Charger players that a lot of the Danville players know.
“One of the things with Centennial is that we know a lot of the kids that play there. They have a receiver who has a dad that I know and this receiver played at North Ridge before going to Champaign,” Forrest said. “There is close recognition between the teams and we see each other in different sports.”
The game will start at 7 p.m. on Friday and will be broadcast on WDAN-AM 1490.