FPD Vikings prepare to face old foe in our Game of the Week for Week 6
The FPD Vikings (4-1) are preparing to host the Westfield Hornets (3-1) in our Week 6 Game of the Week.
MACON, Georgia – (41NBC/WMGT) – Second-year FPD head coach Brent Collier and his 4-1 Vikings are prepared for a tough 3-1 Westfield Hornets team Friday night in their homecoming game.
These two teams haven’t met since 2009 but have faced off in 29 regular season matchups and eight playoff games. The series, which dates bak to 1977, is split at 19.
The Vikings, coming off their 2023 9-3-1 GIAA AAAA State Championship season, have picked up where they left off by dominating both sides of the ball. FPD is averaging more than 23 points a game, while allowing just eight points a game, including two shutout victories. One of those shutouts came last week, when the Vikings ran for over 488 yards, technically without a single pass thrown all night, in their 47-0 win over Pinewood Academy.
This week, FPD hopes to be physical on the line and run the ball more, especially behind senior captain and the Macon Touchdown Club’s Lineman of the Week, Carson Smith. The lineman was a huge part of the almost 500 yards on the ground last week, grading out at 92%, to go along with two pancake blocks.
“We graduated a big senior class last year, so we had a lot of questions on who is going to be in what spot, and who was going to emerge as leaders,” Collier said Monday. “I think we have all those answered by now of course. I’m just really proud of our kids and the way they’ve worked and battled through the season so far.”
Smith spoke also spoke at Monday’s practice about what it will take to get a win for Homecoming on Friday night.
“We focus on the fundamentals,” he said. “Run the ball; we like to run it a lot. Pass it when we want to, not when we need to, and it just transfers from fall camp out to this. Nothing really changes. We just get better at what we do; more sharp.”
Collier says the Vikings just need to “do what they do.”
“We need to play really hard,” he said. “We need to not make mistakes in the kicking game. We need to run and throw, and don’t give up big plays on defense. That’s the recipe.”
“We’re going to go in there and just play FPD football,” Smith added.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Catch live pregame coverage during 41NBC News at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. Don’t miss highlights from our Game of the Week, and others, on this Friday’s edition of The End Zone during 41NBC News at 11.
