In their last game of the regular season, the Vikings take on AIK on June 8th, with a 14:00 kickoff at Frogner stadion. The Vikings are coming off a bye week where they played some friendly flag football games against St. Olaf College. The flag football tournament provided an opportunity for the Vikings to get the competitive juices flowing with minimal risk of injury, and they are now primed and ready to fight for their place in the quarterfinals.
AIK on the other hand are coming off a loss against the Black Knights, but they’re in the same boat looking to secure a playoff spot. AIK is a team that has relied heavily on their defense to stay competitive. They rank dead last in scoring, putting up just 9.3 points per game. Their defense on the other hand has performed in the middle of the pack, allowing right around 3 fewer points per game than the Vikings. The AIK defense has also been swarming to the ball, with tackles being spread throughout the entire defense.
The Vikings go into this matchup enjoying the confidence boost of the past two wins. While AIK has been slightly better on defense throughout the season, the Vikings have been far better on offense. The Vikings have scored 26.2 points per game, about 17 points more per game than AIK. Based off of both teams performances so far this year, the Vikings should have a slight edge in this matchup.
Players to watch
#8 Rune Nilsen has been climbing the total rushing yards list. With one more game to play in the regular season, he sits in third, 129 yards behind the current leader. After a massive performance against the Griffins, it will be interesting to see if he can make up some ground in the rushing leader race.
Another player to watch out for in this game shares the offensive backfield with Nilsen. #12 CJ Fowler has provided fireworks in the past two wins for the Vikings, throwing for 8 touchdowns and adding 69 yards scrambling. When CJ plays well, the Vikings offense tends to score a lot of points.
Attempting to slow down the Vikings offense is #11 Gaston Gunnberg-Quérat. The DB is AIK’s leader in tackles with 29.5, 2 tackles for loss, has forced 1 fumble, recovered 2 fumbles, and has recorded 1 interception and 2 pass breakups. Gunnberg-Quérat can cause some problems all over the defensive backend, and is a willing tackler. It will be interesting to see how he stacks up against a Vikings offense that is firing on all cylinders.
Tune in to see for yourselves how this all-on-the-line game plays out – join live at Frogner stadion, or watch the live stream by clicking here