With just four games left in the season, the Berry Vikings are fully aware that in order to remain in position to defend their Southern Athletic Association championship for the sixth straight time, they have no room for error.
 
                That means in their remaining outings, the Vikings have to post a "W" in the win column each time, and that begins Saturday when Berry heads to Conway, Ark., for a 2 p.m. SAA showdown with the Hendrix Warriors.
 
                "There's zero room for error if we want to defend our conference championships," Berry head coach Tony Kunczewski said as the Vikings, now 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference, trail SAA unbeatens Trinity and Birmingham-Southern in the standings. "Bu you can't be 8-2 unless you're 1-0 each week."
 
                There's no doubt that the Vikings will not be overlooking Hendrix, that despite having a 1-5 record (0-3 SAA) and coming off a double-overtime loss to Rhodes will have their sights set on Berry, which edged the Warriors by a point last spring by a point in the final game of the shortened season that wrapped up the Vikings' fifth title in a row.
 
                Berry, however, enters the game having put impressive back-to-back outings, the latest coming last week when the Vikings rolled past conference foe Sewanee 59-0. It was the second-most points scored in a game in program history.
 
                In that contest, Berry remained in a potent offensive mode as the team finished with 472 yards in total offense – 284 of that on the ground.
 
                Leading the run game for the second straight week were freshmen running backs Josh Rogers and Brandon Cade, with Rogers having his best day as a Viking running for 102 yards on just eight careers, three of those resulting in touchdowns, while Cade added another 82 yards and a touchdown.
 
                "It's good to have a 1-2 punch," Kunczewski said, adding that the team has the depth in the backfield thanks to Carter Morgan and Jonahan Maisonave, while quarterback Gavin Gray proved he could tote the ball as well as throw it as he ran for 42 yards to go along with a second-straight game with strong passing statistics.
 
                Against Sewanee, Gray completed 18 of 26 passes for 183 yards and a pair of touchdowns, with Cameron Kawa leading the receiving corps with six catches for 44 yards and a TD, and TJ Watkins giving the team its longest TD reception of the season that went for 70 yards.
 
                "He was extremely accurate and he ran the ball well," Kunczewski said out the junior quarterback. "We got off to a slow start, but picked it up. A lot of that had to do with Sewanee.
 
                "And that (70-yard TD pass by Watkins) was important doe us right before halftime," the coach added, who saw the team's offensive line continue to open up holes and provided the pass protection.
 
                As equally notable to Kunczewski was the play of the special teams and the Vikings defense.
 
                Kicker/punter Matthew Syverson had his best day this fall as he converted all eight extra point conversions, kicked a 39-yard field goal, had three touchbacks on his seven kickoffs and had four punts for a 53.8-yard average, three of those over 50 yards with the longest going 70 yards. That effort resulted in the junior being named the SAA Special Teams Player of the Week.
 
                Defensively, Berry came up with an effort in nearly every category, including coming up with three takeaways, was what Kunczewski was looking for, and a goal-line stand in the third quarter that saw the Vikings stop Sewanee at the Berry 1-yard line and then block an attempted field goal.
 
                "It was the right attitude to have," the coach pointed out.
 
                The Vikings also scored their first defensive touchdown of the season when Ben Prescott forced a fumble and Jordan Wilson scooped up the ball and returned it for an 18-yard touchdown, while Elohim Hull and Luke Filipkowski each had an interception.
 
                Against Hendrix, Kunczewski knows that the Vikings will be facing a team hungry for a win.
 
                "We expect them to give it their best shot," he said. "Offensively, they have a lot of weapons and they have a very experienced secondary.
 
                "It gets more difficult for us in our last four games and I told the guys not to be fooled by Hendrix."