They've gotten back on the winning track, something the program has been familiar with for the past decade.
 
                On Saturday, however, winning takes on a new meaning for the Berry football team when the Vikings will find out Saturday at 3 p.m. if their quest to claim their sixth straight Southern Athletic Conference championship remains alive when they host No. 22-ranked and undefeated Birmingham-Southern in a conference showdown at Valhalla with huge title implications.
 
                A victory keeps Berry in the hunt, but outside looking in as the BSC Panthers and No. 19 Trinity – the two teams that are tied and sit atop the standings square off next week – are in the driver's seat to take the crown away from the Vikings.
 
                "We obviously can't control our own destiny," Berry head coach Tony Kunczewski said, noting the fact that it all boils down to the Vikings needing to win the rest of their games and count on some help to have an outside shot at remaining in the title picture. "It's a tough task for us."
 
                What the Vikings will be up against is a Southern squad that this far as dominated teams both wining and outside of the SAA, and enters the game with a perfect 7-0 overall record and is 4-0 in the conference,
 
                The Panthers bring with them an offense that is the best in the SAA, one that leads the league averaging 500 yards a game – BSC tops the field in rushing as well reeling off an average of 307 yards – and averages 44 points an outing.
 
                Heading up the potent ground game is senior All-American running back Robert Shufford, who leads the SAA averaging 135 yards a game – he needs 53 more yards to go over 1,000-yard mark for the season – and leads the conference in scoring with 16 touchdowns.
 
                Even with that ground threat, the Panthers have the ability to go airborne as quarterback Trey Patterson has thrown for 1,292 yards and 12 TDs this year.
 
                Southern is just as strong on the defensive side of the ball, allowing just nine points a game, and last week's 41-6 SAA win over Rhodes marked the fifth time this season the Panthers have held opponents to single digits in the scoring column.
 
                "They have an All-American tailback, a physical and veteran offensive line and veteran receivers," Kunczewski said, "and their defense is big and physical and do a great job at stopping the run, and they might have the best secondary in the league."
 
                Berry (5-2, 3-1) has plenty of momentum going into the game as the Vikings have won three in a row – during that span they have averaged 50 points – and their clash with the Panthers mark the third time this season that the team will battle a ranked team, with Berry having dropped their first two encounters to Wisconsin-Whitewater and Trinity.
 
                Last week at Hendrix, the Vikings continued their renewed offensive attack in a 42-21 win as they compiled 370 total yards, 217 of those via the run with freshman running back Josh Rogers finishing the day gaining 154 yards on 20 carries and scored three touchdowns.
 
                Rogers and freshman back Brandon Cade give Berry a 1-2 threat in the backfield as Cade leads the team averaging 70 yards a game while Rogers has a 63-yard average for an offense that averages 350 yards. And like BSC, Berry has weapon behind center with quarterback Gavin Gray having thrown for 1,081 yards and seven touchdowns this year.
 
                Berry's defense is giving up 19 points a game, with Connor Cheyunski leading the unit with a team-high 47 total tackles and has a pair of interceptions, Jake Weitkamp has added 44 tackles and defensive back Elohim Hull leads the secondary with 38 tackles and two picks.
 
"I was proud of the way we started," Kunczewski said about the Hendrix game. "But we had a lull in the second quarter and for a lot of the third quarter instead of the KO punch we could have had.
 
                "As a young team, we have to match the intensity of who we play. Looking back, we didn't match the intensity of Trinity when we played them."
 
                Odds are that the last outing between the teams is still fresh in the minds of the Panthers, who saw Berry arrive in Birmingham in the first game of the shortened spring season and come away with a close 26-23 victory that started the run to the Vikings' fifth SAA crown in a row.
 
                But what Kunczewski remembers more about the rivalry was the 2019 meeting between the program when Berry, which was ranked No. 7 in the nation, was handed a 28-15 setback by the Panthers.
 
"We got embarrassed and physically dominated," Kunczewski said. "We had the momentum early (last week against Hendrix), but we didn't sustain it and we lost focus.
 
"We just can't do that this week."