Fresh from winning their season opener, the Berry Vikings hit the road for the first time this season when they head south down U.S. Route 27 to face in-state rival LaGrange College in a non-conference game.
            And despite seeing his football team open the schedule rallying for a 20-14 victory last week over Maryville, head coach Tony Kunczewski knows that the Vikes will have their work cut out for them against the non-conference foe Panthers.
            "We have a lot of work to do," Kunczewski said looking back at what he saw coming off the season-opening win. "The best thing is that we got to learn from a win instead of a loss."
            Against the Scots, Berry overcame a 14-7 halftime deficit with a much better second-half performance on both sides of the ball, particularly on defense where the Vikings yielded just Defense gave up 169 total yards – 28 on the ground – for the game and only 49 in the final 30 minutes.
Brock Skinner headed up the Viking defense leading the team with eight tackles and two sacks – Berry ended the night recording seven sacks – while Elohim Hull added six tackles.
            "I was pleased with how (the defense) played," Kunczewski said. "What stood out was up front and we need to take advantage of that this week,"
            Offensive against the Scots, Berry ended the game rolling up 254 yards, 125 of those on the ground and 158 through the air.
             Gavin Gray led the team completing 14 of 23 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown, while running back Brandon Cade rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown, and earned a start in the backfield this week.
            Kunczewski pointed out that the unit is still finding its niche under a new offensive coordinator – Colin Duling – and the offensive line that has had to overcome preseason setbacks in one form or another needs "more time to jell."
            "A lot of it had to do with Mayville," Kunczewski said. "Their defense is really senior heavy, and their head coach knows about what we do."
            Against LaGrange, Berry will find itself facing a team that, although is coming off a 42-17 loss last week to Southern Athletic Conference member Birmingham Southern, is not to be overlooked.
            "They're big and fast, but they're really young," Kunczewski said about the Panthers. "It's a highly athletic team.
            "I know their head coach pretty well," he said, referring to LaGrange coach Fred Chambers, who is in his third season at LaGrange. "He's a very good coach."
            Against Birmingham Southern, the Panthers broke out to a 17-14 halftime lead but was unable to keep up the pace in the final two quarters.
            In that game, LaGrange compiled 378 yards in total offense, 291 of those yards in passing. The Panthers defense, however, gave up 426 yards to Southern with 330 of those coming on the ground.
LaGrange used a pair of quarterbacks in that game, Shedrick Lindsey (8 of 15 passing for 155 yards and one TD) and Damione Ward (8-18 for 136 yards and a TD), with tight end De'Queze Fryer – he was one of nine receivers who hauled in passes – recording five receptions
            "We expect improvement this week," Kunczewski said. "We're still a young team overall, especially on offense.
            "And we understand that we'll continue to have a bullseye on our backs week after week."