The North Posey boys’ soccer team has quite a set of bookends this season.

There are nine seniors on the Vikings this season and nine freshmen, not leaving much in the middle years, but making coach Bob Dale hopeful.

"I think we look fairly good so far," Dale said. "We’ve got a fairly large group of seniors, but we also have nine freshmen, so we’re kind of lean in the middle years, but thus far, we’ve looked pretty good."

The seniors include a group which has gotten a lot of playing time since their freshman year and who are spread out over the field, including back Will Stock, midfielder Drew Murray and Kyle Kelley up front. All four are senior captains, which gives the Vikings plenty of leadership down the middle.

What are the Vikings going to have to work on, especially with nine frosh on the roster?

"For us, working on teaching our system to the younger players," Dale sad. "We’ve got some young players who are good athletes who I think will play for us, but they don’t know how the defense works yet and how the pace of play is at the high school level and how to play that way for two 40-minute halves."

In addition to the seniors, Dale expects big things from sophomore goalkeeper Rylan Gentil this year, who has grown bigger and has played on a travel team during the spring, then attended a number of goalkeeper camps this summer. Gentil should be a big presence for the Vikings in the net this season, the coach said.

Heritage Hills and Gibson Southern will again be among North Posey’s toughest challengers this year, while Central will have a good team and Memorial will be on North Posey’s agenda at the River City Classic.

"We don’t know if Memorial’s going to send their first team or their second team," Dale said of the game in Evansville. "Either one of those team are tough teams and that’s a good program, so those are the tough teams we’ll face."

Dale said that the team will go into each game thinking they can win, especially with the large senior contingent. That’s important, since any hesitation would not be a good sign.

"I don’t think they’re afraid of any team we play," the coach explained. "That’s a big plus for us."

Dale is looking forward to a good season overall, adding that the Vikings’ field is now lighted and there will be a full reserve team ready to play.