FWB offense to have its hands full with Pine Forest

FORT WALTON BEACH — It’s safe to say that the Fort Walton Beach football team’s offensive game plan heading into tonight’s playoff bout with Pine Forest isn’t much of a secret.

Without quarterback Luke Barnes, the Vikings (5-4) will rely heavily on the ground game to push back the Eagles (8-1) when the two play at 7:30 p.m. at Pine Forest in the Class 4A regional quarterfinals.

Breaching the Pine Forest defense would have been a towering task to begin with. The Vikings now have to do it playing just their third complete game under their new run-heavy mentality.

“We’re going to have to pick and choose our runs and our passes to give us an opportunity to move the ball,” Vikings coach Mike Owens said. “But we’re going to have to be physical. We’re going to have to make our mind up to move the ball and slow the game down a little bit, because offensively they’re very explosive.”

Former JV starter Ryan Thompson will once again get the call as the starter at quarterback tonight. The sophomore has thrown 31 passes in two starts this season as the Vikings have leaned on running backs T.C. Carter and J.T. White for the grunt work. The tandem will have its work cut out for it against Pine Forest. The Eagles defense has only given up more than 20 points three times this season.

No wonder it’s the first thing Owens mentions about them.

“They’re very athletic, a lot of speed especially defensively,” Owens said before pausing in thought and adding, “A lot of speed.”

For Carter and White, the offense is preparing for one of the best defenses they’ve seen all year. The two have combined for 55 carries and 461 yards in the Vikings’ last two games.

“Coach knows the weaknesses of our quarterbacks,” White said. “I think now we have more experience, so we really can — when we need to — punch it down into the end zone when we need to. I think we’re OK in our offense.

“All we need now is for the defense to step up and hopefully we can do the rest.”

The defense will contend with a fierce Pine Forest rushing attack which features three 600-yard rushers in Victor Brown (127 carries, 1,047 yards, 10 touchdowns), A.J. Clark (94, 786, 13) and Loucheiz Purifoy (59, 639, 4).

“We’ll have a plan and our kids will play hard,” Owens said. “I think they’ll have to help us some, but it’s high school football. Anything can happen.”

Editor’s note: Owens received numerous calls wondering about the possible involvement of Viking football players in an altercation that took place Monday between students from Crestview, Niceville and Fort Walton Beach at Crestview High after a girls basketball game, which was reported in Thursday’s newspaper. None of the Fort Walton Beach students were football players.