TOPEKA, Kansas (WIBW) – With two weeks left until the start of the high school football season, the Vikings could once again make a splash in Class 5A.

Seaman is coming off a sectional loss to eventual state champion Mill Valley and finished with a 6-5 record. This team returns all-state quarterback Max Huston, who led the state in pretty much every statistical category.

Bryer Finley, Thomas Osborne, they have a lot of good players back this season. This program has taken the next step every year under head coach Jared Swafford, who is in his fourth year.

Since, according to Swafford, there are no “I” players in the squad, it’s all about getting a foot in the door again.

“This year I really want to make sure we play all four quarters every game and not put ourselves in a situation where we feel like, man, we dropped one,” Swafford said. “Then we keep talking about how you can’t win the last game without the first one when you go into the playoffs.”

“We have kids that want to play college football, that have the mindset to go further in football than just saying ‘I’m on the football team just to look cool,'” Osborne said. “We have kids that want to make it, that want to win, that want to raise the standard, they want to be that standard.”

“There’s something special about this team because we’ve been here with Swafford all these years. We have a good connection with the coach, that’s just something special,” Finley said.

The Vikings did very well last year, winning state championships in volleyball and girls basketball. The boys basketball team won it back in 2022. What’s it like for the football team, which has never won a championship, to see other programs do it?

“I think for them, it’s about representing the school like a lot of other programs do, and that’s something they really want to do. Our student section is always full, and we always have a lot of kids coming here, our community coming, and our stadium is always full. We have to return the favor by showcasing other programs, and that’s what we want to have here,” Swafford said. “I think they want to represent our school’s football program at a high level, and I have no doubt that we’re taking the steps to get there.”

“Not having that banner hanging in the gym obviously put a little fight in our hearts to go out and win the state championship, and I mean, I think we needed to do it and we have the potential,” Finley said.

They open the season away against Piper.

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