Over the bye week, the John Milledge Academy Trojans recovered from six consecutive weeks of regular-season football and began preparations for their region opener vs. the First Presbyterian Day Vikings.
The series dates back to 1973, and it's been an interesting one. As a player, J.T. Wall was 2-1 against the Vikings. As a coach, he's 3-1. However, if you take Wall out of the equation, John Milledge has never defeated the FPD on the gridiron, losing the all 17 contests that Wall wasn't involved in, whether as a player or coach.
The Trojans enter the matchup with an undefeated 6-0 record, and the Vikings are 4-3. The Vikings have had one of the toughest schedules in the GIAA and have losses to St. Anne-Pacelli and their archrival Stratford. Stratford is 5-1 and the defending GIAA 4A state champions. JMA and FPD had developed a rivalry of their own over the years and the two have become very familiar with each other since 2022. The Vikings lead the all time series with 17 wins and just five losses, but the Trojans have won three of the last four games vs FPD making the series more competitive than the record would suggest.
“They (FPD) are a very well coached team that plays hard, fast, and physical,” head coach J.T. Wall said. “They have playmakers at many different positions on offense and they give multiple looks on defense.”
Wall knows his team will still need to clean a few things up before they face the Vikings this Friday and they hope to make those improvements before Friday.
“We have to eliminate the negative plays and cut down on our penalties,” Wall said. “We have to protect the ball and be able to handle the different exotic blitz packages that they use.” Wall added that his team will need to “read our keys and don’t allow the big play” on defense as well.