WINNFIELD — With a 2-6 record, Vidalia Vikings head coach Jeff Hancock has reverted to numbers to lift the spirits of his young football team.

According to Max Preps, should the Vikings score 24 more points this season, Vidalia will have scored the most points it has since the 2008 football season.

“Most of the kids that are in ninth grade were like second-graders then,” Hancock said.

While the offense has provided 147 points this season, the defense has given up 291. But Hancock said the defense has been improving every week, and despite a 43-0 loss to Marksville, the Vikings defense held its ground.

“Of course, the score doesn’t tell you that,” Hancock said. “Our younger guys, especially on defense, have played really well. They’re starting to adjust to the speed of the game. We had a lot of special teams miscues in that game that cost us points.”

Going against Winnfield tonight, a team that is 5-3 and 3-2 in district, Hancock said he’s preparing for a team that has “really good looking athletes.”

“If you just pop in the tape and look at these guys, you’ll see they have a lot of good players,” Hancock said.

Winnfield is riding a three-game winning streak, riding the back of senior running back J’Anthony Foster, who has 572 rushing yards this season.

Defensively, Hancock expects a 3-4 look from the Tigers, and is preparing his team for blitzes.

“I’m sure they’re going to bring a lot of pressure after they saw what Marksville did to us defensively last week,” Hancock said.

The Vikings will attempt to break its four-game losing streak tonight at 7 p.m. on the road.