BLANCHARDVILLE — After a long run of successful play year in and year out, the Pecatonica-Argyle Vikings have hit a speed bump over the last few years.

After making the postseason in 2018, the Vikings went 3-6 in 2019, 1-4 in the COVID-shortened 2020 slate, then finished 2-7 a year ago. This season, Jordan Cernek takes over the program — the third head coach since that 2018 playoff season.

“‘Revive the Tradition!’ is our theme this year,” Cernek said. “We will focus on doing the little things right, changing the culture to create young men that will be great men someday. Scoreboard is simply the result of all these little things, so we’re not concerned with the scoreboard, just with doing things with excellence.”

Pec-Argyle graduates its starting quarterback and a slew of other skill position players. The only player returning with an all-conference nod is senior lineman Levi Paust, who earned second-team honors as kicker. However, Cernek likes what he has seen this offseason from his senior class, which he calls a major team strength.

“Senior leadership — a good core of great leaders who have dedicated time this summer to the weight room and leading the team members. Each and every player makes our team better,” Cernek said. 

Last year, the Vikings were out-scored 276-76. In fact, just 20 of Pecatonica-Argyle’s points last season came before the fourth quarter. A challenge Cernek said his team faces comes from the offense — not just to score points, but simply learning the new scheme. He also said players buying into the new coach and coaching staff will be a challenge as well.

In a conference with stellar teams such as Black Hawk-Warren, Potosi-Cassville and River Ridge, climbing above .500 to reach the playoffs will be a challenge. Rival Black Hawk-Warren will await in the final week of the season as well.

“We refer to each opponent as “Team X” because we are going to compete with whoever, whenever,” Cernek said.