Watch Elijah Struther’s postgame interview
Elijah Struther didn’t need to say much to make his point. He had already made it on the field.
The Valley Central corner has five interceptions in four games played, and he missed a game with an injury. One of those picks was the pick-six at Kingston that helped seal the win. He is one of the best corners in New York State, and when Friday Night Films caught up with him after the game, he had something on his mind beyond the stat line.
First, the credit. Asked how it feels to be on a heater, Struther went right to the people around him. “My success is probably my coaches and teammates,” he said.
Then I brought up the defense. Valley Central has given up just seven points each of the last two weeks, and last week’s seven came on a special teams score. The question was how good this unit has been.
Struther had his own answer, and it came with a chip on his shoulder. “Defense is great,” he said. “There’s people talking about how our defense is the problem. It’s really not. We just showed that tonight.”
I’ll be honest: I was stunned. The defense is a problem? From what I’ve seen the last two weeks, the defense is the key to this team. Then Struther told me where it was coming from. “According to KOT, defense is the problem,” he said, referring to Kings of the 845, the outlet that covers area high school sports.
I asked if the group took that to heart. “Yeah, we did,” he said.
That’s the real story of this team right now. The Vikings heard the doubts about their defense, took them personally, and answered with two straight weeks that are hard to argue with. “I think we just keep doing what we’re doing, and we’re good,” Struther said.
The stakes explain the emotion we saw coming off that sideline. “We needed this,” he said. “It’s a playoff game for us. One more win, we’re in the playoffs.”
The sideline also had its own celebration pantomiming the shark fin. When I asked about the shark routine the defense was doing, he said it’s about energy. “It brings energy to the team. Everybody loves it. It just pumps everyone up.”
And what about the crowd he silenced in Kingston? “It did,” he said, when I asked if it felt good.
Valley Central is 4-1 and one win away from the playoffs. The defense some may have questioned is the reason they’re there.
