It was never going to be easy for the Niles North varsity football team. As the smallest school playing in the Central Suburban League South, a conference regarded as one of the best in the state of Illinois, the Vikings were underdogs in nearly all of their games this year. Playing against teams such as the defending Class 8A state football champions, Maine South, as well as other large schools such as New Trier and Evanston is a challenge for any team, and very few people gave the Vikings a chance in their conference games. But instead of feeling sorry for themselves, the team fought valiantly to a 2-7 record, and often played better than their record indicated.

However, it was not their performance on the field that showed the team’s true character, but rather their impressive display of unity and strength in the wake of a difficult off-the-field investigation into a hazing allegation brought against the team. These serious allegations threatened to end the Viking’s season at its midpoint, but through cooperation between the school administration, local authorities, and members of the football team, the appropriate action was taken in response and the Viking’s season continued without interruption.

The Vikings began the season with a record of two wins and one loss, with the victory coming in an impressive performance against Leo High School, and the losses coming against De La Salle Institute and Schaumburg High School respectively.

The fourth game of the season was the most triumphant moment for the Vikings in the 2017-18 season, and truly showed the never say die attitude of the team. Away at Elk Grove High School, the Vikings were losing by 21 points in the second quarter of the game. Coming back from three touchdowns is nearly unheard of in the sport of football, but the team maintained belief that they could achieve an improbable victory.

“Even when we were losing pretty badly, the team was very serious. Some of us may not have thought we could come back to win, we knew that we had to try as hard as we could in the second half to at least make it a game. We knew we had to give 100 percent for each other.” Todian Daveed, junior, said.

Against all odds, the Vikings fought back from their 21 point deficit to force overtime with a sensational performance on both sides of the ball. The team later scored a touchdown to win the game 35-34, and the team immediately burst into celebration.