The Vikings dropped their first football game of the year, but contrary to what the score suggests, the game was not all bad for Lynbrook.

The Vikings had a few bad breaks on the day that gave the Bruins good field position and ultimately resulted in three touchdowns.

Three times the Bruins took over possession of the football inside the Lynbrook 5-yard line--twice on turnovers and the other time on a bad snap on a punt attempt.

A fumbled pitch on the option was recovered at the one by Branham and the Bruins punched in for the touchdown on the next play.

A bad snap on a punt attempt was covered by Lynbrook at the 4-yard-line, but the Bruins took over on downs. An encroachment penalty moved the ball to the 2-yard line, and Branham scored on the next play.

A third time, Branham intercepted a Lynbrook pass and ran it deep into Lynbrook territory. The touchdown-saving tackle at the 1-yard line only put off the inevitable--Branham scored on the next play.

Still, some good came out of the loss, according to Lynbrook head coach Darrell Williams. "We have a young program this year, and we are here to compete," he said.

This is Williams' first year at Lynbrook, where he has succeeded in his first goal of increasing the size of the team. Lynbrook has come from a team of 22 players to a varsity roster of more than 40 and a frosh-soph team of nearly 50 players.

"We have a new charter bus to take us to games and we also have team sweats that I think will instill some pride in our team," said the coach. The pride has definitely drawn a crowd for the Vikings this season, at least among the players.

The game was not without its big plays and heroes. The Vikings Johhny Hiuzar took the ball and ran like crazy. The back ran for 89 yards on 14 carries, with a 33-yard break where he was caught just short of the touchdown. The run put the Lynbrook on the Branham side of the field, but the Vikings were unable to capitalize.

The Lynbrook line did its best to keep quarterback Mike Thurman safe in the pocket and open the holes for the running backs. Members of the O-line include tackles Khoa Dinh and Ryan Dormishian, guards Hunter Poole and Jason Kaye, and center Jonathan Kang.

Lynbrook will face Prospect on Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m., at the Cupertino High School field, where the Vikings will try to take what they learned from last week's loss and try to focus on making it work.

"One of the positives of losing is knowing we need to focus on execution," said Williams.

The Panthers are 1-1 this season. They opened the season with a loss to The King's Academy, but evened their record with a 14-3 win over Sequoia in Redwood City last weekend.