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In 2007 the Stanton Vikings were the Iowa 8-man state champions. A year later they lost to Armstrong-Ringsted in the state championship game.

This season, Stanton Football Head Coach Don Hicks started camp with nine returning seniors who want to reclaim the title of “Champion.”

“We’ll have about 30-35 out this season,” Hicks said about his 2009 Vikings. “We lost a lot of seniors from last season, but we had a tough (junior varsity) team last year.”

Despite losing 12 starters, the Vikings are anchored by Senior Alex Whigham at running back and Tanner Stubbendeck at quarterback on offense.

“Tanner’s been waiting the last couple years to get his shot,” Hick’s said about Stubbendeck. “He isn’t the pure passer that we’ve seen the last few years, but we should be able to do more option and running with him.”

The defensive line will be returning pre-season all state nose guard Luke Oster and Zach McArthy who played in 12 games last season as a junior.

“It really depends how some of these guys respond this year,” Hicks said. “We have a lot of holes to fill, but these guys have seen some playing time over the last couple seasons.”

Practice started for the Vikings on Aug. 10.

They open at home against Meskwaki Settlement Aug. 28.