FLORENCE — Siuslaw followed a state title in 2006 with a Far West League championship and trip to the Class 4A quarterfinals last year, with a team that included 22 seniors.

When that group graduated, they took a lot of talent with them.

What they left behind — at least in the eyes of this year’s group — is a more complete team, one without the same skills, but with greater unity and a desire to continue the school’s strong football tradition.

“Last year, there were two teams inside the team,” said senior lineman Mike Bradley. “Last year’s seniors didn’t nurture the underclassmen.

“We decided we didn’t want to be like that.”

So the new senior class took the initiative last spring to hold team meetings — without the coaches — to talk about expectations and how to be a complete team this fall. They carried that over to workouts during the summer and a team campout just before fall camp opened.

“We had the whole team camp out,” said senior Joe Swesey. “It was awesome.”

The players know a big part of the Vikings’ tradition is having a tight team chemistry.

“That’s definitely the most important thing,” Swesey said.

Siuslaw coach Tim Dodson, himself a former Viking, reminds the players often of the importance of being a family, and tells them that his best memories aren’t of wins and losses, but of the friendships. His message isn’t lost on the players.

“The football team has amazing tradition,” said senior quarterback Jacob Mitchell, adding that one of the team’s goals is to thrive on that attitude.

“We’ve got to enjoy being together the entire season.”

Mitchell recognizes the role of Siuslaw’s coaches — many of them, like Dodson, former Vikings — in maintaining that tradition.

“Our strength each year is our coaching staff and our willingness to help each other, not only as football players, but also as people,” he said.

Siuslaw’s trademarks — aside from the team’s traditional veer offense — have been the family attitude and hard work, the latter attribute the other key for achieving the team’s potential this year.

“We’ve got an awesome group of guys,” Mitchell said. “We’re willing to learn. It’s probably the hardest-working group that I’ve been acquainted with.”

The Vikings need that, he added.

“We knew from the get-go that to be successful, we were going to have to be the hardest-working group of guys,” he said.

Bradley might be the best example of that. He returns as a starter on both sides of the line despite weighing in at about 150 pounds. (During summer weightlifting, Bradley did have the team’s top lift in the squat — 286 pounds.)

“One thing Coach has been big on this year is we’re almost never going to be the biggest, fastest or strongest team, but we’re always going to be the hardest working,” Bradley said.

Siuslaw will try to combine that work ethic with talent to build another strong team.

The most-honored talent of the bunch is Mitchell, who quarterbacked the Vikings to that state title in 2006 and has been the Far West League’s first-team pick at the position each of the last two falls.

“He’s good,” said Swesey. “It’s not just his skills. He knows the game.”

Mitchell’s love for the game has driven his rise into a top player, Swesey said.

Swesey is the top returning receiver, and will be called on to have a bigger role this year.

“He got several touches a game last year,” Dodson said. “He’ll get a few more this year.”

That could include receptions, handoffs and kick and punt returns.

“He’s going to be fun to watch,” Dodson said.

Trevor Smith also started for the Vikings last fall, at running back, but has been moved to receiver this fall. Junior Hayden Hiatt likely will be an emerging running back in the veer offense this season.

Mitchell is excited about the people who will be up front blocking for the offense.

“Our line, while inexperienced, is extremely willing to learn,” he said. “They are working to get better, and get better quickly.”

Bradley and Devin White return as starters, while juniors John Duman and Ryan Larson also saw time up front during some games last year. Duman, like Bradley, is undersized, listed at 160 pounds. But Dodson said lack of size hasn’t been a problem for Bradley.

“If you could package Mike Bradley, you’d just be awesome,” he said. “He is one of our prototypical linemen that we have — all 150 pounds of him. I don’t know what it is about our program, but every year we have one of those guys and they do an awesome job for us.”

The team will continue to thrive on the veer and Mitchell’s ability to run it well.

“The offense is going to be pretty good,” Smith said.

Meanwhile, Siuslaw will try to compensate for the loss of seven defensive starters to graduation with new starters filling the gaps.

The returning starters — White and Bradley on the line, Swesey at defensive back and Smith at linebacker — form a good core.

Dodson said that just knowing those players were able to break through to take starting spots on a roster with 22 seniors says a lot about them, adding that Smith will be a top defender.

“He’s going to anchor our defense inside and out,” Dodson said.

One other relative newcomer to defense is Mitchell, who wasn’t allowed to see action on that side of the ball the past two years so he could focus on his quarterback duties and stay healthy.

“I’m excited,” he said.

Mitchell played some defensive back for the varsity team late his freshman year and will be in the backfield again this season.

“We’re going to use him defensively because he’s too good to keep off the field,” Dodson said.

Others will fill the gaps.

“I think the defense is going to be really good,” Smith said.

Dodson, too, thinks the team could become a strong group.

“Obviously, when you lose 22 seniors, you’re going to suffer those effects the following fall,” he said. “We’re going to have a little growing pain. But I’m excited about the kids who are here and the attitude of the kids and the work ethic of the kids.”

The Vikings have 14 seniors this year, and Dodson expects that trend to continue as the school’s enrollment drops — the school could be down to 450 students by next year.

“We lost a lot of kids, and obviously those numbers had been in our program over four years,” he said.

“We haven’t replaced them with quantity, but we definitely have with quality.”

And that’s perhaps best illustrated by how the seniors took ownership of their role by calling the players-only meetings in the spring.

“That’s part of being a senior,” Dodson said. “It’s your team and you can do a couple things — you can flaunt your seniority and not do anything, or you can use your seniority to benefit the people around you.

“I would hope in our world, that’s what we’d want everybody to do. To get kids to think of others first, especially a senior — when you can be the top dog and humble yourself enough to talk to freshmen and you can humble yourself enough to want to include everyone — that’s a great trait.”

That leadership could help the team to another playoff run this fall.

The Vikings would love to finish the season that way, but a playoff trip isn’t necessarily the mark of a successful year.

“Really, our team is about, ‘You come in and be the best you can be,’” Mitchell said. “One of the senior goals was to win another league championship. If we put our best effort in and it’s not there, we’re not going to be disappointed.”

Dodson has kept that same philosophy throughout his coaching career, with great success, saying if the team does its part in preparation, the wins will take care of themselves.

“They will,” he said. “I don’t know how many.

“Twenty years from now, our kids will look back on this football season and have great memories. I don’t care if we win them all or lose them all, those memories are going to be positive.”