The Valley Central Vikings opened their Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II schedule on a high note when they posted a 2-1 win over the Minisink Valley Warriors on Friday at Valley Central High School in Montgomery.

The Warriors got on the board first on a goal by Mostafa Khoufaify, but Xavier Fonseca scored the equalizer on direct kick and Sebastian Munoz scored what turned out to the be the game winner.

Nathan Welt made seven saves for Valley Central (1-1, 1-0 OCIAA-II) and James Arias made eight saves for the Warriors (0-2, 0-1 OCIAA-II).

The Vikings are off to a good start after putting together a strong season last year that saw them go 9-7 and post a 7-5 record in the division.

However, they’ve lost 13 players – nine starters – from that team, including: Josh Webb, Joe Rossi, James Joyce, Sean Watson, Josue Morocho, Kyle Grimaldi, Dan Newhall, Tanner Hansen and Anderson Palma.

Fonseca is the Vikings’ top returning player, and they are entering the season with a simple goal: to be a better team every day than they were the previous day with the goal of making the Section 9 Class AA tournament.

They entered the tournament as the fourth seed and eliminated the Wallkill Panthers before getting eliminated themselves by the top-seeded Cornwall Dragons, who went on to win the sectional championship.

“The character of the returning players are just as impressive as we go forward,” Valley Central coach Paul Berkowitz said. “As always, it is an honor to be part of these young engaging athletes’ lives.”

The Vikings opened their season on Wednesday with a 1-0 loss to the Middletown Middies and will host the Dragons in a rematch of last year’s sectional semifinal on Thursday at Valley Central High School.