DANVILLE — With success comes expectations, and the Danville Vikings are learning that fact.

On Friday night, Danville got a shot of reality from the Mattoon Green Wave, but the top-rated Vikings responded with a 48-17 victory.

“Sometimes when we know it’s not a bigger team, we slack off,’’ Danville senior Eddie Clark said. “And when you slack off that takes days away from you.

“And then when a team comes out and plays like Mattoon did, it knocked us back that we weren’t mentally ready.’’

Mattoon (1-1) needed just six plays after the opening kickoff to take a 3-0 lead on a 30-yard field goal by Doug Henness.

That was one of the wakeup calls for Danville.

Clark quickly got things turned around with a 57-yard kickoff return and then the senior capped four-play, 31-yard drive with his first of three touchdowns on a 3-yard run.

“We take pride in how we play and we have the players to make it happen,’’ Clark said. “So, we should be playing better.’’

The Vikings turned that 6-3 lead into a 20-3 advantage as junior strong safety Devin Lewis returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown and senior defensive end Andrew Miller set up Clark’s second score with a blocked punt.

It was the first interception and touchdown for Lewis in his varsity football career.

“It felt good. I was in the right place at the right time,’’ Lewis said. “We made a little improvement this week, but we can still get better. And, we need to keep getting better.’’

Danville football coach B.J. Luke agreed with Lewis, saying he saw improvement in some phases of the game.

“We’re still working defensively trying to get better, trying different things,’’ he said. “They exposed us a little bit with the pass. We are working at it.

“Mattoon slapped us in the face a little bit and I think that made this a good game to get us ready for next week.’’

Danville (2-0) will face the Bloomington Purple Raiders (1-1) in a critical Big 12 Conference contest next Friday at Ned Whitesell Field.

“We have to keep getting ourselves better each week,’’ Luke said.

For the second week in a row, the Vikings allowed a team to throw for more than 170 yards.

Mattoon’s Shaunesy Carlen was 11-of-31 for 174 yards and pair of touchdowns.

“We need better secondary play,’’ said Clark, a three-year starter at safety for Danville, who did have one of the team’s three interceptions.

Both of the Green Wave touchdowns were scoring strikes to senior Michael Heller, who had four catches for 123 yards. They also came after the Vikings had built a 17-point lead and a 37-point lead.

“We didn’t have a great week of preparation this week,’’ Luke said. “We really struggled with our focus. It’s not always about the other guys, sometimes it’s about us and getting ourselves prepared and ready to play.

“When we get out ahead, it’s like our practices. We lose focus, and our defensive backs relax. (Mattoon) kept going at us and it was good work for our kids. We still have work to do.’’

Senior defensive lineman Tommy Rose admitted the Vikings fell asleep in the first half.

“We had to get that fixed at halftime,’’ he said. “We still haven’t gone as hard as we are supposed to go this year.’’

Danville looked like a different team in the third quarter as the Vikings outgained the Green Wave 165-2 en route to taking a 48-11 lead.

“There was a big talk about us not playing as hard as we usually play at halftime,’’ said Clark, who had five carries for 65 yards in the third quarter.

While Danville’s first-string offense didn’t score on 8-of-9 possessions, the Vikings still racked up 362 yards — 290 of those coming on the ground.

“We had some good drives,’’ said Luke, whose team had a nine-place drive and 10-play drive in the second half. “We mixed up the run and the pass a little bit, but we still didn’t show a lot.

“This game was good work for us.’’

The Vikings will be trying for three wins in a row against the Purple Raiders next Friday at Ned Whitesell Field.

A year ago, Danville’s MykeTez Forman booted a field goal in the final seconds to give the Vikings a 30-28 win in Bloomington.