DAVID BARBER

Sports Correspondent

Coming off one of their most successful seasons in school history last season, the Van Vandals will have several new faces take the field Monday, Aug. 1 for the start of pre-season practices leading up to the start of the 2022 campaign.

Vandal Head Football Coach Jared Moffatt discussed the number of participants he is expecting for the first day of workouts when his team hits the field at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Van’s Memorial Stadium.

“Typically, we have averaged 115-125 kids appearing, including around 40 freshmen, and I don’t see those numbers changing much for this season,” said Moffatt, who enters his 13th season with an overall coaching record of 103-39 at Van.

Moffatt said that he has been pleased with the effort and the enthusiasm of his players throughout the offseason program that began in early January.

“Our offseason program for the 2022 season started after we returned to school following the Christmas holidays,” recalled the Vandal head coach. “While the calendar is saying that our workouts officially begin on Aug. 1, we have been preparing since January. Our kids have worked hard in the weight room. After Spring Break, we worked on a lot of football-related skills.

“In the summertime, our players worked out in the weight room four days a week and we got to work on some more football-related skills as well,” continued Moffatt. “Our offense and defense have stayed pretty constant with very few changes. We feel like our kids always come in with a pretty good base of knowledge. If we had to play a game during the first week of practice, we could do it. Our players are not starting over. They are just picking up where they left off. This allows us to get more done in a less amount of time.”

The Vandals are coming off a 12-1 season overall in 2021 including a district championship, a bi-district championship, an area championship and an appearance in the Class 4A, Division 2 regional semifinals. Last season was only the fourth 12-win season in the history of the Vandal football program.

Despite losing 21 lettermen due to graduation following last season, the Vandals return 20 lettermen for 2022.

“We have some extremes on both sides of the scale,” pointed out Moffatt. “We will be returning some three-year starters like linebacker Beau Barton, strong safety and running back Garrett Florey, and receiver Brayden Bradshaw. We have some guys with tons of varsity experience. Offensive lineman Jose Suarez will be a junior this year, but he started as a freshman. On one side of the spectrum, we do have some experienced players that have proven to be really good football players. On the flip side of that, we have some players coming in with no varsity experience. We anticipate starting some sophomores this season.

“Defensively, we have more starters back, six, than we do on offense,” continued the Vandal head coach. “In addition to Beau Barton and Garrett Florey, we have defensive ends Colton Miller and Logan Fattig returning. Also returning is linebacker Brayden Hullum and cornerback Reed Parish. Linebacker Wyatt Dale started as a freshman last season. On the defensive side, we have a lot of good players back and they will need to play well for us early.

“We have four offensive starters back,” said Moffatt. “In addition to Brayden Bradshaw, we have offensive linemen Jose Suarez and Ace Bostick returning. Sergio Salinas returns at tight end. We will have a new center, senior Kepler Multhaup. We have some sophomores that we will be depending on at some key spots. The experience level on our football team varies. Our young players on offense will have to grow up fast.”

Practices for the Vandal varsity and junior varsity players will begin at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Moffatt. The freshmen will practice from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

“When COVID hit a couple of years ago, we had to change our schedule to one practice per day,” recalled Moffatt. “As coaches, we just decided to stay with that schedule especially due to the heat. We will practice two to two and a half hours each day. The heat is not going to alter our schedule so far as what time we start but you have to be smart about it. This is the warmest summer we have had here since 2011. We are going to be dealing with the heat and we have to be mindful of it. We just need to make good decisions about the heat. There may be a time when we don’t wear helmets while we practice. We have a great training staff here. We just need to make good decisions for our players regarding the heat.”

The Vandals will enter a new District 8-4A, Division 2, that features perennial state champion contender Carthage, along with Center, Rusk, Bullard, Brownsboro, and Van Zandt County rival Canton.

Carthage, Center, and Rusk are the newest members of the district while Bullard, Brownsboro, and Canton will remain as district opponents for the Vandals.

“When you talk about our district, you start with Carthage,” said Moffatt. “Carthage has been the best Class 4A football program in the state over the past 10 years or so. They have won eight state championships in the last 13 seasons. Carthage is one of the best football programs in Texas anywhere at any level.

“We played Center in non-district during the past two seasons,” continued the Vandal head coach. “Their quarterback and receivers played well against us last season and they are all back this year. Rusk has a great coach and lots of really good athletes. They had a good team last season. Canton has a new head coach. They are hard to predict. Brownsboro played really well last year, and they have a bunch of players back. Their head coach will be in his second year there. Every one of these district games will matter.”

Prior to the district schedule, the Vandals will also be facing a very challenging non-district schedule as well starting with a road trip to Longview against the Pine Tree Pirates in a 7:30 p.m. regular season opening kickoff Friday, Aug. 26. The other non-district opponents are Chapel Hill, Lindale, and Paris.

“When you look at how our non-district opponents are ranked at the beginning of the season, this may be the toughest non-district schedule we have ever had since I have been at Van,” emphasized Moffatt. “Chapel Hill lost in the state semifinals last season with a freshman quarterback and a freshman running back,” said Moffatt. “Coach Cochran has done a great job at Lindale. They played in the state championship game two years ago. Paris is always talented. We open the season at Pine Tree, a Class 5A school.”

Following four straight days in helmets and shorts, the Vandals will put the pads on for the first time Friday, Aug. 5 when they conduct their annual Red/White intersquad scrimmage at Van’s Memorial Stadium.

All of the players and coaches will be introduced around 6:45 p.m. before the intersquad scrimmage gets underway.

Van will also scrimmage at Spring Hill Friday, Aug. 12 against the Spring Hill Panthers before returning home for their final pre-season scrimmage Thursday, Aug. 18 against their Van Zandt County rival, the Grand Saline Indians.

Moffatt discussed what he will be looking for, especially in his younger inexperienced players, when practice begins Aug. 1.

“When you are looking at players at the varsity level that haven’t played at the varsity level, all you know about them when you start playing is your best guess,” summarized the Vandal head coach, who is entering his 25th year overall in coaching. “Until they put the pads on, and you see them perform at a high level, you don’t know what you really have. We have three scrimmages and four non-district games before our district schedule begins to evaluate these players in live, full-speed action. I want to see how these players react and perform in game-type situations.”

For more information about the continuing preparations for the Vandals’ 2022 football season, check out www.vanzandtnews.com.