Before preparing for the most important stretch of their 2021 season, the undefeated Van Vandals are enjoying some time off during their bye week before returning to action on Friday, Oct. 15.

Coach Jared Moffatt’s Vandals, 6-0 for the season, concluded their non-district schedule Oct. 1, with a nail-biting 27-25 win over the Liberty-Eylau Leopards in Texarkana.

Following their bye week this week, the Vandals, ranked seventh in the state in Class 4A, Division II, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine, return to action for the beginning of District 7-4A, Division II, play on the road Friday, Oct. 15, as they will take on the Mexia Black Cats in Van’s district opener.

“This is the perfect time for an open date with it falling between the end of our non-district schedule and the beginning of district play,” emphasized Moffatt. “We are fortunate that we don’t have any serious injuries, but we do have injuries and hopefully, this bye week will give us the opportunity to be healthier entering district play next week at Mexia. Everybody’s body needs a break right now.”

With the bye week, there will be changes in the practice schedule, according to the Vandal head coach.

“We did not practice today (Monday, Oct. 4),” said Moffatt. “We will practice Tuesday (Oct. 5) and Wednesday (Oct. 6). We will scale back those practices some. Then, we will practice Thursday morning (Oct. 7). We get out of school early on Thursday and there is no school on Friday (Oct. 8). Basically, our players have three and one-half days off. We will have a chance to all get away from one another for a little bit. They need to rest and heal their bodies. We will get back at it next Monday (Oct. 11) with our focus being on Mexia.”

Moffatt emphasized that the bye week is not a week off. “This is an opportunity for us to get better or worse and we need to get better,” said the Vandal head coach. “We are going to use our two and one-half practices this week to get ready for Mexia. The game plan will be installed. The bye week gives us a two and one-half day head start on our preparations for Mexia.”

With non-district play concluding for all five schools in District 7-4A, Division II, the race for the district championship begins Friday, Oct. 8, with the Canton Eagles (4-2) hosting the winless Bullard Panthers (0-6) and the Mexia Black Cats (1-5) traveling to Brownsboro to take on the Brownsboro Bears (2-4).

Following their trip to Mexia on Oct. 15, the Vandals will return home to take on Bullard on Oct. 22, before the highly anticipated Van Zandt County rivalry matchup between the Vandals and the Canton Eagles takes place in Canton on Oct. 29.

The Vandals will close out their district and regular season schedule when they host Brownsboro on Nov. 5.

Throughout the season, Moffatt has stressed to his team to continue to meet the challenges of what it will take moving forward for the Vandals to be great, not just pretty good.

“We are not there yet but I think we are capable of doing that if we play well and that is our challenge as we prepare to open district play,” summarized Moffatt. “We will see if we can get this thing together and do something special.”