DAVID BARBER

Sports Correspondent

With their playoff run for the 2021 season coming to a close against the Gilmer Buckeyes Nov. 26 in Tyler, Coach Jared Moffatt and the Van Vandals are already looking ahead to the 2022 campaign.

The Vandals finished the 2021 season with a 12-1 record that included the District 7-4A, Division II, championship; the Class 4-A, Division II, Bi-District championship; and the Class 4-A, Division II Area Championship.

Van’s 12-1 overall record was only the fourth time in school history that a Vandal football team won 12 games in a season.

“I am so proud of what our team accomplished during the 2021 season,” recalled Moffatt. “They were led by an outstanding senior class.”

A total of 21 seniors played in their final game for the Vandals Nov. 26 meaning that there will be a lot of holes to fill before the start of the 2022 season.

“We will have five or six returning starters on defense but only three on offense,” pointed out Moffatt. “We will graduate three defensive linemen. Offensively, we will return our right guard, our right tackle and Brayden Bradshaw. It will be a whole new look offensively. We have a ton of question marks offensively that will need to get answered.

“What I know for sure is that after being here for 12 years that our kids we put on the field will play hard,” emphasized Moffatt. “They will work hard between now and the start of the new season. There will be tremendous competition. This will be challenging. Our kids have tremendous work ethic, dedication and commitment to our program. It will be exciting between now and August.”

Moffatt said that the off-season program will begin for the Vandals immediately after the Christmas and New Year’s holiday break in January.

“We will hit it running starting in January,” said Moffatt. “We will be preparing for the 2022 season beginning in January. Our coaches and our players need a break from one another right now before we get cranked up again in January.”

The enrollment “snapshot” numbers were recently released for all Texas high schools by the University Interscholastic League (UIL) leading up to district realignment which will be announced by the UIL in early February 2022.

“The enrollment ‘snapshot’ numbers will not affect us as much as it will some other schools around u possibly,” said Moffatt. “We know that we will once again be a Class 4A, Division II, school again for the next two school years. It looks like Athens may drop to Class 4A, Division II, and Sulphur Springs may drop down to Class 4A, Division I.

“I am always concerned that we could be moving east in the next district realignment,” continued Moffatt. “If we don’t move east, I feel pretty confident that we will stay around here with schools like Canton and Bullard. There is always a chance that Wills Point will be in our district. I cannot imagine Mexia staying in the same district with us, especially if Athens joins the mix.”

Moffatt said that he is already dealing with a few challenges in trying to put together his non-district schedule for 2022.

“When you finish 12-1 like we did this past season, it is hard to find teams that want to play you,” pointed out the Vandal head coach. “The only game I have scheduled for next season right now is Lindale. Another factor is we don’t know how many teams will be in our new district. I don’t know how many non-district games we will be playing. I could finish my non-district schedule today if I wanted to call teams like Carthage, Gilmer, and Kilgore. I think I am in a worse spot trying to schedule non-district games than I have ever been at this point.”