DAVID BARBER

Sports Correspondent

One final pre-season tune-up remains for the Van Vandals as they will take on their Van Zandt County rival, the Grand Saline Indians, in a scrimmage Thursday, Aug. 18, at Van’s Memorial Stadium.

The scrimmage will begin with the freshmen and the junior varsity teams splitting the field at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity scrimmage around 7 p.m.

Prior to discussing the VZC rivalry matchup, Vandal Head Football Coach Jared Moffatt looked back at his teams’ scrimmage performance at home Aug. 12 against the Spring Hill Panthers.

“I thought it was a good scrimmage for us,” recalled Moffatt. “Defensively, I thought our kids played well. This was first time to scrimmage someone else other than ourselves. Spring Hill was running a new offense. We did not game-plan for the scrimmage. Offensively, we made some big plays. We did a good job throwing and catching the football. Overall, it went well.”

Moffatt said that there are still several position battles going on for playing time and the scrimmage against Spring Hill produced few answers.

“The player evaluations are continuing,” pointed out Moffatt. “We will continue to look at a lot of players against Grand Saline. The process could continue into the regular season. We will have to wait and see about that after this scrimmage Thursday night.”

Moffatt recognized the performances of defensive end Logan Fattig, ‘rover’ Landon Smith, free safety Cannon Rainey, ‘bandit’ Garrett Florey, linebacker Beau Barton, defensive tackle Braydon Hullum (moving from linebacker); running backs Demarcus Stinnett, Garrett Florey, center Kepler Multhaup, receiver Caden Rowe, receiver Easton Hinch, receiver Austin Johnson, receiver Brayden Bradshaw, and quarterback Jaxon Moffatt.

Grand Saline will be competing in District 9-3A, Division 2, that includes VZC rival Edgewood along with West Rusk, Troup, Arp, Winona, and Quitman.

“I don’t know a whole lot about Grand Saline’s team, but I do know they have a really good receiver who has started for them for three years,” said Moffatt. “He is 6-2, 195 pounds. I have always been impressed with their coach, Joe Drennon. He coached Mineola to a state championship in Class 3A a few years ago and he does a great job coaching his players. They respond to him. We are excited about playing someone who is close to us and in the same county.”

Moffatt said that the starters on his team will not see much action against Grand Saline Aug. 18 as the emphasis will be on assessing younger players.

On the injury front, Moffatt confirmed that sophomore receiver Asher Hawkins will be lost for the season due to a knee injury suffered in Van’s Red/White Inter Squad Scrimmage Aug. 5 which will require surgery.

“I still can’t believe he is going to miss the entire season,” summarized Moffatt. “We had high expectations for him this year.”

The Vandal head coach also shared that sophomore Calem Redding, a move-in from Mineola in March, lost his appeal to the University Interscholastic League to become eligible to play varsity football for the 2022 season.

As a result of the UIL’s ruling, Redding will be playing on the junior varsity football team this season, but he will be eligible to play varsity baseball in March 2023, according to Moffatt.

Following their scrimmage against one another in Van on Aug. 18, the Vandals and the Indians will focus their attention on the start of their regular season schedule.

Both teams will open their regular seasons on the road as the Vandals will visit Class 5A Pine Tree while the Indians will visit Cooper. Kickoff for both contests will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26.

For more information about the results of the Van/Grand Saline scrimmage as well as a preview of the Vandals’ regular season opener at Pine Tree, check out www.vanzandtnews.com.