DAVID BARBER

Sports Correspondent

With their bye week behind them, it is time for the Van Vandal varsity football team to focus on their most important portion of their regular season schedule.

After finishing a difficult non-district schedule with an impressive 4-1 record, Coach Jared Moffatt’s Vandals will now move into the race for the District 7-4A, Division 2, championship as they will host the Spring Hill Panthers (1-4 overall) in the district opener for both teams in a 7 p.m. kickoff at Van’s Memorial Stadium Friday, Oct. 11.

“I was pleased with what we got accomplished during our bye week,” recalled Moffatt. “We were able to give our players and our coaches some time off. When you get that bye week in the middle of the season between the end of non-district and the start of the district schedule, it is always a great spot for it. Our kids needed some time off to heal a little bit. We have been fortunate injury-wise overall. We were also able to get a little bit of a head start on our preparations for Spring Hill but in this district, every team had the same bye week. It is good to be back in a regular routine.”

Moffatt said that every player on the roster should be ready to play against the Panthers Friday night.

Focusing on Spring Hill, Moffatt said that their 1-4 overall record is deceiving. “We scrimmaged them last year and met them again in the bi-district round of the playoffs,” said Moffatt. “I was impressed with how much they improved from the scrimmage to the playoff game. This season, they are running the same offense, and they do a really good job with it.

“They have a running back that is returning from last year,” emphasized Moffatt. “He scored on a long touchdown run against us early in the playoff game last season. He ran well last year against Gilmer and Texarkana Pleasant Grove and if you run all against those teams, you are pretty good. He is running well this season. Their quarterback is also back. They have several key players that return this season offensively. They run out of the ‘shotgun’ but they are real close to the center. They run a lot of motion. They run the option, and they run the toss. They like to utilize misdirection. We must be sound and disciplined defensively and tackle well against them.

“I remember that in last year’s playoff game, we jumped on them early, but they started coming back on us some and we just traded scores for the rest of the night before we won the game,” said the Vandal head coach. “People look at their record of 1-4 and think they are not very good, but that is not the case at all. That is why the games are played. They were tied with Center in the third quarter before Center pulled away from them. If Spring Hill is playing well, they can put points on the scoreboard and if they get ahead of you, they can shorten the game with their style of offense. This game is all about us, our preparation and our mentality. It is important for us to have a good week of practice.”

Moffatt also discussed the Spring Hill defense which has changed somewhat since the start of the season.

“For their first four games, they were showing a 4-1, two-safety defense,” pointed out Moffatt. “When they played Grandview in their last non-district game, they changed things up and showed a 4-2 with an extra safety in the middle of the field. They also varied their coverages with their new look. That leaves a lot of questions in my mind. Did they change their defense because they were playing Grandview in their last non-district change and is this what they are going to run against us Friday night? It puts us in somewhat of a guessing game. You never know. They may show something completely different Friday night. I am not sure what to expect. We do have a game plan, and we will see how it goes once the game starts and see if we need to make any adjustments. They are more multiple in their looks defensively this year compared to last year.”

Now that everyone in District 7-4A, Division 2, has played five non-district games and starting their district schedules Oct. 11, Moffatt said that his thoughts about the other teams in the district race have not changed much over the past several weeks.

“Gilmer and Texarkana Pleasant Grove are both 3-2 but they have played some good football teams so far,” emphasized Moffatt. “Gilmer lost a couple of close games, but they scored 50 points against an undefeated team, Brenham, in their last game and beat them by 20 points. I am not all that familiar with Paris North Lamar, and we have not played Pittsburg in several years. Those teams have struggled. Pittsburg has had a lot of injuries. We just need to focus on us and take care of the things we need to do to win these upcoming football games. Our focus right now is only on Spring Hill.”

In other District 7-4A, Division 2, openers Friday, Oct. 11, Gilmer, the defending Class 4A, Division 2, state champions and the pre-season favorite to win the district this season, will visit winless Pittsburg (0-5) while Paris North Lamar (1-4) will travel to Texarkana Pleasant Grove.

According to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine, Gilmer is ranked #3 in the state and Texarkana Pleasant Grove is ranked #9 in the state in Class 4A, Division 2.

Moffatt believes that the Vandals have established an identity after five football games entering district play.

“The identity of Van football is pretty constant in terms of how hard and physical our kids play,” pointed out Moffatt. “They are not afraid to compete and battle. That is on display with this group of kids as well. This group has a strong senior class that has won a lot of football games and provides great leadership.

“Offensively, going into the season and even now, this team needed to throw and catch better than we did last season, and I would say that for the most part, we have done that this season so far,” said the Vandal head coach. “We had one bad night of throwing and catching against Sunnyvale but other than that, we have been pretty good. Our offensive line has improved each week and has played well. Our running backs have run hard and have been real productive. We can beat you throwing or running. That is a luxury when you are calling plays and game-planning and hopefully, that continues.

“Defensively, we have had tremendous effort, and we have played really good team defense,” continued Moffatt. “We don’t really have that one player on offense or defense that everybody is trying to game plan for. What this team has shown us is that we have a lot of really good high school football players that play the game in a manner that we always do around here. This team plays with a lot of confidence, toughness, and physicality. When we do that and take care of the football and make third downs, these guys are going to be in a position to beat some really good teams on our schedule. That is our identity.”

So far as the sub-varsity schedule is concerned Thursday, Oct. 10, the Vandal junior varsity is playing at Spring Hill at 5:30 p.m. while the freshman will play at Bullard Brook Hill at 5 p.m. due to Spring Hill having only one J.V. team, according to Moffatt.

The junior high games at Van’s Memorial Stadium will have the Vandals hosting Spring Hill in the ‘A’ team games and Canton in the ‘B’ team games.

For results of the district-opening varsity game between the Vandals and the Panthers as well as a preview of Van’s trip to Gilmer Friday, Oct. 18, check out www.vanzandtnews.com.