DAVID BARBER

Sports Correspondent

Trailing by six points once in each half, the Van Vandals rallied both times to take a halftime lead and pull away in the fourth quarter as they outlasted the Dallas Carter Cowboys, 28-20, at Kincaide Stadium in Dallas Aug. 30 in the first-ever meeting on the football field between the two schools.

Coach Jared Moffatt’s Vandals, 1-0 for the season, will visit another 1-0 opponent, the Pine Tree Pirates in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday, Sept. 6, in Longview.

Pine Tree stunned the defending Class 4A, Division 2, state champion Gilmer Buckeyes, 23-15, Aug. 30 in Gilmer.

Against Dallas Carter, the Vandals finished with 19 first downs and 322 yards of total offense including 151 yards rushing and 171 yards passing.

The Cowboys registered 20 first downs and 308 yards of total offense including 197 yards rushing and 111 yards passing while committing two critical turnovers, one lost fumble and one pass interception, against the Vandal defense.

Senior receiver Caden Rowe was the offensive star for the Vandals as he caught four passes for 119 yards.

Senior running back Austin Moffatt carried the ball 15 times for 71 yards rushing and one touchdown in addition to catching two passes for 23 yards.

Senior reserve running back Chris Fabian contributed 12 carries for 50 yards rushing and one TD.

Senior quarterback Jaxon Moffatt, twin brother of Austin Moffatt, completed 10 out of 15 passes for 171 yards and carried the ball 11 times for 30 yards and two rushing TD’s.

Defensively, senior defensive back Cade Christensen led with 13 tackles followed by senior linebacker Landon Smith, senior linebacker Wyatt Dale, and senior defensive end Maeson Ray with 12 tackles each.

“I was real proud of our coaches and our kids,” said Vandal Head Football Coach Jared Moffatt following the game. “The kids played extremely hard. Everyone really did a good job. We knew Dallas Carter had talented players. Their head coach is in his fourth year, and I have been real impressed with the job he is doing leading that program there. It was a tight game, back and forth, a game that was going to be won in the fourth quarter. Our kids competed and battled, and in the end, we found a way to win the game. It wasn’t always pretty. We had too many penalties on offense. Holding penalties killed three different drives for us. Our defense had three huge fourth quarter stops. Our special teams contributed to this win as well. It was a great way to start the season.” 

Van’s first offensive drive of the season resulted in a TD against the Cowboys as the Vandals received the opening kickoff and moved 70 yards in seven plays.

Jaxon Moffatt ended the opening scoring drive with a 1-yard TD run. Aiden Moore added the extra point giving the Vandals a 7-0 lead with 8:37 remaining in the first quarter. A 43-yard pass completion from Jaxon Moffatt to Rowe and a 10-yard run by Austin Moffatt were key plays in the scoring march for the Vandals.

Dallas Carter’s opening possession resulted in a turnover after the Cowboys moved from their own 31 to the Van 38 in five plays including a 26-yard run by RB Damarion Boozer (13 carries, 84 yards).

The scoring threat for the Cowboys ended at that point as a fumble by Boozer on the next play was recovered by Dale at the Vandal 41.

Following a Van punt, the Cowboys put together a 72-yard scoring drive in eight plays to tie the game as Boozer connected with wide receiver Charles Anderson on a 19-yard TD pass play to end the march. Jared Ramirez added the extra point to deadlock the game at 7-7 with 1:42 to play in the first quarter. Key plays in the Dallas Carter scoring drive included running gains of 30 yards by Camden Patterson and 11 yards by QB Christopher Miller (12 carries, 62 yards).

After another Vandal punt, the Cowboys took the lead as they moved 62 yards in 11 plays as Miller connected with Patterson on an 8-yard TD pass play to give Dallas Carter a 13-7 advantage over the Vandals with 4:55 remaining in the second quarter. The extra point attempt hit the left upright and bounced back onto the field of play. Key plays in the go-ahead scoring march for the Cowboys included running gains of 18 yards by Miller and 10 yards by Patterson.

The Vandals responded by taking the lead before halftime as they advanced 75 yards in nine plays following the ensuing kickoff.

Fabian ended the drive with a 4-yard TD run. Moore added the extra point giving Van a 14-13 lead with 1:07 to play before halftime. Key plays in the go-ahead scoring drive for the Vandals included pass completions from Jaxon Moffatt covering 20 yards to Rowe and 17 yards to Austin Moffatt in addition to a personal foul penalty against the Cowboys.

Dallas Carter received the second half kickoff and retook the lead as the Cowboys moved 75 yards in eight plays.

Miller connected with Anderson on a 10-yard TD pass play to end the march. Ramirez added the extra point giving Dallas Carter a 20-14 advantage with 8:38 remaining in the third quarter. Key plays in what proved to be the final scoring drive of the game for the Cowboys included running gains of 38 and 14 yards by Miller, a 20-yard run by Boozer, and a 37-yard pass completion from Miller to Patterson in addition to a personal foul penalty against the Vandals.

Again, Van responded with another go-ahead TD march of their own as they advanced 75 yards in eight plays to retake the lead for good.

Jaxon Moffatt ended the drive with a 1-yard TD run. Moore added the extra point giving Van a 21-20 lead with 4:39 to play in the third quarter. The key play in Van’s go-ahead scoring drive was a 51-yard pass completion from Jaxon Moffatt to Rowe.

Dallas Carter moved from its own 36 to the Vandal 45 in four plays including a 22-yard pass completion from Miller to WR Jaden Lacy but the drive came to an end as Miller’s downfield pass was intercepted on a tremendous leaping grab by Vandal DB DaQuavion Williams at the Vandal 18.

Van then put together an impressive 82-yard march in 12 plays to extend their lead as Austin Moffatt raced 22 yards to the end zone for a TD to end the final scoring march of the contest. Moore added the extra point giving Van a 28-20 advantage with 10:09 to play in the fourth quarter. Key plays in Van’s final scoring drive included a 19-yard run by Jaxon Moffatt and a defensive pass interference penalty against the Cowboys.

Following an exchange of punts, the Cowboys had a chance to try to tie the game as they forced the Vandals to punt from deep in their own end of the field allowing Dallas Carter to take over possession at the Vandal 30 with 3:41 remaining in the game.

Four plays later, the Cowboys faced fourth down and three at the Vandal 23, but Boozer was stopped for no gain by the Vandal defense giving Van possession with 1:55 to play.

After a Vandal punt, Dallas Carter had one final offensive possession starting at midfield with 47 seconds remaining and no timeouts, but the scoring threat ended on fourth down and 13 at the Cowboy 47 when Miller’s pass to Anderson was incomplete allowing the Vandals to run out the clock.

Jared Moffatt discussed the performances of his offensive and defensive lines which featured a number of players seeing their first varsity action against Dallas Carter.

“Offensively, we had three linemen playing in their first varsity game,” recalled Jared Moffatt. “I thought those guys played pretty well. Obviously, there is room for improvement. We can play better up front. They played real hard. One of our returning linemen, center Justus Anderson, really did a good job in the game. He is our quarterback in our offensive line. Cooper Hullum, our other returning linemen, played really well at left tackle with great effort. We ran the ball well.

“Our defensive line had all new faces,” continued Jared Moffatt. “Those guys got better as the game went on. Foster Rust, playing a new position, did a really good job for us. Maeson Ray settled in and played better as the game went on. Waylon King was real active for us. Armando Lozano was solid. Oliver Stowe made a huge tackle on fourth down for us in the fourth quarter. Tiler Williams made some big plays for us. I was proud of the way our young guys played in the game.”

The Vandal head coach also recognized other individual performances against Dallas Carter including Christiansen, Dale, Smith, Easton Hinch, and Williams.

“Our defense did a tremendous job holding Dallas Carter to 20 points,” emphasized Jared Moffatt.

Jared Moffatt also praised the offensive efforts of Rowe. “He made some huge catches for us against Dallas Carter,” pointed out Jared Moffatt. “We needed every one of them. His contributions were significant. Austin Moffatt and Chris Fabian both ran the ball well. They are different styles of runners, but both had key plays. Cason Sieja caught a big third down pass for us. Ryder Savage did some good things blocking from the tight end and H-back positions. Jaxon Moffatt played well. He was accurate with his passing and made some good decisions. He ran the ball well.

“Jackson Reed snapped the ball well on PAT’s and Connor Ammons did a good job holding the ball for the kicker,” said Jared Moffatt. “Aiden Moore did a great job with our PAT’s and kicking off as well. We had a number of players make significant contributions in the game. It was a great team win for us in all three phases of the game.”

After watching Dallas Carter play in two pre-season scrimmages, Jared Moffatt said that the offense the Cowboys showed against the Vandals was different from what he and his coaching staff had previously viewed.

“They did some different things offensively, but they weren’t uncommon,” recalled Jared Moffatt. “Coach Rainey and our defensive staff did a great job of adjusting during the game. Defensively, Dallas Carter showed one particular coverage in the two scrimmages that they did not show at all during our game. We had to adjust to that a little bit.”

The Vandal head coach said that his team came out of their season-opening game pretty well from a health standpoint.

“It was a physical game against Dallas Carter on both sides of the ball,” pointed out Jared Moffatt. “It was that way all four quarters Friday night.”