Buoyed by the pomp and circumstance of Senior Night, the Van-Far football team started swiftly on Friday.

The early adrenaline only lasted so long, however, as visiting Wright City rolled to the 55-26 win in the teams’ Eastern Missouri Conference match-up.

Van-Far’s opening drive of four plays and 50 yards ended on a 35-yard touchdown run by senior back Evan Utterback just 89 seconds into play. Senior quarterback Kasen Christian said that the opening few minutes really went according to script, as the defense also forced a quick three-and-out from Wright City (6-1, 4-0 EMO).

“We came out fast, we got that good field position off the kickoff, and marched down and got the touchdown,” Christian said. “After that, the defense got a great stop.”

That’s when things started to go downhill for the Indians (4-3, 3-2 EMO) as the Wildcats scored twice, late in the first and then early in the second, to take the 13-6 lead.

After a 20-yard scoring run by the senior Christian cut the Wildcats’ lead to 13-12, with eight minutes left in the half, Wright City scored the final 14 points of the quarter.

“They just started to take advantage of the things we weren’t doing well,” Christian said. “It seemed every time we missed a tackle. We were just a step behind.”

Van-Far played even with the EMO Conference leader in the third quarter, as a 5-yard run by Christian and a 20-yard rumble by senior back Ty Evans accounted for the scores, before the Wildcats ran away with the game in the final quarter.

“We can use this as a good learning experience,” Christian said. “We’ll be back stronger and better for this.”

Utterback led the Indians on the ground with 18 carries for 122 yards, while Evans added 92 yards on nine carries. Senior wideout Gaven Gaston led the team with his two catches for 47 yards.

On defense, Van-Far was led by senior lineman Easton Sharp’s six tackles.

Van-Far has now alternated wins and losses each of the last four weeks.

Up next, though, Van-Far will go from playing one EMO co-leader to the other as North Callaway pays a visit at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said that the Indians will work to stay in as good of a condition as possible with the season winding down.

“We’ve got guys who are banged up,” Gibson said. “We want to take care of those things and get ready for the postseason. We’ve got another tough team in North Callaway. (It was a good learning experience) tonight, yeah.”

After week seven of the regular season, the Indians sit in third place in the Class 1 District 2 standings.

The district features Grandview (Hillsboro) (5-2 record, 57.22 points), Crystal City (3-4, 42.82), Van-Far (39.48 points), Veritas Christian (2-2, 31.50 points) and Louisiana (1-6, 25.48 points).