The North Callaway seniors weren’t happy with their record as freshmen but loved the record on Friday night.

The Thunderbirds won their Senior Night by setting a single-game scoring school record 81-22 over Van-Far (1-7, 1-5 EMO), rushing for 406 yards and having five of the eight seniors score touchdowns. Cayden Douglas scored all three Van-Far touchdowns, running for 171 yards on 22 carries for his sixth 150-yard game and taking a 75-yard kickoff return to the end zone.

Jaiden Galbreath scored four touchdowns and had 87 yards for North Callaway (6-2, 5-0 EMO), who has now scored at least 50 points in six straight games. The senior Galbreath remembers playing with the other seniors for a long time, but freshman year was indelible for the wrong reasons.

North Callaway Senior Night Photo Gallery

“Our first year of football as high schoolers was pretty rough with a 2-8 record,” Galbreath said. “We came back with some fire beneath us, and we brought it back to where it is now.”

Collin Moore led North Callaway with 120 yards and two touchdowns, Galbreath followed with 87 yards and four touchdowns and quarterback Coltyn O’Neal finished with 86 rushing yards and one touchdown. O’Neal threw for 219 yards on 7-for-11 passing and one touchdown to Brandon Biggers, who had 158 yards on five catches.

North Callaway head coach Kevin O’Neal said he doesn’t recall an offense scoring at the rate the Thunderbirds have done this year at 56.5 points per game. He said the most recent district championship team had a good offense but averaged 42.9 points per game during an 11-2 season.

“That offense was pretty good, but it was mainly run,” O’Neal said. “The exciting part about this offense is that we can do it a lot of different ways. That’s a credit to these kids and the senior class. I was excited for them on Senior Night to come out and execute the way they did.”

Van-Far head coach Lucas Gibson said North Callaway’s offense is a hard matchup for Van-Far’s small Class 1 roster, especially with several injuries, but the Thunderbirds would be a difficult matchup for any team.

“They pretty much do it all,” Gibson said. “They’re getting a push with their offensive line, they run counter plays, pass plays, and pull people. They do a lot.”

North Callaway can score in a hurry with its vast array of options as it had several drives that were four or less plays, including three touchdowns on the first play during the first half. Van-Far was within two possessions, 30-14, in the first quarter after the kickoff return by Douglas and then recovered an onside kick that only turned into an interception.

“That stuff’s exciting,” Gibson said. “It’s still a long game at that point. Just to do those little things like that gets those positive things going and is good for the kids’ confidence before districts when we play teams our size.”

North Callaway had many ways to respond after expanding the playbook to where it’s “infinitely big.” O’Neal said his offensive coordinator Jacob Haubner gets excited about the wealth of options, but North Callaway tries to focus on “base plays we’re really good at.”

“As sophomores, we changed the offense and went to the wing T,” O’Neal said. “They embraced that, and we were physical that year. They’re knowledge and hard work has allowed us to expand.”

Galbreath said the Thunderbirds are “more disciplined” with everything. Galbreath ran for 303 yards in North Callaway’s 76-54 win over Bowling Green this year, which set a record for combined points on North Callaway’s field, but others can have huge nights. He said the offensive line, which includes seniors Gunnar Wenneker and Vince Houchins, are “amazing.”

“We usually hit them with the run pretty quick, and then we open it up the rest of the way,” Galbreath said. “I love to see everybody else getting some of the praise.”

O’Neal has known this senior class since “they were really young” because his son is in the group. He said they are selfless as much as they are good football players.

“They do a lot of community service,” O’Neal said. “They hang out together, and they enjoy each other’s company. Along with the families like the moms and the dads, it’s just a great group of people to be around.”

Biggers could have scored a touchdown in the second quarter, but he took a knee near the goal line. O’Neal has said he tries to reward his senior offensive linemen with a touchdown for all their hard work blocking, and he did that with Houchins on the next play.

“That was 100 percent (Brandon),” O’Neal said. “He told Vince he was going to do that for him. That’s just the type of kids they are. He knew we had that set in, so Vince could score.”

Van-Far hosts Class 3 Winfield (3-5) at 7 p.m. Friday, and Gibson said his younger roster can continue to improve like they have been. Gibson saw some positives against North Callaway.

“Our blocking assignments were a lot better this week,” Gibson said. “The kids are starting to figure it out. The effort was a lot better than what we’ve shown. When you get down that much, it’s hard for kids to keep playing, but I think they did that this week.”

North Callaway plays at Wright City (3-5, 2-3 EMO) to go for a second straight undefeated conference championship season at 7 p.m. Friday. O’Neal has known their head coach John Klekamp for a long time, coaching against him when Klekamp was at Montgomery County.

“Wright City’s got athletes all over the field,” O’Neal said. “I know he’s going to have his kids ready to play.”