The injured list kept growing for Van-Far on Friday night.

Van-Far vs Louisiana Photo Gallery

This didn’t prevent the Indians from earning its first shut out of the season with a 24-0 victory at home against Eastern Missouri Conference and district foe Louisiana, which is their first since a 14-0 win against the Bulldogs on Oct. 13 last season. Van-Far recovered four Louisiana fumbles, including one for a touchdown in the final seconds before halftime.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said Van-Far needed to win in a different way than the previous two weeks’ offensive clinics. The Indians outscored their first two opponents 110-33 but were without four key weapons for most of the game. The senior Douglas twins – Malik and Tyson – and their younger brother Cayden sat out with precautionary muscle issues, Gibson said, and Gaven Gaston was tested for a concussion before being permanently removed.

“I’m really proud of the defense stepping up and getting a shutout,” Gibson said. “We are just trying to keep everybody as fresh as we can. It’s a long season.”

Gibson said he isn’t worried too much about the players’ availability for next week as Van-Far wanted to “play it safe.” On Senior Night, senior Malik Douglas ran for a 56-yard touchdown on the first play of the game, senior Reece Culwell had 53 yards passing, including a three-yard touchdown toss to senior Carson Huff, and also ran for 46 yards.

Another one of Van-Far’s seniors, Dalton Hays, helped lead the defense to top its already solid efforts in the first two weeks. Hays and Pacey Reading each led with seven tackles.

“It shows a lot for the kids that stepped up for the ones that got hurt,” Hays said. “It’s definitely not how we expected the game to go, but it was still a shutout. They had a decent offensive line, and they put up good blocks. They have some good tough ball runners.”

Hays recovered a fumble that preceded a touchdown drive in the third quarter. Evan Utterback recovered a fumble, which was forced out by Reading, in the end zone for a touchdown seconds before the 16-0 halftime score, and Gaston and Easton Sharp each laid on a fumble.

“We have a good set of defensive linemen and linebackers,” Hays said. “They are very disciplined. We studied all week for this team, and we had our jobs and did them well.”

Gibson said the defense had to be disciplined for the veer and option plays Louisiana was going to run on offense. He had a good idea what was coming since a familiar face was on the Bulldogs’ sideline.

Steve Gschwender was a Van-Far assistant that handled offense the last two years but is now the Louisiana head coach. Gibson said he had a chance to catch up with Gschwender and can now wish him success with the Indians in the past of Louisiana’s schedule.

“We know each other pretty well,” Gibson said with a chuckle. “We knew what to expect. They run the same plays.”

Gibson complimented Gschwender’s team for limiting Van-Far’s offense to 16 points, especially after the Indians threw a big punch early with Malik Douglas’ long touchdown run. Based off that play alone, it seemed like the Van-Far offense from the past two weeks was ready for a follow-up performance.

However, the Indians were shaky and had trouble advancing the ball until the second half. Ty Evans – who rolled his ankle before coming out – ran for 41 yards, including two key first-down runs on Van-Far’s third-quarter touchdown drive. Gibson said a simple approach was necessary with so many kids unavailable.

“We just simplified the offense a little bit more,” Gibson said. “We went to running the football a little bit more. We went back to the I-formation and our old offense. He was very crucial, and Kasen (Christian) came in at quarterback (for some snaps). It’s nice to have some backups.”

Van-Far went into this week, as well as last week, ranked No. 8 in the Class 1 state rankings. The Indians earned some recognition after a pair of decisive wins, and the excitement is there this year after winning in districts and finishing with a winning record for the first time in a long time last year.

“We’re just trying to take it one game at a time,” Gibson said in response to the early state ranking. “Just like tonight, when you lose three or four players, it makes it tough. The kids responded well.”

Hays has been with the program all four years and remembers some of those down years as an underclassman. He along with some other football players, cheerleaders and band members were honored for Senior Night in a ceremony about a half hour before kickoff. Van-Far only won one game in Hays’ first two years, but hopes are high for season’s Indians.

“It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of,” Hays said. “It was a rough start for my class. Seeing it go to something absolutely great this year is awesome.”

Van-Far defends the Farmers Cup at 7 p.m. Friday at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Mark Twain (1-2).