Van-Far football is happy to be in close games.
Now the Indians want to win more of them as they fell short on Friday at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County 24-22. Van-Far led …
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Van-Far football is happy to be in close games.
Now the Indians want to win more of them as they fell short on Friday at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County 24-22. Van-Far led 14-12 with about seven minutes left in the game, but an interception and Montgomery’s passing led the Wildcats gaining revenge for the Indians’ 14-12 victory last season.
Head coach Lucas Gibson said Van-Far (1-2, 0-2 EMO) looked to be in a good position despite allowing Montgomery (2-1, 1-0 EMO) to take a 6-0 lead at halftime on a touchdown right before the intermission. Mistakes in the fourth quarter made the difference in this year’s two-point contest between the teams as Nikos Connaway threw for 174 yards and had a one-yard quarterback sneak for a touchdown but had three interceptions.
“We threw a pick, and they ended up scoring on that drive to put them up,” Gibson said. “We tried to run a screen, and they read it and picked it off. All they did was throw the ball as there were a couple big plays in the passing game that got us.”
For Van-Far’s offense, Gibson said Gage Gibson had a good night with 209 totals yards — 25 carries for 144 yards and three catches for 65 yards — as he ran for a third-quarter touchdown and then caught a touchdown pass from Connaway in the fourth quarter. Connaway spread the ball to Gaven Gaston, who caught three passes for 83 yards, Reece Culwell and Pacey Reading in the passing game, hitting Reading for a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter.
Losing this way does hurt, Lucas Gibson said, but having experiences like this helps the program in the long run.
“It was back-and-forth the whole fourth quarter actually,” Gibson said. “They haven’t been in close games like that in the past. It seems like we’re holding them close this year so I think it was serve us well by the end of the year.”
Gage Gibson led on defense with nine tackles, Culwell followed with five tackles, and Connaway, Jackson Fischer and Easton Sharp each had 3.5 tackles, with Sharp having a tackle for loss. Carson Huff picked up an interception.
Van-Far plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Bowling Green (3-0, 1-0 EMO).
