Van-Far has been behind Crystal City the past two seasons.
In district seeding, the Indians were ranked behind the Hornets but were the No. 2 seed in Class 1 District 2 this season to host …
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Van-Far has been behind Crystal City the past two seasons.
In district seeding, the Indians were ranked behind the Hornets but were the No. 2 seed in Class 1 District 2 this season to host Crystal City and win 52-6, earning a 7 p.m. Friday district championship game at Grandview (Hillsboro) (7-3). Gaven Gaston ran for five touchdowns and 240 yards on seven carries and added a 46-yard interception return touchdown.
Gaston said Van-Far (6-4) played motivated this game after Crystal City (3-7) was seeded above the Indians in prior seasons. This time, the Hornets couldn’t catch Van-Far and Gaston, in particular, as his shortest run went for 19 yards and his longest went for 70 yards.
“I’ve always been a fast kid,” Gaston said. “It’s not even about the speed at this point. It’s my team really working hard to block. I can’t thank them enough.”
Gaston did a little of everything on Friday, including playing quarterback to give Kasen Christian a breather with Van-Far ahead by a wide margin. He said there was one game he played quarterback this season where he threw a pick six on the first throw so they “had to go back and work on it.”
Van-Far is prepared whenever he needs to fill a role unexpectedly, and he excelled during tough situations against Crystal City. Gaston had to change direction twice on one play trusting his teammates to block as he scored a touchdown while being horse collared.
“It was a blast to the left side, and I got drilled,” Gaston said. “I can’t go down because it’s going to lose some yards. I bounced right, and they were swarming. They got a hold of me, but my mentality is never go down.”
Head coach Lucas Gibson said Van-Far has been looking to use Gaston in a bigger role on offense, tracing back to when he was added to backfield in the middle of the season.
“We know he is capable of doing that,” Gibson said. “When he does, it’s pretty amazing. He’s just that much of an athlete, that fast and pretty special.”
Ty Evans had a big game on the ground as well with 147 yards on nine carries, including an 83-yard touchdown. Evans had a long kick return to follow Crystal City’s lone scoring drive to set up a short field and Gaston’s eventual circuitous touchdown.
“Gaven had a lot of stuff, but it was a true team win,” Gibson said. “Everybody was hitting tonight so hopefully we can keep that up.”
Gibson Condie led the defense with seven tackles and three tackles for loss, Jackson Fischer had three tackles and two tackles for loss, and Pacey Reading had three tackles for loss and a quarterback hit that caused the pick six. The defense did allow Crystal City to advance deep in Van-Far territory several times but stopped the Hornets on fourth down five times when they were around the 20-yard line.
Fischer is a senior leader on Van-Far’s experienced defensive line along with fellow seniors Reading, Evan Utterback and Easton Sharp. He said it has been “pretty fun” to play together over four years, and he can trust them like he can anybody on defense.
“The main thing was staying home and focusing on what my specific job was,” Fischer said. “I was trying to talk to my teammates, communicate, figure out what we need to do and talk it out. We trust that we can all get it done.”
Fischer said Van-Far felt more rejuvenated after the bye week and feels good going into a district championship game this week.
“We took our time this bye week to work out the small things – not play-wise but just more with our bodies,” Fischer said. “We took more time to rehab everything and focused on smaller particular things.”
Gibson said Van-Far is healthier but still has some injuries such as junior cornerback Ronnie Stanich, but sophomore Corbin Roed “did a great job.” He is excited Van-Far is playing for a district title after St. Vincent knocked out the Indians the past two years and was even teasing his players after the game.
“We’re going to have to run this week because I didn’t run them much the previous week,” Gibson said with a grin. “They were gassed a little bit, but we’re just getting back into it.”
