Van-Far hasn’t been able to correct its recent skid.

The Indians dropped their sixth consecutive game on Friday by losing 64-8 at Mark Twain, tying the season-high total they surrendered to Bowling Green earlier in the season. Van-Far (1-8, 1-6 EMO) also lost its fourth straight Farmer’s Cup trophy, a prize awarded to the winner between the Eastern Missouri Conference rivals that are about 20 minutes apart in driving distance and announced on Monday that Friday was the team’s final game due to the Indians having to bow out of their district game because of a lack of players.

Van-Far finished with 78 yards of total offense, and quarterback Nikos Connaway had 70 of those yards on four carries. Defensively, Connaway had five tackles, which was behind the team-high seven by Gage Gibson.

For Mark Twain (4-5, 3-4 EMO), four different Tigers finished with multiple touchdowns and were led by the three rushing scores that totaled 157 yards from Lakoda Preston.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said the Indians have been losing personnel to injuries and other reasons this season, which resulted in an ugly result on Friday.

“I’d love to see us get back to the competitive team with grit that we started this season with,” Gibson said.

Preston had a 69-yard touchdown under his belt when Mark Twain led 20-0 at halftime but quickly broke away for an 85-yard score that eventually saw the Tigers leading 64-0 late in the game.

Van-Far has averaged 13 points per game and has allowed an average of 46.3 points during this six-game losing streak.

Indians’ season over before districts

Van-Far won’t be playing in districts this Friday at Brentwood.

Because of the team’s lack of players — whether due to injuries or other reasons — the Indians had to forfeit their district game to end their season with a 1-8 record.
Head coach Lucas Gibson shared this message on the team’s Facebook page on Monday:

“As many of you have read on the district page, we are unable to compete Friday night due to the lack of athletes. We have many talented kids on the roster and I am extremely proud of the mental and physical toughness they have shown over the past ten weeks. If you made it to a game, hopefully you saw the grit they brought nearly every snap. When you love the game as much as me, you never want it to end, however the kids always come first so we will choose to sit this one out.

The support from the Van-Far community has been amazing and the kids will continue to need that as they move throughout this school year and into the planning of next season. My hope is the kids also learned that being a part of a team is more than just what happens at the game.

Our amazing group of Football Moms are hosting our final meal together Thursday night. Our team loves this time together and I look forward to reflecting with the kids about our season and what can be in 2023!”