Van-Far knew firsthand how tough St. Vincent was going to be on Saturday afternoon.

Van-Far at St. Vincent Photo Gallery

The Indians’ season did end last year in Perryville following a 42-6 loss, and the rematch ended in a 49-8 defeat for state No. 7 Van-Far in the Class 1 District 1 semifinals despite the Indians trying new things. The six turnovers put Van-Far (8-3) in a bad spot and helped No. 1 Vincent (11-0) score four touchdowns off those mistakes.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said mistakes can’t be made against a team worthy of the state No. 1 ranking after not losing all year. He said the Indians made too many mistakes, which he said put them in a bad position in last year’s meeting.

“We made a lot of mistakes there at the end,” Gibson said. “That’s how it happens. When you get behind, you try to make something happen. It just snowballs.”

Van-Far trailed 21-8 at halftime and 28-8 after three quarters before St. Vincent padded its lead in the fourth quarter. Long before that struggling sequence, though, Van-Far did have the lead. Gaven Gaston scored a 69-yard touchdown on the game’s third play from scrimmage, taking the ball quickly down the right sideline into the end zone after Reece Culwell completed a pass downfield.

St. Vincent came away with its first turnover soon after with an interception that turned into a touchdown four plays later. Van-Far trailed 14-8 and then 21-8 after a fumble gave St. Vincent a 25-yard field.

Both of those turnovers happened in the wildcat formation Van-Far had been using recently with running back Tyson Douglas taking the snap. Gibson said Douglas gives the Indians versatility in that situation because the senior has a good arm to allow the offense not to just definitely run the ball each time, which was the case Saturday.

“We’ve been putting it in the last couple weeks,” Gibson said. “We had our bye week (two weeks prior), and then we started doing it. We suspected we would be in this game so we just tried to throw something else at them. Their defense is stout. We didn’t make good enough blocks to stop it.”

Even while Van-Far was in its usual formations, Gibson said there were moments that could have shifted the momentum for Van-Far but mistakes other than turnovers cost the team. After Gaston’s long touchdown, it appeared he had an 89-yard touchdown a drive later only for it to be waved off due to him being called for a false start.

A fake punt while Van-Far trailed 28-8 in the second half fooled St. Vincent (including the public address announcer as a ‘whoa’ spread through the stadium) so Carson Huff caught a pass for the first down, or so Van-Far thought. The team had an illegal player downfield to wipe away the play.

“Those things kill you,” Gibson said. “You’ve got to have those momentum swings. I thought we had one, but then they called it back.”

Not every new strategy by Van-Far failed. Even though St. Vincent stopped Van-Far’s usual strong running game, limiting regular 100-yard rushers Douglas and Evan Utterback, the freshman Douglas brother Cayden Douglas found success in the first half with 55 yards on four carries. On top of that, Douglas was active on defense when he made key tackles.

Gibson said Cayden Douglas showed what he can bring to the program in the future. Before the end of this season, Douglas has done well with a larger offensive role.

“We knew he was good all year, but he’s just been injured until the last couple of weeks,” Gibson said. “We’ve slowly been working him in. We went to a heavy set where we can try to block their big guys and let him get the ball.”

Gibson said Van-Far’s usual offense didn’t work as well as he wanted it to, but St. Vincent quarterback Nick Buchheit was able to do what he wanted. Buchheit threw four touchdown passes for St. Vincent, with two of those touchdowns going for 53 yards and one going for 48 yards. The defensive approach for Van-Far was to not let St. Vincent throw the deep passes, Gibson said, but Van-Far wasn’t able to “stay over the top of everything.”

“This year, we thought it would be a little bit easier because, last year, they had an all-state quarterback (Christian Schaaf) who could run the ball too,” Gibson said. “You try to play pass coverage, and he’ll just take off. This guy, he’ll just stay in the pocket. It didn’t seem like we could get to him either.”

A season-ending at St. Vincent is something this season has in common with last year, but the fact it ended with a winning record is another similarity. Van-Far improved a 6-5 record to 8-3 for the program’s second straight winning season following 16 consecutive years of losing seasons. Unlike last year, the Indians spent the whole season as state-ranked.

Gibson said having so many returning players who had good seasons last year, along with bringing back most of the coaching staff from last year, gave Van-Far some consistency. Adding talent such as the Douglas brothers to the backfield after graduating all-state athlete Gage Gibson helped.

“The junior class this year, they’re going to be good again,” Gibson said. “It’s the consistency with the coaching too. It’s their third year coaching them.”

Gibson will miss his seniors, who he said are mostly four-year players for the program. Even those who haven’t been with Van-Far football all four years, they made their impact. Carson Huff played two seasons after transferring and had five interceptions in the final three games, and Isaac Wardlow had four interceptions in the three games leading up to Saturday after moving to the school.

“They’re a good group of kids on and off the field,” Gibson said. “They’re decent leaders. I’m super proud of them.”