Last year, Van-Far ran all over Westran.
To open this season at Westran, the Indians completed passes in the second half to defeat the Hornets 38-14. In his first varsity start at quarterback, …
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Last year, Van-Far ran all over Westran.
To open this season at Westran, the Indians completed passes in the second half to defeat the Hornets 38-14. In his first varsity start at quarterback, senior Kasen Christian threw for 84 yards on 6-for-11 passing and completed key passes to Gaven Gaston, Evan Utterback and Pacey Reading.
Head coach Lucas Gibson said Van-Far only had an 8-6 lead after the first quarter and had its offensive spark in the second half.
“We opened things up a little bit, and then we were able to run the ball a little better,” Gibson said. “We thought we would be able to run the ball better than we did. They did a good job stopping us in the run game with big guys on the defensive line.”
Westran didn’t have an answer for Van-Far’s running game last season as the Indians surpassed 400 yards on the ground. Most of those yards were logged by the graduated twins, Malik and Tyson Douglas. Utterback scored three touchdowns, and Christian and Gaston each had one touchdown.
Their younger brother, Cayden, who is the starting running back, was unavailable due to an injury that occurred on Friday, according to Gibson. Ronnie Stanich stepped in well, Gibson said, including almost scoring on a 57-yard kick return inside the 10-yard line. Van-Far finished with 196 rushing yards, including 63 yards on 8 carries by Christian, 56 yards on 12 carries by Stanich and 34 yards on nine carries by Utterback.
“We did a good job of mixing it up in the second half,” Gibson said.
Stanich also filled in Douglas’s spot at cornerback, and Gibson said Gaston adjusted from playing safety to playing cornerback.
“We made some adjustments on defense by switching people around,” Gibson said. “I feel like that helped us also. We were trying to get guys in the right spot for a new team.”
Jackson Fischer led with 5.5 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack. Gibson Condie followed with 4.5 tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack; Christian and Bryce Reading each had four tackles; Utterback finished with 3.5 tackles; and Gaston had an interception.
Van-Far hosts Russellville at 7 p.m. this Friday.
