Van-Far knew how perfect and how sharp it had to be on Friday.

It ended in another lopsided result against Class 2 No. 2 Bowling Green with a 52-6 loss for the Class 1 No. 5 Van-Far, losing out on the Wagon Wheel trophy for at least the 16th straight time. The Indians trailed 24-0 after one quarter and 38-6 at halftime, only scoring via a three-yard run by Malik Douglas — 52 yards on 12 carries.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said the perfection goal went out of the window early when Van-Far (5-1) lost a fumble on its second or third offensive drive, allowing Bowling Green (6-0) the chance to take a 16-0 lead. Gibson said giving talented teams like Bowling Green extra possessions, especially with a short field, doesn’t usually lead to good results.

“That happens when you play good teams,” Gibson said. “We’ll try to bounce back for next week.”

Gibson recalls a drive in the second half that Van-Far’s defense had Bowling Green in a third-down situation only for the Indians to jump offsides and yet another time when Van-Far’s offense was threatening to score only to fumble at the one-yard line.

Mistakes loom larger, Gibson said, because of how hard Bowling Green is to stop even without making errors. The offensive line is hard to deal with, and the Bobcats were making great throws in the passing game.

“They’re just better all around,” Gibson said. “They’re offensive line is really good. Our guys were in good spots on the pass, but they made good throws and made good catches. Our guys were guarding well, but they made plays.”

Tyson Douglas led with eight tackles, Evan Utterback followed with 4.5 tackles and Easton Sharp had four tackles.

Van-Far has lost eight straight meetings with conference foe Wright City (4-2), including a 40-20 defeat last season. Gibson said he knows what the Indians need to focus on based on that loss.

“They have really good running backs like Duan McRoberts,” Gibson said. “We have to stop him. We have to be better offensively than we were tonight.”