Van-Far out in front this year, wins Farmers’ Cup in 20-6 victory

Van-Far football is pushing forward this season.

Van-Far vs Mark Twain Photo Gallery

The Indians continued its four-game winning streak and record-breaking season with a 20-6 victory on Friday night at home against Eastern Missouri Conference foe Mark Twain, securing the Farmers’ Cup for the second time in 10 attempts. Van-Far’s defense pushed the Tigers (1-8, 1-6 EMO) back with six sacks and five fourth-down stops and quarterback Nikos Connaway had 202 total offensive yards and three touchdowns to clinch the program’s first winning regular-season record (5-4) since 2004.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said his players have given the program and the community much reason to celebrate already but want to keep the excitement going this year as Van-Far is set to host its first district game in a long time. The Indians (3-4 EMO) are the No. 4 seed in the Class 1 District 2 tournament and face No. 5 Chaffee (5-4) at 1 p.m. Nov. 4.

“It helps boost morale and boost more people coming out,” Gibson said. “I’m just excited for the whole program.”

At the forefront of Van-Far’s efforts this year has been its defense as it is averaging 21.2 point allowed, which is the lowest mark for the Indians in more than 14 years, and almost worked to its second straight shutout on Friday if not for a 30-yard touchdown run by Eli Tobin with less than a minute left in the game. The seasons in 2012 and 2015 were the only years Van-Far held opponents to less than 30 points per game at averages of 29 and 28, respectively.

Rosters have changed in the Farmers’ Cup rivalry, but Gibson said Van-Far knew to expect a physical game as usual from the Tigers. There were plenty of penalties called, and Mark Twain had several holding calls against them while trying to stop the Indians’ defense. These contributed to the Tigers’ offense encountering fourth-and-long situations along with Van-Far tackling the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage.

“Our guys are figuring it out on defense,” Gibson said. “They’ve been playing physical like we’ve been telling them the whole time. We knew they were going to be upfront and physical. We just had to match it and do our best to shut it down and stay disciplined like we did last week.”

The defensive line made it difficult on Mark Twain as it tried running the ball with a new quarterback, Ayden Waters, stepping in for typical starter Nolan Epperson. Sophomores Evan Utterback, Jackson Fischer, Easton Sharp and Pacey Reading combined for stops or even helped slow down Mark Twain as Ty Evans and Gage Gibson brought down Tigers for losses.

Utterback has jumped out to Lucas Gibson about every week on the defensive side as he has collected many tackles and negative-yardage plays and finished with 4.5 tackles and a tackle for loss on Friday. As for his teammates, Gibson had 7.5 tackles and three for loss, Ty Evans had 6.5 tackles and five for loss, Pacey Reading had four tackles and two for loss, Easton Sharp had 2.5 tackles and four for loss, Jackson Fischer had three tackles and one for loss, Dalton Hays had four tackles and one for loss, and Carson Huff had 3.5 tackles and one for loss.

“We just play hard every play, and with that, you’ll just accomplish things like (pushing offenses back),” Utterback said. “Those guys (on the defensive line) are very valuable. They get past the line, they nail them and they do it all.”

Reading stood out in the first quarter on the line with a couple sacks, and Mark Twain couldn’t muster much offense. When Van-Far possessed the ball, a big play had the chance to happen out of nowhere.

After appearing to be stopped, Connaway found a hole and broke away for a 63-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. Connaway ended the first quarter with a fourth-down conversion when he scrambled and completed a pass to Reece Culwell. With seconds left in the first half, Culwell caught another pass for a two-point conversion that followed a 55-yard connection from Connaway to Gaven Gaston.

Connaway is a multi-sport star for Van-Far and displays it frequently as a quarterback when extending plays with his legs. Before finding fellow senior Gage Gibson on a 10-yard slant route for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, Connaway found him on a 27-yard completion at the end of the third quarter to put the Indians in the red zone.

“He’s just an athlete,” Lucas Gibson said. “When he gets in the scramble mode, we try to teach our guys to scramble with him and get open. “

The former Van-Far football player Gibson is excited to see playoff football back at home for the program and is excited for the community’s support. To prepare for Chaffee, who earned its first regular-season record in six years after totaling seven wins over five years, Gibson said the execution should be better.

“We have a lot in the tank left on offense,” Gibson said. “We’re not executing as highly as we can. Knowing our blocking assignments, knowing what routes we’re running and just cleaning It up. It’s not terrible, but we can do better.”

Van-Far has had its fair share of downs in the past, and even this year, but the Indians have been able to overcome those downs this season. That is a big difference, Utterback said.

“That’s why we got a winning record because we never give up,” Utterback said. “No matter when we were 1-4, we just keep fighting.”

Van-Far runners post solid performances before districts

Van-Far cross country ran solid races before districts at 11 a.m. Saturday in South Callaway.

No runner medaled at the Bowling Green Invite on Friday, but a couple finished in the top 50 in their respective races. Brooke-lyn Forman had the best finish for Van-Far in the girls 5,000 meters in 26th out of 118 runners with a time of 22:28, and Garrett Hopke ran the best for the boys in 46th out of 167 runners with a time of 18:55.

Erin Childs finished 57th in the girls race with a time of 25:00, and Richard Hayden was 140th in the boys race with a 23:22.

Father Tolton won the boys and girls team title with 63 points and 31 points, respectively, and had the top individual girls runner in Elyse Wilmes with a winning time of 18:13. Bowling Green’s Ben Chance won the boys race with a time of 16:04.