Van-Far hopes to be healthier before a rematch with Westran because it wasn’t on Friday.

The Indians closed the regular season with a 35-6 loss to Winfield (4-5) at home in the first meeting between the schools in football since 2013. Van-Far (1-8) takes a five-game winning streak into the Class 1 District 7 tournament but will have a bye this week prior to playing at Westran (4-5).

Head coach Lucas Gibson said Van-Far couldn’t move the ball. The team was without three starters for various reasons including Bryce Reading, Kashton Rhodes and Cooper Huff. Reading got hurt in practice to put Van-Far down a tight end and led to multiple freshmen starting.

“We had four freshmen playing,” Gibson said. “We had a freshman playing tight end (for Reading), and Eli (Goodin) played great. It’s just we were outsized again going against a Class 3 team. Not having Bryce hurt us pretty bad.”

Gibson said Cayden Douglas ran for a five-yard touchdown in Van-Far’s only points last week. Douglas could’ve had more with a kickoff return, but it was called back due to a penalty. He said that could’ve made the game closer before halftime, which was 21-6, because the defense played well.

“We had a couple fourth-down stops on defense in the second half,” Gibson said. “We did a good job keeping them out of the end zone before half.”

Van-Far will need the bye week to get healthy. Gibson said center and defensive end Roger Preston returned after breaking his collarbone in the first game, but he hopes to see others return.

The Indians also wanted another shot at Westran. Gibson said his young team was just starting to learn in the Week 1 game at home against Westran.

“We feel like we got a lot better (since Week 1),” Gibson said. “It was all new to them when we played them in the first week. The kids are excited for the matchup.”