Vandals Face Spring Hill In Final Pre-District Contest

One more non-district tune-up remains before the Van Vandals can concentrate on beginning defense of their District 14-3A championship.

The Vandals, 2-2 for the season, welcome the Spring Hill Panthers into the new Van Memorial Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday in the non-district finale for both squads.

Spring Hill dealt the Vandals their only regular season defeat of the 2008 campaign.

"Spring Hill will show multiple looks including the I-formation and the shotgun," emphasized Vandal head coach Brady Pennington. "The videotape that we are watching on them shows them lined up in as many as 59 different offensive formations and they motion a lot. They have great team speed."

Defensively, the Panthers will also show multiple looks.

"They will show a 4-2 and then jump into a 4-3," said Pennington. "They are solid and they will present a tough test for our offense."

The Vandal head coach emphasized that last year’s result in Spring Hill is not being overlooked in preparations for this week’s contest.

"Losing at their place last year is a big thorn in our side," said Pennington.

After the Spring Hill game, the Vandals will enjoy an open date on their schedule Friday, October 2 before returning to action for their District 14-3A opener at Kemp Friday, October 9.

"We just need to come out of this next game healthy," pointed out Pennington. "We also need to give the new faces on this team more playing time."

Among the new faces are the two new quarterbacks, Michael Gates and Tori Parsons, who made their debuts as the signal callers for the Vandals in last week’s game against Mabank.

Gates finished with 13 completions in 27 attempts for 90 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions at Mabank while Parsons contributed 98 yards rushing on 11 carries.

"I was real proud of the way our quarterbacks and our entire offense performed against a very good defense in Mabank," said Pennington. "It is a real confidence booster. We just need to work more on our red zone offense in practice this week and improve in that area."

Just like last week’s game in Mabank, Pennington added that both QB’s will see action against Spring Hill not only at QB but also at wide receiver.

Following the Spring Hill game, a determination may be made by Pennington and his coaching staff as to which QB will take the majority of the snaps in district play.

Gates and Parsons are filling in for senior QB Tyler Sharpe who was lost for the season due to a knee injury suffered in Palestine September 11.

"I have said before that Tyler is a great leader for our football team on and off the field," said Pennington. "He was a vocal leader on our sidelines at Mabank Friday night and he did a great job in encouraging our players throughout the game."

After several negative injury reports in the past few weeks, the Vandals may be showing signs of getting somewhat healthier.

Senior running back Chase Rabe, who broke a bone in his foot against Palestine, may be ready to return to action as early as the district opener at Kemp, according to Pennington.

Three other players who have missed significant playing time this season, may be ready for action this week against Spring Hill including senior cornerback Seth Potter, senior strong safety Cody Daniels and senior weakside linebacker Matt Broadbent.

"These players definitely need playing time," pointed out Pennington.