Van-Far football wants more of everything this season.

More wins. More home games. More players.

The Indians have more of the latter two as they are scheduled to host six home games compared to the three games they had last year on their new field and will start with 28 players instead of 21 at this time last season. The wins are obviously wanted also to eclipse the three wins in the previous four years, but head coach Lucas Gibson thinks focusing on improving specific areas will lead to team success.

“Basically, we’ll have our whole offensive line and most of the defensive line will all be returning guys that played last year,” Gibson said. “They learn what each other could do in working together to make the right blocks. I feel like that’s going to be a pretty good strength of ours this year.”

The lines on each side of the ball are only some of the returning players Van-Far will welcome back in its ranks. On offense, Gibson said the primary ball carriers will most likely be quarterback Nikos Connaway and running back Gage Gibson again this year following all-conference and all-district seasons from the upcoming seniors. On defense, senior Tyrece Cole is someone that can move around to defensive end and linebacker, and sophomore linemen Jackson Fischer and Evan Utterback will be back after having their seasons cut short following the Indians’ lone victory against Montgomery County.

This feeds into a problem but one with some positivity attached to it as Gibson said Van-Far having more players gives the team options. Several players are viable are multiple positions so the correct formula needs to be figured out.

“The hardest part of it figuring out where everybody needs to be to make us the best team we can put on the field,” Gibson said. “For the new ones, you have to see how they respond when they play varsity.”

Center Easton Sharp and Dalton Dameron are a couple more returning players to the offensive line that have looked stronger so far to Gibson, and Ty Evans appears to be a good option to be the Indians’ new fullback. Gibson said Van-Far could look to run more considering the experience Van-Far has returning to these areas.

This reasoning also includes having dynamic pieces like Connaway, who can run for long and throw for long distances, and Gage Gibson as a reliable ball carrier. Gibson is someone who can line up as a receiver when the Indians decide to use more spread offense, Lucas Gibson said, as Gaven Gaston and Gibson Condie can be viable receivers.

“Nikos has an arm, and we do have a few more weapons that we can pass the ball more this year,” Lucas Gibson said. “The linemen are going to give us more time, and we might go a little more spread this year.”

Van-Far thinks the offense will have more time this year, and Gibson said he hopes opposing offenses won’t have as much time or room to maneuver. Utterback is someone who can get after the ball as Gibson estimates that a third of his tackles were for loss last season, and Dameron has looked good on the line in practice.

The linebacker corps in a mostly 4-4 base – including Gage Gibson as a returning all-conference outside linebacker/strong safety – is about the same other than perhaps Cole or Condie filling in more, Gibson said, as the secondary will be led by Connaway’s sure hands at safety.

“We’re going to be more aggressive on defense,” Lucas Gibson said. “We’ll try to create some confusion in the backfield for the other team.”

Gibson said he and his players look forward to not being on the bus as much this year as Van-Far has road games only at Montgomery County, Bowling Green and Louisiana. The Indians also really want to play in districts as they were forced to forfeit their game at Crystal City due to a shortage of players and influx of injuries.

“There are 11 sophomores so that’s the big group that got a lot of experience last year,” Gibson said. “I think they used that for motivation over the offseason just getting stronger and building themselves for holding up for a full varsity season.”

Van-Far hosted South Callaway at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25 before having another home game the next Friday at the same time against Russellville.