Tears were running. DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” was blaring in the Van-Far locker room. The Indians’ crowd was cheering.

An environment like this hasn’t been present after a Van-Far football game since a 40-20 victory in 2020 against now-defunct program Clopton. The Indians snapped a 15-game losing streak by defeating Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County 14-12 on Friday in the first game on their new field in Vandalia.

Van-Far’s defense forced four turnovers, winning the takeaway battle 4-1. Quarterback Nikos Connaway ran for two touchdowns, including the winning one that went for 50 yards, as part of his 71 rushing yards on five carries to go with his 68 yards on 5-for-7 passing. Gage Gibson ran for 70 yards on 14 carries.

Head coach Lucas Gibson took over as the third head coach in as many seasons and his first win as a high school head coach is also what he hopes will be the first step in rebuilding the program. Gibson said Van-Far can be viewed as an underdog as the Wildcats’ roster was more than two times bigger than the Indians’ on Friday. Still, he didn’t let an overall losing streak, a five-game losing streak to Montgomery County and the two losses to begin this season discourage him, and he said all that seemed to not discourage his players either.

“This win means everything,” Gibson said. “I believe in these kids, and I was trying to get them to believe in themselves like I said two or three weeks ago. They stepped up, made plays when they needed to, got some big turnovers. I’m just overwhelmed. The team we just beat has 50 kids over there. These kids have got so much fight in them, and I’m so proud of them.”

Making fewer mistakes this week made a big difference, Gibson said, as the Indians did commit their turnover early when Connaway was picked off in the second quarter but controlled the game the rest of the way.

Wildcats quarterback Adam Czerniewski showed his dual-threat prowess early after running the ball 33 yards to the Van-Far 10-yard line in the first quarter only to be picked off by Reece Culwell on the next play after the pass tipped off the receivers’ hands. Czerniewski dropped back again in the second quarter but hit a darting Cody Smith in the hands before he returned it for 45 yards. Before Montgomery’s backup quarterback, Jace Ellis, was unable to connect with Travis Hill on fourth down for a score, Connaway eventually forced it in for a 6-0 Van-Far lead that carried into halftime.

“They just have a lot of fight I guess,” Gibson said. “The D-line has been working their tails off, squeezing down and getting good penetration. That’s what we’ve got to do – get in the mesh and mess their stuff up.”

Montgomery’s Brenden Luttrell fumbled the ball in the third quarter to give Van-Far its third takeaway but redeemed himself with a 54-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 6.

The Wildcats couldn’t recover from their fourth miscue as Smith recovered a fumble on Van-Far’s own 22. The Indians were marching down the field, but Montgomery still thought it got a stop by focusing on Van-Far’s 203-yard rusher from last week in Brandon Eoff — who had 65 yards on 23 carries. Gibson said that strategy proved costly on Connaway’s touchdown that made it 14-6 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.

“Coach (Steve) Gschwender had a great call on that play,” Gibson said. “He said, ‘Watch this,’ and they were keying on Eoff of course. We knew that was going to be the case. They keyed on him, and Nikos was wide open.”

Czerniewski was back and appeared to be unstoppable on a couple of first down runs that culminated in a one-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion pass was incomplete to Hill, so victory was in Van-Far’s hands.

Gage Gibson had already run for several first downs during the game and was entrusted to seal this significant win as he picked up two first downs on the final drive of the game.

“They’re keying on Eoff so he’s going to have to make plays when he gets the ball,” Gibson said.

Gibson said his players should enjoy the win but should be ready to take the next step when Van-Far (1-2, 1-1 EMO) hosts Bowling Green (2-0, 1-0 EMO), who has outscored its first two opponents 139-18. He acknowledged the Indians could be better, like when pitching the ball on offense, and is glad they have the chance to build off a victory this time.

“They’ve just got to believe in themselves. It’s not complicated,” Gibson said with a laugh. “I’m just happy for the whole community that we were able to get a win. Hopefully we can turn this thing around.”