Football Game Preview: Sunnyvale vs. Van Alstyne Panthers + How To Watch

Sunnyvale is a perfect 5-0 against Van Alstyne since November of 2015 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Thursday. Sunnyvale will challenge Van Alstyne at 7:00 p.m. Sunnyvale knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past five games -- so hopefully Van Alstyne likes a good challenge.

Sunnyvale's offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave on Friday, when they got past Canton's usually-dominant defense. Sunnyvale took their contest with ease, bagging a 56-24 win over Canton. Given Sunnyvale's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 122nd, while Canton is ranked 264th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.

Jaden Cross

Rushing Yards

11/07/25 @ Canton	189
10/31/25 vs Wills Point	86
10/23/25 @ Ford	60
10/17/25 vs Kemp	37
10/10/25 @ Ferris	182
+ 1 more games

Sunnyvale's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jaden Cross led the charge by rushing for 189 yards and four scores, while also picking up 59 receiving yards. With that strong performance, Cross is now averaging an impressive 106.8 rushing yards per game. Another player making a difference was Cayson Maupin, who rushed for 66 yards and one TD on only nine carries.

They were just one part of a punishing run game: Sunnyvale was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 266 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 150 rushing yards in nine consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Van Alstyne's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They fell 35-28 to Caddo Mills.

Van Alstyne now has a losing record of 4-5. As for Sunnyvale, they pushed their record up to 9-1 with the victory, which was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season.

Everything came up roses for Sunnyvale against Van Alstyne when the teams last played back in September of 2019, as the squad secured a 52-13 win. In that game, Sunnyvale amassed a halftime lead of 31-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.