Football Game Preview: Sanger Indians vs. Van Alstyne Panthers

The Sanger Indians will head out to square off against the Van Alstyne Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Sanger's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last four games.

Sanger lost a heartbreaker the last time they played Caddo Mills, but it's fair to say they got their revenge given the result of Friday's matchup. The Indians simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat the Foxes 49-20. Given the Indians' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 193rd, while the Foxes are ranked 406th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.

Reginald Jones continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 301 yards and four scores while picking up 12.0 yards per carry. His longest rush was for an incredible 89 yards. Another back making a difference was Bola Ogunwuyi, who rushed for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only nine carries.

They were just one part of a punishing run game: Sanger was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 463 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in September of 2024.

Sanger didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Ogunwuyi and Jaise Jacksons.

Meanwhile, Van Alstyne was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They were four points away from ending the streak, but they lost a 23-19 heartbreaker at the hands of Krum. While the Panthers had to settle for second, they closed the game well in the third quarter, where they outscored the Bobcats 12-6.

Sanger's win bumped their record up to 4-2. As for Van Alstyne, their loss dropped their record down to 1-3.

Sanger and Van Alstyne were almost perfectly matched up when the teams last played back in October of 2024, but Sanger suffered an agonizing 42-41 defeat. Can the Indians avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.