Preview: Gainesville Leopards vs. Van Alstyne Panthers
Two dominant signal callers in Cade Searcy and Weston Johnston are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Gainesville Leopards will head out on the road to face off against the Van Alstyne Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Two weeks ago, Gainesville strolled past Bridgeport with points to spare, taking the game 42-26. The victory was just what Gainesville needed coming off of a 55-28 defeat in their prior contest.
Among those leading the charge was Searcy, who threw for 214 yards and four touchdowns while completing 76.9% of his passes. Bugg Kemp also helped out with an impressive 82 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the match if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Van Alstyne's strategy against Bridgeport on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Van Alstyne blew Bridgeport out of the water with a 57-12 final score. Given Van Alstyne's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 450th, while Bridgeport is ranked 953rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Van Alstyne got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Johnston out in front who threw for 172 yards and four touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground. Brayden Miller was another key contributor, gaining 110 total yards and two touchdowns.
Gainesville's victory bumped their record up to 5-3. As for Van Alstyne, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season.
We should be in store for an exciting game Friday as the two teams have no problem gaining yardage. Gainesville has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 364.5 total yards per game. However, it's not like Van Alstyne struggles in that department as they've been even better at 378.5 per game. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Gainesville was dealt a bruising 65-18 defeat at the hands of Van Alstyne in their previous matchup back in October of 2022. Can Gainesville avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
