The hungry 0-3 Aubrey Chaparrals football team heads back out on the road this week for a Friday night face-off with the 1-1 Van Alstyne Panthers at Panther Stadium.
The Panthers opened their season with a 54-13 win over the Life Waxahachie Mustangs but enter this week’s contest fresh off a 52-24 loss to the Paris Wildcats.
“Van Alstyne is always going to be well prepared,” said Keith Ivy, Aubrey athletic director and head football coach. “Coach [Mikeal] Miller and I coached together at Allen High School many years ago, and he’s a good friend of mine. I know he’ll have his kids ready to play.”
Van Alstyne was able to rattle off a district championship and a playoff win last season, ending last year with a 45-42 loss to the Van Vandals in the area round.
Despite only returning seven starters, the Panthers offense, led by receiver Tim Moore, who caught 8 touchdowns in 2024, rolls into the contest matchup with the Chaps averaging 39 points per game.
“They’re like us,” Ivy said. “They lost several players from a year ago, but they were the district champions of their district last year, so they have some good senior leadership back, and some of those younger kids have done a really good job stepping into those roles that were vacated.”
The young Chaparrals squad, averaging less than 20 points per game, will look to get their offense clicking in Aubrey’s last nondistrict game.
“This is a big, big game for a young team,” Ivy said. “We need to develop more confidence, and Van Alstyne probably feels the same way. They have a victory already, but they’re kind of in the same boat we are in regard to their district. They lost a lot of players in a tough district that they won last year, but they’re still trying to figure out their team as well, so it’s going to be two teams that are very eager to get a big win before we both go into district play next week.”
Ivy added that the Chaps have been in similar territory before when they started the 2023 season with four straight losses.
“Our kids know when they walk outside our weight room there’s a decade’s worth of outstanding football that’s been played here in Aubrey, and there’s proof of it,” he said. “… We’re battling a set of new circumstances this year that we haven’t been confronted with for a while, and that’s OK. We still have to stay strong in our beliefs and know that what we do works, and at the end of the day, the good Lord is the only one that knows what our record is going to be at the end of the year, but every day we have to put our best foot forward and go to work and continue to play better Chaparral football.”
Aubrey and Van Alstyne will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Panther Stadium.
