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VAN — When UIL realignment was announced in February, Van found out that it would no longer be in a district with No. 1 Carthage.

The Vandals are in a district with Gilmer and Texarkana Pleasant Grove — both of which the Vandals lost to this season — but the Bulldogs (winners of 41-15 and 35-7 over the Vandals in 2022 and 2023) were no longer on the schedule.

But after Van’s 42-38 win over Sunnyvale — a week after the Raiders eliminated Gilmer — and Carthage’s 28-7 defeat of Pleasant Grove, Van and Carthage will face off in 2024 in the Class 4A Division II Region II final.

That football game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Pine Tree’s Pirate Stadium in Longview.

Carthage (12-1) has won 12 straight games since a 20-15 loss to Kilgore in the season opener. Carthage now has 10 straight seasons with at least 11 wins.

“Anytime I talk about Carthage, I start with their program,” Van head football coach Jared Moffatt said. These guys have won nine state championships. Coach (Scott) Surratt and Darren Preston have been there for all of them, and they just do an unbelievable job. Everybody talks about the talent, and they’ve got pretty good talent, they’ve got guys playing on Saturdays and Sundays, but there are a bunch of people that have talent that can’t win like that. It’s the combination of the talented players they have and the unbelievable job they do coaching on both sides of the ball.

“It’s unprecedented what they’ve done. And that’s what we’re facing. Every year is a different team, and their team is different that it has been in the past two years, but what remains the same is they still may be the best team in the state of Texas at this level like they are every single year. We’ve got to play our best game. We have to take care of the football. If you turn the football overall, it’s going to be over in a hurry. People talk about finding points, but their defense makes it tough to find first downs. We know what we are up against. But our kids don’t shy away from competition. With how hard they work and the job that our guys do coaching them, it gives us a chance every week. They are going to go in and do everything they can to give us a chance this Friday.”

Van (10-3) has won one-possession games in all three playoff contests against Athens (38-30), Van Alstyne (45-42) and then Sunnyvale (42-38) to advance the Vandals to the regional final for the first time since 2016.

“Every week has been a fight,” Van senior quarterback Jaxon Moffatt said. “We’ve got a bunch of tough guys that help us win in those close situations.”

“It’s been a really fun ride, just being able to do this with the guys I’ve grown up playing football with,” senior Cade Christensen said.

“It could have been over a few weeks ago,” senior running back Austin Moffatt said. “Its great to be able to keep it going. Not everyone gets to do this.”

“I think it’s really just a testament to who we are,” senior Wyatt Dale said. “We’ve never been the most athletic team or best looking team, but we’ll go out there and we’ll play four quarters of football.”

“This group has always been a good group,” Coach Moffatt said. “It’s a unique team because we don’t have any superstars, but these guys love each other, and they play hard together. They’ve known each other for a long time. They’ve got a lot of fight to them. It’s been a really fun group to coach. You watch these guys accomplish what they’ve accomplished, and there’s been nothing easy about it. All three playoff games, we could’ve lost them all. But to watch these guys continue to battle and compete and find ways to win games, it’s been great to see. It’s been a lot of fun and we’re looking forward to continue playing and battling Carthage in the regional final.”

The winner of Friday’s game will advance to the Class 4A Division II semifinal to face either Brock (12-1) or Graham (12-1).