Matt Smith had a memorable homecoming at Van-Far High School on Sept. 25.

The Montgomery County head coach saw his Wildcats defeat the Van-Far Indians 62-30 in a road game. It was MCHS’ second straight win over the Indians, but its first victory at the Vandalia school since 2020.

The Wildcats also won their second straight game and improved to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Eastern Missouri Conference play. Van-Far, which played its homecoming game against MCHS, dropped to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in EMO play.

Smith grew up in Vandalia and graduated from Van-Far in 2003. The second-year MCHS coach was pleased that not only his team recorded a season-high point total against his alma mater, but got to see his immediate family members at the game.

“It’s your hometown,” Smith said. “A lot of the kids that play on the (Van-Far) team now, I played with their dads. That’s how old I am. You always want to have a good performance when you come home. A lot of my family came out and supported me.”

Smith also enjoyed his senior running back Lafe McCurdy breaking free for long runs. McCurdy finished with six touchdowns, giving him 11 on the season.

McCurdy had touchdown runs of 68 yards, 42 yards and 19 yards, all of them in the first half. After Van-Far scored on the second play of the game with a 47-yard run, MCHS scored the next 24 points, and McCurdy was a focal point of the offense.

“He’s shifty,” Smith said. “He did this for us last year, too. This is nothing new to see, but he’s a tough kid that wants the football. I have to try not to wear him out, but when he wants it, he wants it. We’re glad he’s on our team.”

McCurdy said he might have had as many touchdowns in a middle school game but doesn’t remember ever having six in a high school game. He also doesn’t ever remember playing on a team that scored 62 points in a game, and for good reason. The Wildcats haven’t scored that many in a contest since finishing with 63 points at Clopton in 2015. The last time they reached 60 points was in 2018 at Van-Far in a 60-20 win.

“We found what worked,” McCurdy said. “It was either going to be a shootout or we were going to stop them eventually on defense. Once we got moving, we got moving.”

It was a vastly different victory than last week at South Callaway when MCHS won 8-6. The contest was scoreless at halftime. Smith said the team started figuring things out in the second half of that game and was able to carry it over into Vandalia.

Smith said his team got an ideal performance from the offensive line in the Week 5 game against Van-Far. His team changed four offensive linemen after a 54-6 loss at North Callaway in Week 3 and the players have responded well to that.

“We put some linemen out there who block a little bit more,” Smith said. “It started working. I think they got a little bit tired, and we just kept pounding it.”

McCurdy is grateful for his offensive line and was able to cut through sometimes without being touched.

“I definitely credit that to my offensive line,” McCurdy said. “There were a couple times where I just waited back there and let them do their thing. I found a hole and went.”

Cayden Douglas also had a strong performance on the ground for Van-Far. Like McCurdy, Douglas has a touchdown in all five games this season. He went into the contest with three straight games of at least 150 yards and had four touchdowns against the Wildcats, including the first one of the game.

Douglas is a familiar name to Smith because he played with his father, Nay Douglas, when they were Indians. While his performance also serves as a reminder for Smith’s roots, it also reminds Smith that there is more work to do. He said MCHS is trending upward but wants to avoid similar mistakes at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Mark Twain (1-4, 0-2 EMO).

“Defensively, we’ve got to be focused,” Smith said. “He (Douglas) is a heck of a back. He’s one of the best in the conference. If he makes you miss, he’s gone, which we talked about, we worked on and watched film. Those are the frustrating things as a coach. Sometimes, he just makes some great plays and you’ve got to tip your hat to him, but we have to be a little more focused and a little more savvy when it comes to processing their offense.”