VB welcomes back injured players with win

VAN BUREN — The Van Buren Pointers have battled injuries all season, playing games without five starters at times this year. They got a little more healthy Friday night, and it showed.

Star senior wide receiver and cornerback Chi Henry, who has more than 10 Division I offers, made his season debut, and the Pointers (1-2, 1-0 6A-West) rolled past Greenbrier 40-14 after dominating the first half to pick up their first win of the season and Coach Moe Henry’s first career win.

If it could go right early for Van Buren, it did. The Pointers opened the game with the ball and needed just three plays to reach the end zone. Greenbrier on the following drive was able to get the ball all the way down to the Van Buren 1 with a rush but fumbled away the ball. It was all Van Buren after that.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Van Buren junior Peyton Pschier caught a 69- yard touchdown pass from Elijah Johnson to give Van Buren a 6-0 lead to begin the game. Pschier, a catcher on the baseball team, caught a 4-yard curl route that was heavily defended, shielding that defender from making the tackle. He then slipped away from another defender then raced past several additional defenders to the end zone.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Chi Henry made a statement with his return to action. The senior caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Perkins in the fourth quarter to give Van Buren a 40-0 lead with 9:30 left to play in the game. The catch was his 24th touchdown in his career, which tied Drew White for the all-time record at the school.

Henry also had a smooth interception on defense, reading the pass well before it was thrown for the takeaway. He missed the initial two games of the season because of injury, but his return was worth the wait for Van Buren.

INJURY REPORT

Van Buren returned two starters back and lost another two from its last played game when it had five starters out. The Pointers played without defensive back Tobey Sayaxomphou and fullback Christian Shultz. Running back Hudson Cheatham left late in Friday’s game with an injury.

The Pointers are still without five to six starters.

NOTABLE

Sophomore WR Trenton Cooley continued his strong season Friday with six catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns. … Cooley now has 18 catches for 233 yards and four touchdowns through three games. … QB Elijah Johnson made his second consecutive start with Perkins taking most of the snaps. The duo was ultra-efficient throwing the ball, as they combined for 298 passing yards on 21of-25 attempts. … Van Buren’s defense limited Greenbrier, which was 12-1 last year, to 176 yards of offense on 44 plays. … Van Buren for a second consecutive season has won its first conference game.

UP NEXT

Van Buren continues 6A-West play by traveling to Greenwood (3-1, 2-0), which won its last game 61-7 against Siloam Springs.