By SCOTT W. COLEMAN, Four Points News

Vandegrift will look move past any lingering effects of a close loss to Cedar Park on Friday as it hosts Killeen (1-1) at Monroe Stadium.

The Kangaroos are a familiar opponent for Vandegrift. The two teams have met four previous times in the regular season, and the Vipers have won the last three contests.

Killeen bested Stony Point 21-14 in their season opener but struggled to defend the run in a 34-7 blowout loss at home to Waco last week. Waco quarterback Will Richards ran for 135 yards and junior Terrance Hamilton posted 178 yards on 24 carries. In all, the Kangaroos allowed 375 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in the loss.  

The biggest struggled for Killeen last week was on offense. The Kangaroos mustered just 108 total yards of offense and managed only seven first downs. On the defensive side of the ball, defensive end Isaiah Bennett has asserted himself as a force for opposing offenses to contend with, registering three sacks in each of the Kangaroos’ first two games.

After the disappointing loss and looking ahead to the meeting with Vandegrift, Killeen head coach Neil Searcy told the Killeen Daily Herald, “No one is going to feel sorry for you. We’ve got to get better or get used to getting hit across the head like that, and that’s not what we’re made of.”

That was in stark contrast to Vandegrift coach Drew Sanders’ message to his players after a hard-fought 13-0 loss to defending state champion Cedar Park on Friday. Sanders was full of encouragement and said after the game that he saw much to be pleased with from his team and felt the Cedar Park game would prove to be a building block for the Vipers this season.