WARDSVILLE, Mo. - When the Blair Oaks Falcons travel to Owensville tonight, they're going to see a couple big differences from their last trip there two years ago.
The first big change is cosmetic. Gone is the lush, long grass the Dutchmen played on for many years, replaced by artificial turf.
The bigger change is to the Dutchmen themselves, who went 1-19 the previous two seasons.
"The biggest challenge with Owensville is they're big and physical kids," Blair Oaks coach Brad Drehle said. "Every year, that's kind of the M.O., and when they're able to put some good skill kids together with them, they're a very good football team. They've had a little bit of a downturn in the athletes recently, but now you're seeing them come back through.
"You've got some young kids, some big kids, so from the standpoint of what they're able to do, they're a little bit scary."
The Falcons (1-0) will have to concern themselves with three primary threats from the Dutchmen (0-1) - junior tight end/linebacker Keegan Wright, senior running back/quarterback/linebacker Matt Pohlmann and senior offensive/defensive lineman Derek Diekmann.
"(Wright) is a tremendous athlete and with (Pohlmann) and (Diekmann), those guys can make plays," Drehle said. "And they've got several others. They're improving in their program, I think their numbers are up a little bit, I think Owensville is on an upswing.
"They'd like nothing better than to work us over at home. They're going to play physical, they're going to play hard, that's just how Owensville goes about their business."
Owensville started the season with a 42-13 loss to St. Francis Borgia. The Falcons, who started the season with a 21-3 win against Moberly, got a look at the Dutchmen during the Jamboree that Blair Oaks hosted two weeks ago.
"They made some big plays," Drehle said. "You watch the Jamboree and they had a couple big runs against Moberly, which we were never able to do.
"And they were able to get a couple big plays against Borgia. They turned the ball over a couple times against them or that game would have been a little different. They gave away 14 points and the score was 42-13. You take away 14 points and you're in a ballgame."
Highs are expected in the 90s for today, but could drop by game time. That would be a welcome change after last week's sweltering game, which saw several players for both Blair Oaks and Moberly dealing with heat-related issues. Drehle said he's not sure what the team could have done differently to prepare, as they took several precautions.
"We pushed the fluids last week - I can't tell you how many gallons of water our kids drink through the course of a day," he said. "We provide them with a water bottle at school, and on game days and Thursdays we have water out here so they can take them with them when they go. I see them in the hallway and it's, "Do you have water? Do you have water? Do you have water?'
"So the water wasn't it. We feel like we failed them in the week of preparation, we backed off a little bit. So this week, we cranked it back up.
"What is the right answer? You just don't know when you deal with that type of heat. We felt like we addressed a lot of things. We kept it cool in (the locker room and meeting rooms), we had ice bags, we had the fan on the sideline."
Drehle added sometimes it's just a matter of mileage.
"We feel like our kids play extremely hard, and it just takes a toll on you after time," he said. "We counted the steps out here one time in the preseason and our skill kids who are playing both ways are putting in close to 10 miles in a night of practice. That's a lot of running. Then you bring in the pregame and all the things you do in the course of a game, and it just takes a toll on you after a while."
The good news is the Falcons should have a little more depth this week.
"We're actually starting to get a little healthier," Drehle said. "(Offensive lineman/linebacker) Levi Dial will be available this week, which for him has got to be a godsend. The poor kid has been through a year of rehab (for two torn ACLs). Then he landed on his knee out here against Helias (in the Jamboree) and had some swelling. So the doctors held him out as a precaution, but they cleared him Tuesday morning to participate.
"(Lineman) Brent Heckemeyer is slowly getting healthier after knee surgery this summer, which will help us. He was cleared to play last week and went in for one play and got poked in the eye. He had a big old black eye. He'll hopefully be in a better place to compete this week.
"And (lineman Dalton) Fifer went knee-to-knee with a kid. He had some swelling and some discomfort behind his knee. But he's going to be OK."
And in what has become an ongoing saga, the hamstring of running back Dominic Jamerson is still getting attention.
"It's just been an ongoing process," Drehle said. "You see him get out there, open, and just not be able to hit that next gear. Hopefully that will continue to get better.
"He's getting treatments and doing some new things. A lot of (the injury) has to do with the way he runs, and they're trying to help correct some of that and get the diffferent muscles to fire to protect that hamstring."
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