The School of the Osage Indians suffered their first loss of the season last Friday in a big fashion.
The Blair Oaks Falcons tore through the Indians thanks largely to five interceptions and a massive 48-0 lead at halftime. The Falcons scored at will and made the Indians look nothing like the team that cruised through the opening half of their schedule.
Eldon, on the other hand, dominated Versailles 50-7 in its Homecoming game. The packed Victor Field saw strong performances from Nick Hendrix, Levi Shinn and Chris Lemen, among others. Whenever Eldon got the ball on offense, one would only have to wait a few plays to see someone from their backfield bust a huge run. While Eldon's defense allowed some yardage, they looked stellar at many points in the contest.
Tonight, Eldon will travel to Osage to play out one of the biggest rivalries in the Tri-County Conference. Eldon has had two good showings in a row against significantly easier teams than those they played in the first four weeks of their schedule and have moved back to .500 with a 3-3 record.
The Mustangs' head coach Shannon Jolley sees this game as an important step in better placement for the district tournament. Currently, they're tied for third with Fulton and Owensville in Class 3 District 6.
Eldon has another tough game on its schedule against Osage, which had started accruing votes in the state rankings. Eldon had significant trouble against tough teams like Blair Oaks and California, but Osage's loss to Blair Oaks now casts a shadow of doubt how good the Indians really are.
The loss left Osage in the No. 3 spot in its district standings, with state-ranked Ava and Mountain Grove holding down the top two positions.
Many eyes will be on Osage quarterback Austin Riley this week. Last week marked his second game this season with three or more interceptions in a game, and he tallied only five passing yards against Blair Oaks' secondary. Running back Jake Ulmer and the rest of the Indians' running backs will also need to step up after finding only 42 yards in the first half against Blair Oaks' starters.
Osage's defense should view the Falcons' game with a grain of salt. True, they gave up 48 points, but constantly being on their back foot because of Osage turnovers certainly didn't help prop them up.
The Indians allowed 228 rushing yards, which should evoke some concern because Eldon has a strong running game as well and one that's starting to add more weapons to its arsenal.
Hendrix became the new starting quarterback for Eldon a few weeks ago after a bit of a contest earlier in the season. The junior earned the job through his ability to dissect and find running lanes, much like his successful predecessor, Wyatt Greenwalt, did last year. He could provide the key to beating Osage's linebacker corps.
Last season, Eldon won the contest 56-38, but Osage's defense has improved and Eldon's offense arguably hasn't reached the strength it had last year. But with Osage coming off a particularly hard loss, and Eldon coming off a pair of wins, the Mustangs may have the mental edge in this game.
School of the Osage hosts Eldon - Updates on Twitter: @SOTOsports. Listen live online: cool1027.com