CALIFORNIA, Mo. - In a game where the teams were handing the ball to each other like homeowners dishing out Halloween candy, the California Pintos came up with the three biggest game-changing plays and claimed a 21-10 win against the Blair Oaks Falcons on Friday night.
Those three plays led to a big second quarter by the Pintos, as they scored all of their points in a span of 9 minutes and 14 seconds of game time and made it a happy Homecoming with the victory.
The Pintos closed the first quarter by blocking a punt, and they scored seven plays later on a 6-yard touchdown run by Jaden Barr.
The Falcons lost a fumble on their very next play from scrimmage, and a short field helped the Pintos cover 20 yards in four plays, capped by a 1-yard plunge by Barr.
Blair Oaks threw an interception three plays later and California covered 35 yards in six plays, scoring on fourth-and-goal from the 1 on a run by Allan Burger.
That turned a 3-0 Blair Oaks lead - the Falcons got a 31-yard field goal by Chris Cooper with 3:30 left in the first quarter - into a 21-3 California advantage.
"Any time you can get a win over Blair Oaks - they're a great football team - you've got to be happy about it," California coach Marty Albertson said.
The game certainly didn't lack intrigue after that - Blair Oaks turned the ball over a total of five times in the game to four for California - but the game's only other score was a Blair Oaks touchdown on a 5-yard pass from Jordan Hair to Adam Schell with :17 left in the third quarter.
"You get up 21-3, that's big," Albertson said. "When they scored in the second half, that makes you a little nervous."
But the Pintos were able to stiffen up on defense when they needed to, as the Falcons ended up with an edge in total yardage of 342-294.
"Defensively, we played really well," Blair Oaks coach Brad Drehle said. "There are a lot of good things. We're going to leave here frustrated, and it hurts and it stings. But when we turn the film on (today), we're going to see we did a lot of good things."
The game was a battle of state-ranked teams, as California came in ranked second in Class 3 and Blair Oaks was seventh.
"California is a very good football team," Drehle said. "They obviously have some tremendous athletes out there and kids who make plays."
The Pintos, who improved to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Tri-County Conference, rushed the ball 38 times for 154 yards. Walker Borghardt led the way with 99 yards on 15 carries. Barr completed 10-of-14 passes for 140 yards with two interceptions.
Blair Oaks, which dropped to 5-2 and 3-2, carried the ball 40 times for 146 yards. Caleb Bischoff paced the Falcons with 85 yards on 21 carries. Hair completed 16-of-34 passes for 196 yards with two interceptions.
Blair Oaks will host Warsaw on Friday, while California will host School of the Osage.
Related video: