WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Looking at Boonville's 2-7 record, it might be easy to dismiss the Pirates.
Not so fast, says Blair Oaks head coach Brad Drehle.
Out of the nine games the Pirates have played, six have come against Class 4 schools and account for five of the losses. They've only played two teams at their own level, Class 3, and one Class 2 program.
"You take a look at it and you've got those Class 4 teams on the top, then you play the No. 2 team in Class 3 (California) and the No. 2 team in Class 2 (Lafayette County)," Drehle said. "... You lose at (Lafayette County), you lose at California, you lose at Hannibal, that's a pretty tough schedule for anybody.
"So it's a little deceiving when you look at their record. They're a pretty good football team and we're going to have to step up and play well."
With five of the seven other teams in Blair Oaks' district being on the regular-season schedule, the Falcons got a bit lucky to draw an opponent they haven't seen yet this year. Drehle said it's nice to be preparing for somebody different.
"Our kids want to know about them," he said. "What do they do? Who are their good ones? Where do those kids line up? What do those kids do? They're watching film and getting into those things.
"They understand that (Boonville's) losses haven't been to nobodies. Even though they may be 2-7, they have the ability to do some things. Our kids have paid attention to that and have worked to get better."
With an unfamiliar opponent, every moment of prep time is extra valuable. So the Falcons are really enjoying this year's new playoff schedule, which has teams playing once a week rather than every five days. Having to start the season earlier to accommodate the change is paying off now.
"It was rough at the beginning with the heat, that opening Moberly game was unbearable," Drehle said. "But right now, it's huge for us. As coaches you get run down, you're flat worn out, you're burning the candle at both ends. You're in here every morning at 5, then because of our schedule, it's 9 o'clock before you leave. You're grinding away on it. But now, we've got an opportunity to rest a little bit."
And with the schedule finished for the freshman and JV teams, there are no extra games to worry about either.
"The other thing that's helped this week is our underclass schedule is over, so we actually had an extra day of work in there on Monday that we don't normally get," Drehle said.
Getting an extra day for prep work will be valuable to prepare for a Boonville team led by three key contributors in junior running back Jordan Weaver and senior wide receivers Josh Judd and Austin Hulbert.
"They've gotten into 20-plus different formations or variations of formations (on film), so we have to recognize who's eligible, who's not, whether they cover one up or not," Drehle said. "It's, where does (Weaver) line up, find (Judd) - that's who they want to go in the pass game primarily - and then (Hulbert) is the wild card. ... It's identifying where those kids line up. They're trying to hide them so they can gain an advantage."
Hulbert leads the team with 32 catches for 450 yards and three touchdowns, while Judd has 31 for 425 yards and four scores. Weaver is the Pirates' leading rusher with 545 yards on 102 carries (5.3 yards per carry) and five touchdowns.
The Pirates' quarterback is sophomore Nick Zeitlow, who has completed 71-of-139 passes for 944 yards with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions.
"They're heavier run than they are pass, but they've had some games where they've had to get out and throw the football, and they've done it pretty effectively," Drehle said.
On defense, the Pirates operate out of a 4-3 base. Weaver leads the team with 88 tackles from his middle linebacker spot, while Henderson is second with 73 at outside linebacker.
Interestingly enough, the key to each side of the ball might be the same.
"We want to get off the ball and play physical, because they do play some young kids on the offensive and defensive lines," Drehle said. "You see a couple sophomores and a freshman in there, too. So we'd like to believe that our kids, being seniors, that's something we can take advantage of."
The Falcons may be as healthy as they've been in a while heading into this game.
"We're still dealing with a little of the injury stuff, but not what we were early," Drehle said. "The kids are starting to get healthy and we're figuring out what we can do."
All-purpose back Dominic Jamerson is rounding into form after dealing with nagging hamstring issues, while running back Caleb Bischoff has been slowed by a thigh bruise.
"Getting Dominic back helps us out tremendously," Drehle said, "and Caleb is getting through the thigh-bruise stuff he's been dealing with, which will make him more dangerous. Even so, he's a kid that's had a ton of carries, more than what we typically get with a back because normally with two backs in the veer, you split things pretty even. He's had to carry the load (with Jamerson out) and has done a nice job."
The extra day of rest this week also helped several linemen.
"We held Dalton (Fifer) and Peyton (Wilde) out of the contact stuff (early) this week," Drehle said. "Peyton's been dealing with a bit of a stinger, nothing too serious, but I think that rest has helped him this week. Dalton, with his back, he's looked pretty good moving around.
"Tanner (Lueckenhoff), with his collarbone, it ended up being a bruise, so I think he'll be in a pretty good place because we've held him out of contact (for a few days). I think those kids are ready to go."
Notes: The Pirates' two wins have come against Kirksville (27-25) in Week 6 and Moberly (7-6) in Week 8. Their losses, in order, have come to California (44-0), Lafayette County (47-20), Hannibal (49-0), Grain Valley (35-7), Mexico (35-12), Fulton (20-6) and Marshall (56-28). ... Boonville and Blair Oaks have two common opponents, with the Falcons beating Moberly (21-3) and losing to California (21-10).
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