WARDSVILLE, Mo. - While the Hallsville Indians are on the schedule this week, the Blair Oaks Falcons are singing that old standard and "focusing on themselves" prior to today's game.
That's because two areas have emerged as trouble spots through three games.
Up first are the penalties, as the Falcons have racked up 41 for 291 yards, or an average of almost 14 per game for 97 yards.
"Some of the penalties we're having are just silly," said Blair Oaks coach Brad Drehle, noting many of them have been offsides calls on the offensive line. "... Those things are just a loss of focus. Our kids are excited, they're wanting to play, they're wanting to get off the ball.
"For us, in order to win the line of scrimmage, we have to be the first one with both feet in the ground. So the closer we can squeeze and get that proximity closer, then that helps us. That's something we do stress and this is something we have to clean up."
For a team that wants to push the tempo of the game with its offense, Blair Oaks has seen the penalties slow down the pace. The Falcons' opponents are averaging 10 penalties per game, so games this season have seen roughly 24 infractions being stepped off.
"The flow is a huge part of it," Drehle said. "Penalties slow the game, it takes away from the kids' concentration. It's like playing a basketball game where every trip up and down the floor there's a stoppage of play. Every time you stop it, it kills momentum, it kills flow."
Next are the fumbles, as the Falcons have put the ball on the ground 16 times and lost seven of them. That's contributed to Blair Oaks being a minus-8 in the turnover category.
"Hanging on to it is a very big thing. It's concentration," Drehle said.
Some of that can be attributed to a number of players having to switch positions due to injuries, getting time at spots where they're not totally comfortable.
"Some of it's the rotation of some of the kids, but it's a lot of things," Drehle said. "Either way, it's got to be cleaned up.
"The kids will get it, those are correctable things. They're frustrating, but they are correctable."
The injuries are affecting the Falcons (3-0 overall, 1-0 Tri-County) as they prepare to host the Indians (3-0, 1-0) at 7 p.m. today.
"Offensively, we've got to find an identity," Drehle said. "I thought we had one going into last week. We had a plan and I think we started well and everything looked good.
"Then all of a sudden, (running back) Dominic (Jamerson) goes down (with a hamstring injury). So Peyton Wilde goes from being a receiver/tight end to the backfield and Jake Wilbers goes to tight end, and now your rotations are off.
"You work through that and start to get into a rhythm again, and then (quarterback) Mikel (Drehle) gets hurt. All of a sudden you've got more moving pieces, and not only did it affect us there, but also in the defensive secondary. ... Your focus compeletely changes."
There could be more changes coming, as the Falcons will likely be without Jamerson for the next two weeks. Mikel Drehle and backup quarterback Jordan Hair, both sidelined with knee and ankle injuries, are questionable for this week. If they can't go, Jake VanRonzelen will get the start.
Hallsville is led by a pair of names familiar to Blair Oaks fans, as quarterback Joe Forge and running back Skyler Creed are finally seniors.
"They've gone to a zone-read system, and (Forge and Creed) are doing a good job in that new system," Brad Drehle said. "They're spreading the ball around a little bit more, which makes them more dangerous than what they were last year, lining up and running at you."
Hallsville has outscored its opponents 125-54 in the first three games, beating Fayette (54-6), Salisbury (37-34) and Southern Boone (34-14).
"They've scored a bunch of points in all their games," Drehle said. "They're an experienced group of kids coming back, some of them are three-year starters, so they're ready to go.
"They're a year stronger, they're a year faster, they're experienced. The speed of the game slows down for you the longer you play. That's where those guys are, and they've done a great job at the start of the season."
Drehle said his defense, which has given up just nine points in three games, will need to focus on one key area to slow down the Indians.
"It's going to be our ability to eliminate big plays," he said. "They've had some big plays in these first few games, those kids have done a good job.
"We also have to eliminate those plays where they're able to extend possessions. If there's one thing we needed to do better defensively against Eldon, it was not extend their drives. We did that a couple times with penalties. They had 11 first downs and we gave them three on penalties."
On the defensive side of the ball, Hallsville operates out of a four-man front that could pose some problems.
"They've got some big kids," Drehle said. "They've got a 270 (pounder), a 240, a 230. They're bigger than we ever thought about being."
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