WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Hallsville football program is now in its seventh varsity season, and the Indians picked up arguably the biggest win in their existence Friday night, rolling into the Falcon Athletic Complex and beating the Blair Oaks Falcons 42-28.
The Indians took advantage of some sloppy play by the Falcons in the early stages, jumping out to a 28-0 lead after one quarter and not looking back.
Of their six possessions that were contained by the first quarter, the Falcons lost a fumble, threw an interception, punted, turned it over on downs, lost a fumble, and threw another interception. It gave the Indians a short field repeatedly, and they repeatedly took advantage.
Hallsville scored touchdowns on four of their ensuing possessions, taking the early lead and effectively ending the game after just a quarter.
"I think it's huge for us to be able to come in here, such a storied program here, with so many years of success, (and win)," first-year Hallsville coach Ty Harrison said. "I've stood on that sideline many a time as assistant coach at Centralia and this is just a tough place to play and a tough program.
"I think it's huge for us, obviously. As young as our program is, we've never beat them, so to do that was huge for us."
The Indians' first two touchdowns came on runs of 3 and 5 yards by Austin Cochran, and the next two on runs of 21 yards and 1 yard by Skyler Creed.
"It couldn't have started worse for us and it couldn't have started better for them," Blair Oaks coach Brad Drehle said.
The Falcons made a bit of a game of it by getting a 4-yard touchdown run by Jordan Hair in the second quarter and a 67-yard touchdown pass from Hair to Mikel Drehle in the third quarter to cut the gap to 28-14.
But Hallsville got the first two scores in a busy fourth quarter to reclaim momentum, a 20-yard pass from Joey Forge to Gabe Sheffield and a 10-yard run by Cochran.
The Falcons got two scores in the final three minutes, a 6-yard touchdown run by Hair and a 22-yard pass from Hair to Peyton Wilde.
"(Hallsville) schemed, they did a great job," Brad Drehle said. "This game, they came prepared to play. They had their kids jacked-up and ready to go."
The field-position game was huge, as Hallsville led 28-7 at halftime despite having a slim 53-18 edge in total yards.
And at the game's end, the Indians led on the scoreboard despite getting outgained 219-161.
Hallsville is now 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Tri-County Conference heading into a big game at home Friday against California. Blair Oaks is 3-1 and 1-1 and will host Southern Boone on Friday.