WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Through three games, turnovers and penalties didn't come back to haunt the Blair Oaks Falcons.
Not so in Week 4.
The Falcons fell victim to a season-long bugaboo while suffering their first loss of the year last Friday, committing tons of miscues while dropping a 42-28 decision to Hallsville.
"At one point in the second half, they had run 13 plays and gained 6 yards, and we had given them 55 (on penalties)," Blair Oaks coach Brad Drehle said. "You don't win football games doing that. And for sure you don't beat good football teams by doing that."
The Falcons found themselves in a 28-0 hole before some fans had made their way to their seats, and Blair Oaks couldn't overcome the huge momentum boost Hallsville got early.
"There were little breakdowns everywhere," Drehle said. "Then kids start trying so hard to make a play, you get in that mode where you want to grit your teeth and make something happen. But when you do that, you make little mistakes that turn into big mistakes.
"... It's stuff that's correctable and it's stuff we've got to take notice of, but not dwell on."
Through four games, the Falcons are averaging 13.5 penalties per game for 99 yards. When you add in the fact Blair Oaks is a minus-9 in the turnover battle, it's a recipe for disaster.
"It is frustrating, and it's one of those things where you've just got to keep grinding," Drehle said. "You tell the kids it's about having faith and persistence. You've got to have faith in yourselves, faith in each other and faith in the process. You've got to keep doing what we do and trust that it's going to work."
Drehle said the team needs look no further than the recent past for some inspiration.
"If you go back and look at that group we had in 2007, it was very much like this," he said. "We were four games in and were 2-2. And in two of those games, we had gotten outscored 72-7.
"It was a similar type of deal. We had penalties, we had injuries, we had turnovers. It was mistakes, mistakes, mistakes - they happened everywhere. Our big thing then was we were able to step up and rebound after that and make some noise.
"That's kind of where we're at, we need kids to step up and become leaders, and they don't become leaders by doing things vocally, they do it by being steady, holding the course. ... I think we have some quality kids who will do it. How soon? Hopefully sooner rather than later."
If the Falcons are going to stop turning the ball over so often, this would be a good week to do so.
That's because Blair Oaks will travel to Ashland to take on a Southern Boone squad that boasts an opportunistic defense.
"They force a bunch of turnovers," Drehle said. "For us, that's not a good thing, because we're turning it over a bunch."
Drehle added the Southern Boone defense has gotten better each week, led by junior linebacker Laron Wallace.
"He moves all over the field and he stands out because he runs and makes plays," Drehle said.
Other defensive stalwarts include another linebacker, senior Grant Sandifer, along with senior nose tackle Jacob Cole and senior lineman Nate Isenberg.
"They will be a real test for us," Drehle said.
The Falcons are 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Tri-County Conference, while the Eagles are 0-4 and 0-2. But that record is a bit deceiving.
"When you step back and look at it, they took Hallsville to the wire," Drehle said. "They were up 14-0 and had a chance to be up 21-0 and didn't get that done (before losing 34-14). Then last week they went to Osage and lost 28-23, but had an opportunity in that ballgame to make a difference.
"Yeah, they're struggling, but they're also a team that's improving week by week."
This game will provide a different challenge than the first four for the Falcons.
"This is the first time all season we've faced a team that is the opposite of run-pass," Drehle said. "They're 65-35 (percent), pass to run. That's a unique challenge for us, especially with a couple injuries in the secondary and trying to deal with all that."
The Southern Boone offense is led by junior signal-caller Dane Bossert.
"They've got a tremendous athlete standing back there at quarterback and they've got some great receivers," Drehle said. "It's not going to be one of those things where we walk over there and say, "What are we going to score?' We've got to go out and execute and take care of things. We've got to handle the football, we've got to go over and play great defense, play the field-position game and score when our opportunities come."
And they've got to contain Bossert.
"He is athletic, he's very quick," Drehle said. "They're doing some zone-read stuff, and what's different from what we've seen so far is he's going to carry the ball, he becomes the focus of it. You have to make sure your assignments are right and your kids are in the right place."
The Eagles' receiving corps includes three juniors - Gannan Mueller, Grant Anderson and Wallace - and one senior, Jade Taggart.
"All those kids do a good job," Drehle said. "They're long, lean, basketball-type kids who run good routes. They have the ability to do something when they do catch it."
So one key is to keep the ball from ever getting to them.
"They're going to be bigger than we are at the line of scrimmage, so being able to apply some pressure to the quarterback will be big," Drehle said. "Not giving them easy plays, big plays, is key. If they're going to complete it, give up 10 (yards). Don't give up one big one for a score."
Notes: Southern Boone is under the leadership of first-year head coach Trent Tracy. ... The Eagles' other losses were to St. Pius X: Festus (27-26) and South Callaway (52-10).
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