MOBERLY, Mo. - Adam Schell made sure the Terry Walker era at Blair Oaks got off to a great start.
Schell, the do-it-all senior, scored three touchdowns to help the Falcons claim a 42-18 win against the Moberly Spartans in the first game with Walker as the Blair Oaks head coach.
Schell caught a 45-yard scoring pass from Jordan Hair with 10 seconds left in the first half to break open a close game, then salted the victory away by returning interceptions 28 and 68 yards for scores in the second half.
"I'm just really happy for the kids, because they had really worked hard," Walker said. "I was just happy to see that even though it wasn't always as pretty as we wanted it to be, they hung in there and fought. We were fortunate enough to get a win."
The game got off to a wacky start, with a combined 13 points getting scored in the first 26 seconds.
Moberly scored on its first play from scrimmage, with Ryan Boulware catching a 65-yard touchdown pass from Drake Davidson just nine seconds in.
But Cody Alexander got the Falcons into great position with a 28-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, and he did the rest on the next play, ripping off a 53-yard scoring run.
Neither team scored again until Jordan Hair shook free of some would-be tacklers at the line of scrimmage and then dashed 39 yards to make it 13-6 with 8:43 left before halftime.
A 1-yard run by Davidson with 1:47 before intermission got Moberly within 13-12.
Following a timeout with :18 left in the half, Blair Oaks faced a fourth-and-16 situation and got that and more. Hair hit Schell in stride and the Falcons took a 20-12 lead into halftime.
Hair and C.J. Closser hooked up on a 61-yard scoring strike with 3:33 left in the third quarter, just 1:03 before Schell picked off his first pass and ran it in for a 34-12 lead.
He did it again with 11:28 left in the fourth quarter, intercepting it and then snaking through the Moberly team for the score that made it 42-12 in favor of the Falcons.
"Those two defensive plays were the turning point," Walker said, as Moberly actually outgained Blair Oaks387-327 and had a whopping 19-4 edge in the first downs. "We've got to go back and look at film and we've got to figure out what adjustments we need to make and then we'll make them and keep right on moving."
Moberly got the game's final score with 6:19 remaining when Davidson hit John Heimann with a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Blair Oaks carried the ball 28 times for 209 yards, with Alexander leading all rushers with 16 carries for 160 yards. Hair connected on 3-of-8 passes for 118 yards.
Moberly rushed the ball 49 times for 184 yards and completed 16-of-28 passes for 203 yards.
Blair Oaks returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday when it hosts Owensville.
Follow News Tribune sports reporter Tony Hawley on Twitter for updates during games.