WARDSVILLE, Mo. - It seems only fitting to quote Yogi Berra almost one month to the day after his death, because it was like "deja vu all over again" for the Blair Oaks football team on Friday night.
One week after posting a 70-0 win at Versailles, the Falcons came home and posted a - you guessed it - 70-0 win against the Tigers.
It wasn't just the score that was remarkably similar.
Last week, the Falcons scored 10 touchdowns. This week, the same.
Last week, Blair Oaks had an 8-4 edge in first downs. This week, it was 8-6.
And last week, the Falcons had a 536-76 edge in total yardage. This week, it was 436-80.
"Give credit to the kids, it would have been real easy to come out here and run around a little bit, thinking last week was going to dictate the outcome of this week's game, and they didn't do that," Blair Oaks head coach Terry Walker said. "I think the kids understand, certainly the seniors do, that there's a finality to the season now. We're just hopeful we can keep moving forward and getting better."
The game was the opener of Class 3 District 6 play, and the top-seeded Falcons (10-0) now move into the semifinals to face Eldon at 7 p.m. Friday at the Falcon Athletic Complex. Eldon, the fifth seed, advanced with a 56-33 win at fourth-seeded Owensville.
For the second straight week, the Falcons were in the 30s by the end of one quarter. After a 35-point frame to start things last week, Blair Oaks was ahead 30-0 after one period Friday night.
Jake Van Ronzelen got things started for the Falcons, ripping off an 18-yard scoring run. Cody Alexander added the first of two straight 2-point runs and Blair Oaks led 8-0 at the 8:24 mark.
Then with 7:02 left in the period, a 14-yard touchdown run by C.J. Closser made it 16-0.
The next touchdown came on a 31-yard pass from Jordan Hair to Adam Schell. John Karsten, who was 5-of-8 on PATs, booted the extra point to make it 23-0 with 5:36 left.
The final score of the first quarter came on a 55-yard run by Closser to push the lead to 30-0.
The lone tally of the second period was a 40-yard touchdown pass from Nolan Hair to Ethan Luebbering to gave the Falcons a 37-0 lead at halftime.
Again like last week, the entire second half was played with a running clock due to the mercy rule. It didn't hamper the Falcons' ability to score, as Blair Oaks had four touchdowns in the third quarter and another in the fourth.
With just 44 seconds gone in the second half, Schell ripped off a 51-yard scoring run that ran the lead to 43-0.
An 8-yard run by Nolan Hair at the 7:51 mark and a 41-yard run by Sam Dudenhoeffer with 3:45 left put the score at 56-0.
The final score in the third came when Closser returned an interception 47 yards with just 19 seconds remaining.
Brayden Pritchett capped off the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run with 7:55 left in the game.
The Falcons ended up with 311 yards rushing on 29 carries, led by Closser's 69 yards on two carries. Jordan Hair completed 3-of-3 passes for 57 yards and one touchdown before Nolan Hair finished up by going 3-of-3 for 68 yards and one touchdown.
The Blair Oaks defense completely shut down the Versailles rushing attack, as the Tigers netted minus-4 yards on 24 carries. Versailles completed 14-of-27 passes for 84 yards, but threw interceptions to Closser, Van Ronzelen and Brenden Brown.
The Tigers end the season with a record of 3-7.
Follow News Tribune sports reporter Tony Hawley (@tony_hawley) on Twitter for updates during games.