WARDSVILLE - The prospect of replaying a matchup that resulted in a 70-point throttling might not seem to be too enticing to anyone. That is, unless you're the ones charged with formulating and installing the blueprint for success.
Blair Oaks and Versailles will meet at 7 p.m. today, just seven days after the Falcons beat the Tigers by a 70-0 score in Versailles.
"From a game-planning perspective, you save a little bit of time amongst the coaching staff because we've already game-planned against them," Blair Oaks head coach Terry Walker said. "We anticipate they'll probably show us something new we haven't seen yet before. We'll have to be prepared to adjust to it and hopefully the kids will be able to do that."
This game will have two notable differences from the one a week ago. First, Blair Oaks will host instead of going on the road. Second, it's the first game of the postseason instead of a regular-season contest.
"For at least the seniors, there's a finality to this part of the year," Walker said. "You can no longer say, "Well, I've got next year.' So I'm hoping that our kids have taken to heart the fact that we have tried to encourage them to play as hard as they possibly can on every single play. If they do that, they have nothing to apologize for, win, lose or draw."
Blair Oaks (9-0) is the top seed in Class 3 District 6, while Versailles (3-6) comes in as the eighth seed.
"Last year we lost in the district championship game and we know that in order for us to win the district championship, we need to start by being successful on this Friday night," Walker said. "So it really shouldn't take much more motivation than that. Our kids are aware of what happened last year and I'm hopeful that they will be focused on the task at hand."
Part of that means not overlooking a team you beat by 70.
"If you truly are a competitive individual, then what happened before really doesn't matter, because you know it has no bearing on the outcome the next time," Walker said. "Unless you let it have an impact. So we'll just continue to try to keep the kids focused."
Blair Oaks scored on 11 of its 13 possessions last week, including all five of the ones in the first quarter.
"We certainly didn't expect to jump on them to the degree that we did, but we're certainly happy that we did," Walker said.
He added there weren't many variations for Versailles from the scouting report, other than a small difference on offense.
"I thought they might motion a little bit more than what they did, and maybe we'll see that out here (tonight)," he said.
The Tigers have rushed for 1,085 yards in their nine games (3.6 yards per carry) and have thrown for 614 yards.
Dalton Schmidt is the leading ballcarrier with 491 yards on 139 carries (3.5 avg.). Duane Danner has completed 64-of-142 passes for 614 yards with five touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Taylor Dobbins leads the squad with 22 catches for 193 yards and two touchdowns.
The Versailles defense did what the Blair Oaks coaches thought it would last week.
"They were fairly aggressive, like I thought they would be, just because if you haven't had a bunch of success, you're going to try and make some things happen," Walker said. "They tried to do that, and I think we'll see that again on Friday night. I think they'll take some chances and we've just got to be in a position to take advantage of them."
Devin Radcliff has 84 tackles to lead the Tigers, including team highs in tackles for loss (eight) and forced fumbles (three). Schmidt is next with 43 tackles, which includes two sacks.
Notes: The Falcons are in the midst of a 13-game winning streak against the Tigers, with most of them being blowouts. Only two of them were decided by single digits, with the closest one being a 21-14 Blair Oaks win in 2009. Versailles' last victory was a 28-20 decision in 2002. ... The Blair Oaks-Versailles winner will play Oct. 30 against the winner of tonight's game between fourth-seeded Owensville (4-5) and fifth-seeded Eldon (6-3). ... The Falcons are relatively healthy heading into tonight's contest. "Injury-wise, we're OK," Walker said. "Most teams have bumps and bruises right now, and we're no different."
Blair Oaks hosts Versailles - Updates on Twitter: @tony_hawley. Watch/listen live online: MidMoSports Online
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