WARDSVILLE, Mo. - At this point it's probably safe to say that if Blair Oaks and Versailles played football 10 times this season, Blair Oaks would win 70-0 every time.
While the venue and the stakes changed from the first time around, the result was exactly the same, as the Falcons captured 70-0 wins against the Tigers in back-to-back weeks.
The latest meeting, on Friday at the Falcon Athletic Complex, gave Blair Oaks its third straight shutout and fourth overall.
After a 57-0 win at Warsaw in Week 8 and a 70-0 win at Versailles in Week 9, the Falcons kicked off Class 3 District 6 play with a 70-0 victory.
"Defense is one area where we've really, really emphasized since about two weeks after I got the job," head coach Terry Walker said. "I'm really starting to see some of the kids improve, and not just our older kids. When the younger kids get in the game, seeing them do some things we've been working hard on in practice is certainly a positive.
"We know we're going to play tougher opponents (coming up) and we're going to give up points, that's just part of it. But the kids have really started to take some pride in that side of the ball and we'll try to keep on doing it."
There was no letdown for the Falcons despite facing an opponent they had throttled just seven days before.
"The kids came out and did what they were supposed to do," Walker said. "They executed, minus a few penalties, on offense. And on defense, we did what we were supposed to do."
It showed, as the Falcons held a 436-80 edge in total yardage, and 63 of the Tigers' yards came on their final drive of contest. Versailles couldn't crack positive yardage in the run column, as the Tigers rushed 24 times for minus-4 yards.
"We're really playing well on defense," said Jake Van Ronzelen, who had one of the Falcons' three interceptions, joining C.J. Closser and Brenden Brown. "Our secondary has been doing good and our line has been putting a lot of pressure on teams. Everybody is playing really well."
Versailles went three-and-out on its first six possessions of the night, netting minus-17 yards, and Blair Oaks scored touchdowns after all six of them.
Van Ronzelen scored the first touchdown of the game for the Falcons on an 18-yard run. It was the first score for Van Ronzelen, who has been slowed this season by a lingering shoulder injury, since he had two touchdown runs in Week 2.
"That was nice," Van Ronzelen said. "I've been hurt for a while, so it's good to get the ball in my hands again. I've really missed (playing offense) - I like being out there."
Tanner Lueckenhoff blocked a punt after Versailles' second straight three-and-out, and Closser scored one play later on a 14-yard run.
After another punt by the Tigers, Blair Oaks needed just one play to score again, this time on a 33-yard pass from Jordan Hair to Adam Schell.
It took the Falcons slightly longer to score their final touchdown of the first quarter after the Tigers punted again. It still took Blair Oaks just one play to get in the end zone, but the Falcons got whistled for delay of game before they ripped off a 55-yard scoring run by Closser.
After one quarter, it was 30-0 and the Falcons were on their way to 70 again.
With the second-string offense in after the first quarter, Nolan Hair hit Ethan Luebbering with a 40-yard strike for the lone score in the second quarter. The Falcons' lead was 37-0 at intermission.
About the only negative to the first half was running back/defensive back Cody Alexander got hurt midway through the first quarter while making a tackle. He came back for a limited number of snaps, but departed soon after with the game in hand.
"We think it was just a stinger," Walker said. "His neck was giving him some discomfort and we'll watch him over the next couple days and if we need to have him get an MRI done, then we'll get the MRI done.
"In this kind of game, you worry about injuries. But Cody made a great tackle. From my angle, it looked like it was a picture-perfect tackle. We're hoping that it's not anything serious and he'll be ready to go, but we don't really have any control over that."
Blair Oaks scored four touchdowns in the third quarter to lead 63-0. They got scoring runs from Schell (51 yards), Nolan Hair (8 yards) and Sam Dudenhoeffer (41 yards) and an interception return from Closser (47 yards).
When Brayden Pritchett scored from 13 yards out with 7:55 left in the game, the only drama remaining was whether or not the Falcons would get the shutout.
Versailles put together its best drive of the game, going 67 yards in 13 plays, before Brown came up with his interception to preserve the shutout.
"Coach Walker is always happy when we hold the other team under 12 points," Van Ronzelen said with a smile.
As the top seed in the district, Blair Oaks will host Friday night's semifinal game against fifth-seeded Eldon. The Mustangs beat the fourth-seeded Owensville Dutchmen 56-33 on Friday at Owensville.
Eldon gave Blair Oaks its toughest game of the season back in Week 3, as the Mustangs led 7-0 after one quarter, 21-12 at halftime and 35-32 after three quarters.
"Eldon got up on us 14-0 to start and it was 21-6 at one point, so they were up on us by two scores," Walker said. "I'm sure they're going to come in here feeling like they can win the game. We're going to have to meet their intensity with our own and we're going to have to execute on offense and defense and special teams. If we do that, we'll give ourselves a chance to be successful."