HALLSVILLE, Mo. - The Blair Oaks Falcons held the Hallsville Indians to just 11 yards on 40 offensive plays Friday night and romped to a 48-0 victory.
Hallsville ran the ball 23 times for a staggering minus-34 yards, as their leading ballcarrier netted 3 yards on eight carries. That was running back Garrett Vincent, who had racked up 409 yards rushing on 60 carries in the first three weeks.
Hallsville also completed almost as many passes to the Falcons (three) as to the Indians (four), as Adam Schell had two interceptions for Blair Oaks and Drew Boessen had the other.
"Not just this week, but all summer and the fall, we really spent time trying to get the kids to buy into the importance of understanding what their role is on the defense and then just going out and trying to execute that role. No more, no less," Blair Oaks head coach Terry Walker said. "If we get 11 guys doing that, we can be a lot more consistent defensively and we'll have more performances like we had tonight."
The Indians got past midfield just one time all game, that coming midway through the third quarter on an interception near Blair Oaks territory, with Hallsville getting past the 50 thanks to a personal foul on the Falcons during the return.
The Falcons, meanwhile, racked up 245 yards rushing on 49 carries and completed 10-of-17 passes for 108 yards to end up with 353 yards of total offense.
Following an attempted squib kick that turned into an onside kick they recovered, the Falcons didn't need long to score. Five running plays, the last a 4-yard scoring run, covered 42 yards. After a 2-point run by Cody Alexander, the Falcons led 8-0 just 1:19 into the game.
The Falcons tacked on three scores in the second quarter to lead 28-0 at halftime.
Alexander scored just four seconds into the quarter on a 1-yard run, with the 2-point run failing to leave the score at 14-0.
With 6:48 left before halftime, Schell returned his first interception of the game 52 yards for a score and Alexander had the 2-point run to make it 22-0.
Then with just 13 seconds left before intermission, Alexander had a 3-yard touchdown run. The 2-point pass failed, but the Falcons cruised into the locker room with a healthy lead.
In the third quarter, Alexander had a 78-yard touchdown run with 5:00 left and a 1-yard scoring run with 2:00 remaining and the lead was 41-0 going to the final period.
With 1:52 left in the game, Jared Lootens had the final score on a 2-yard run.
"Just an overall real good team effort, top to bottom," Walker said. "We'll evaluate the film and point to where we can improve, because I think all our kids know we can still improve."
Blair Oaks, now 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Tri-County Conference, hosts Southern Boone on Friday for Homecoming.
Hallsville (3-1, 1-1) will play Friday at California.
Follow News Tribune sports writer Tony Hawley (@tony_hawley) on Twitter for updates during games.
See also:
Missouri high school football scores for Friday, Sept. 11, 2015