WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Falcons scored 31 unanswered points after halftime and turned a close game into a laugher, rolling to a 61-26 win against the Southern Boone Eagles on Friday night.
Offense was easy to come by in the first half, which ended with the Falcons leading 30-26, as each team had more than 120 yards both on the ground and through the air. Southern Boone racked up 155 on the ground and 128 through the air for 283 total, while Blair Oaks had 142 yards rushing and 126 passing for 268 total.
But the Falcons were the only team to produce after intermission, as Blair Oaks outgained Southern Boone 211-74 to pull away.
Blair Oaks got three rushing touchdowns each from Jordan Hair and Cody Alexander, while Hair also threw for another to C.J. Closser and Brenden Brown ran for one.
Southern Boone opened the scoring just 16 seconds into the game when Laron Wallace raced 63 yards for a touchdown. The kick failed, leaving the Eagles up 6-0.
After Blair Oaks got a 5-yard run by Brown and a 2-point run by Alexander to lead 8-6 with 8:56 left in the period, Southern Boone got a 31-yard touchdown run and 2-point run by Tanner Smith to make it 14-8 with 6:06 remaining.
Hair and Closser then hooked up with 4.9 seconds left in a crazy first quarter, and another 2-point run by Alexander made it 16-14 Blair Oaks heading into the second period.
Smith got a 4-yard scoring run to give the Eagles the lead back with 7:10 left before halftime, but the 2-point run failed and it was 20-16.
Blair Oaks got the next two scores - a 5-yard run by Hair with a failed 2-point run with 5:51 left and a 1-yard run by Alexander, who added the 2-point run with 1:46 left - to go up 30-20.
But Southern Boone scored with 48 seconds left in the half on a 10-yard run by Wallace. The kick failed, and Blair Oaks took a four-point lead into the locker room.
The Falcons took control of the game by taking the opening kickoff of the second half and going 65 yards in 11 plays - all rushes - capped by a 7-yard score by Hair with 7:51 left. Alexander added the first of three straight 2-point runs and it was 38-26.
Southern Boone lost a fumble two plays later and Blair Oaks scored on an 8-yard run by Alexander to lead 46-26 at the 5:08 mark.
Then with :38.8 left in the third, Hair had a 9-yard scoring run to put the lead at 54-26.
The Falcons outgained the Eagles 114-12 in the third quarter.
Blair Oaks enacted the mercy rule's running clock with 7:03 left in the game when Alexander scored from 8 yards out and Paul Karsten kicked the PAT.
The Falcons ended with 479 yards of offense. Hair completed 12-of-16 passes for 206 and Blair Oaks had 48 carries for 273. Closser was the Falcons' leading rusher with 93 yards on just six attempts.
The Eagles had 357 yards of offense - 13-of-22 passing for 197 and 27 carries for 160. After his 63-yard touchdown, Wallace had just 61 yards on his final 15 carries.
Blair Oaks (5-0 overall, 3-0 Tri-County Conference) will play Friday at Osage, while Southern Boone (3-2, 1-2) will play Friday at California.