OAK GROVE, Mo. - Blair Oaks quarterback Nolan Hair knew he had some big shoes to fill this season. It was just a matter of how quickly he would fill them.
It was evident Friday night Hair was beginning to close the gap on that shoe size discrepancy when the Blair Oaks Falcons won 28-20 against the Oak Grove Panthers, ranked No. 10 in Class 3.
Hair, who made his second start at quarterback, has taken over for his older brother, Jordan, a first team All-State quarterback for the Falcons in 2015 who set school records for completions (471), attempts (787) and touchdown passes (88) during his career.
Accepting the starting role wasn't going to be an easy task for the younger brother, who wasn't named the Falcons' starting quarterback until the week of the season opener.
"He tells me to just read the defense," Nolan Hair said of the advice he received from his older brother. "The defense tells me where to go."
After struggling at times in the opener against Kirksville, Hair connected on three of his first four passes against Oak Grove, including a 32-yard pass to a wide open Ben Thomas for the Falcons' first score.
"That gave us a lot of swagger," Hair said. "We just started firing after that."
The sophomore completed 8-of-16 passes - to six different players - for 122 yards.
And while Hair's passing improved, Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker was more impressed with Hair's decision-making against the Panthers.
"Nolan's going to be a very, very, very good quarterback," Walker said. "He's in the process of learning. I told Nolan on numerous occasions, 'You're our quarterback. I know you're going to make mistakes and you're going to come to the sideline and I'm going to chew your butt a little bit, but you're going to learn from the mistakes.'
"What I love about Nolan is he doesn't really carry the mistake with him back out there. He learns from them and he plays as hard as he possibly can."
Oak Grove began to make a push in the third quarter, but the Falcons had an answer. They had first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, yet failed to score on three straight run plays. Following an offside penalty that moved the ball 18 inches, Hair scored on a 1-yard keeper on fourth down to extend the Blair Oaks lead to 28-12.
"We were going to get it, no matter what," Hair said.
Hair had two rushing touchdowns for the Falcons, but it was the team's final drive that resonated the most with his coach. The Falcons, clinging to an eight-point lead with 7:50 left in the game, started from their 23-yard line. Facing third-and-long early in the drive, Hair rolled out of the pocket and found Braydan Pritchett for a 14-yard pass to move the chains.
Hair played quarterback some last season as a freshman, but mostly when the Falcons were already winning big. This was his first chance to play in a big moment of a close game and he passed with flying colors.
"That's one thing I really, really like about him and another reason why we felt really comfortable putting him in there, because he's such a poised kid," Walker said.
The drive lasted 16 plays and although it ended with an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal, the Falcons still accomplished their mission. They left Oak Grove with 92 yards of the field to cover in 8.4 seconds, just to have a chance to tie the game.
"That drive, where we burned six to seven minutes, was probably the best drive I've seen us have since I've been here, even though we did not score points on it," Walker said. "We were able to impose our will a little bit that last six or seven minutes and they knew we were trying to burn the clock."
The Panthers tried a Hail Mary on the final play, but the ball was batted down at midfield.
Hair still has a long way to go to catch his older brother's records, but he said for being an inexperience quarterback, it feels good to be 2-0.
"Maybe I'll have more confidence to play better next week," Hair said.
Blair Oaks will begin Tri-County Conference play this Friday, hosting Versailles for a 7 p.m. kickoff at the Falcon Athletic Complex.