WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Before the season began, the matchup between the Blair Oak Falcons and the Eldon Mustangs had "shootout" written all over it.
The prediction made sense. Both teams traditionally have high-octane offenses, and both were in full force last season in Blair Oaks' 62-47 win against Eldon in the regular season. But injuries may prevent a high-scoring affair from taking place in tonight's game.
Both teams will be without their top running backs when they clash in Eldon, with kickoff at 7 p.m. Eldon (1-2) has been without Trenton Kidwell since he suffered a broken ankle in practice before Week 2's game against Owensville. Kidwell was the Mustangs' leading rusher in the season-opening win at Boonville.
"We've seen a couple new sets out of them," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said of Eldon's offense. "I don't know if that's a result of them losing their personnel or if it's a result of where they've been at in the games they've been in. The games they've played have been tight games.
"Teams have been able to put a bunch of players in the box and have given the wing-T some trouble, so they've gone to a couple different things."
Blair Oaks (3-0) will not have Jake Van Ronzelen - who suffered a concussion last Friday against Versailles - on the field tonight either. Van Ronzelen exited the game late in the second quarter against the Tigers after making a big hit defensively on quarterback David Connor.
At the time, Van Ronzelen left the game as a precaution, but since he was showing symptoms of a concussion, Walker said he will follow the concussion protocol and is unsure of the timetable for Van Ronzelen's return.
"Whenever the doctor says he can return to play, he'll return to play," Walker said. "Every team deals with injuries, and ours is no different than that. We'll put somebody in there and we'll have the same expectations for him, and away we'll go."
Both backfields may be down, but they're not out.
Running back Isaiah Parsons has been handling a bulk of the workload the past two weeks and leads the Mustangs with 258 yards rushing this season. Parsons, who did not have a carry in Week 1, has gained more than 100 yards rushing the past two weeks. Isaiah Merida also has 38 carries for 220 yards in three games.
Last week, the Mustangs gained 219 yards rushing, but managed just one touchdown in a 14-7 loss at Southern Boone in Ashland.
"They understood what Eldon was trying to do offensively," Walker said of Southern Boone's defense. "They did their very best to take away what they wanted to, which is what I think you have to do as a defense. They did a good job of defending the buck sweep and they did a decent job of defending their play-action pass off of it.
"Effectively, Eldon was limited to the back-side iso play and then their quarterback boot off of the buck sweep. If we want to have success, we've got to be able to do the same thing."
Still, Walker knows the wing-T is going to be Eldon's "bread and butter" on offense.
"They have some firm tendencies based off of those sets," Walker said. "Of course, we knew that last year and we still couldn't stop it in game one. We're hopeful we'll do a better job this year."
Blair Oaks will have multiple options in the backfield as well in Van Ronzelen's absence. Brenden Brown became the team's leading running back in the second half last week against Versailles, finishing with a team-high 81 yards rushing in the 36-0 win against the Tigers. Cody Alexander will also return to the Falcons' backfield this week after gaining 87 yards on the ground during the first two games.
When Nolan Hair got the nod at starting quarterback instead of Van Ronzelen prior to the opener, Walker said the Falcons had to make some offensive adjustments. But with the depth in the backfield, the changes weren't as drastic leading into tonight's game.
"We'll plug another couple of kids in there and at some point in time, you have to plant the flag and do what you're going to do," Walker said. "We know Nolan is becoming more efficient with the offense. The kids are slowly becoming more consistent with their execution."
Another factor that could prevent the game from being a shootout is the Blair Oaks defense. The Falcons have recorded two shutouts through three games and have held their opponents to an average of 168.3 yards of total offense.
Walker said his team goals are to score at least 24 points per game and allow less than 12 points per game. One-third of the way through the regular season, the Falcons are meeting his expectations.
"Defensively, what I've really liked is our consistency," Walker said. "We have been fairly solid throughout the three games. We gave up a couple big plays against Oak Grove and those were scores. Had we not given those up, I'd feel really, really good about where we're at defensively."
III
Notes: Blair Oaks is holding steady with the No. 2 ranking in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media rankings. Top-ranked Maryville received 12 of 14 first-place votes and the Falcons took the remaining two. After going for the 2-point conversion after the first 10 touchdowns this season, Blair Oaks changed things up during the second quarter last Friday night against Versailles. Senior Paul Karsten came out to kick an extra point on two occasions against the Tigers, but both kicks sailed wide of the uprights. "Honestly, I love going for 2-point conversions - and we will continue to do that - but at some point in time, we may have to be able to kick a field goal or an extra point," Walker said. "I don't want the first time that Paul rolls out there to be when we're down by two (points) and it's a 22-yard field goal." In addition to Van Ronzelen, Walker said lineman Caleb Buecheter will still be sidelined tonight with a knee injury. Mason Gipe continues to be bothered by a "nuisance" knee injury, but Walker said he expects the senior lineman to play tonight.
Blair Oaks at Eldon
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