OSAGE BEACH - To be called the Tri-County Conference football game of the year, the unbeaten, state-ranked and defending league champion Blair Oaks would no doubt have to be involved.
However, tonight's matchup between unbeaten rivals in the School of the Osage Indians and the Southern Boone Eagles probably earns the mid-season title.
Osage will host Southern Boone tonight in a key Tri-County Conference outing. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Both teams come in 4-0 overall, 2-0 in league play records and are among the area's highest-scoring teams. Last week, Osage rolled past Warsaw 42-6 and Southern Boone blitzed Hallsville 41-0.
Osage is ranked No. 10 in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings. Southern Boone is not ranked, but has garnered votes in the poll. Osage comes in leading the Class 3 District 3 standings with 46.5 points while Southern Boone is second to Blair Oaks in the Class 3 District 6 standings with 45.67 points.
Something's gotta give tonight.
"It should be a fun game," Osage coach Devin Johnson said. "It's two teams that are pretty good and both are physical. In the middle of the year these are the games you look forward to. The winner of the game will have some momentum going into the rest of the regular season and district."
"Osage has had a heck of a start to the year," Southern Boone coach Trent Tracy said. "We know we have a very high-quality opponent. In a game like this it's not hard to get your kids focused."
The Indians would like a little revenge, as they were beaten by Southern Boone 37-22 at Ashland last season.
The numbers are similar for both clubs this fall.
Osage is averaging 36.3 points per game while allowing an average of 16.5 points. Southern Boone averages 34.5 points and gives up 8.3. In last week's destruction of Hallsville, the Eagles allowed just one first down and 11 yards of total offense. Against Warsaw a week ago, Osage's defense came up with six turnovers.
Southern Boone has featured a balanced attack led by senior quarterback Spencer Taggart, who has completed 55-of-94 passes for 731 yards, one interception and nine touchdowns.
Taggart has spread it around, as sophomore wideout Sam Stichnote has 17 receptions for 274 yards and two touchdowns. Senior wideout Kolton Schupp 15 catches for 186 yards and a TD and senior Clay Jeffrey 11 receptions for 137 yards and four touchdowns.
Pacing a balanced ground game is junior running back Cooper Mange with 204 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns. Senior fullback Tanner Smith with 145 yards on 28 carries and three TDs and junior running back Jackson Sartain 133 yards on 18 carries and a TD.
Senior linebacker Cole Morris leads the Eagle defense with 26 tackles while Smith, a linebacker, has 19. Stichnote, a defensive back, has four interceptions.
"They're really balanced," Johnson said of Southern Boone. "They run and throw about 50 percent of the time. They have a lot of running backs who carry it well and the quarterback runs and throws well. We've got to be disciplined defensively and know our assignments. It's a good week for us to get back to fundamentals."
"We're not executing everything the way we want to be," Tracy said. "But I think we're definitely improving each week. The kids are doing things we're asking them to do. One of our strengths as a team is it's more of a group effort. We don't have that one guy to lean on."
Osage junior quarterback Zach Wheeler has hit on 38-of-67 passes for 585 yards, two interceptions and eight touchdowns. Senior wideout Jason Edwards has been his favorite target with 14 catches for 243 yards and three TDs while junior wideout Drake Gaines has 11 catches for 149 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore wideout Dalton Depee four catches for 142 yards (35.5 yards per catch) and three touchdowns.
Junior running back Nick Riley, despite missing all of last week and most of the previous week with a hamstring issue, still leads the Indians in rushing with 340 yards on 40 carries (8.5) and a TD while senior running back Dylan Riley has 146 yards on 24 attempts (6.1) and six touchdowns. With just five carries, junior Austin Magnuson has 86 yards and a touchdown.
Johnson said Nick Riley is listed as day-to-day.
Magnuson, a linebacker, has 43 tackles (19 solo) for the Indian defense while linebacker Depee has 39 tackles (23 solo), one sack and one interception. Senior back Max Maples has 39 tackles (16 solo), junior back Ian Riley 28 tackles (15 solo), linebacker Dylan Riley 25 tackles (13 solo) and sophomore linebacker Max Drier has 20 solo tackles, 8.0 tackles for losses and two sacks.
"The thing that stands out the most for them is the effort and physicality they play with," Tracy said of Osage. "They come hard every play. A lot of guys fly around. All of their defensive linemen seem to be cut from the same cloth. They're all about the same size and play hard.
"Offensively, they've got some receivers who have done a good job. They like to throw short routes early on, which opens up the longer ones later."
"The thing I like is we've seen improvement every week," Johnson said. "The first week we turned the ball over five times and Week 2 we cut down the turnovers and could get in the flow. And in Week 3 and 4, we've been more consistent."
Osage hosts Southern Boone
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