ASHLAND - The Blair Oaks Falcons didn't win the turnover battle, but that didn't seem to make much of a difference.
The Falcons committed three turnovers, but they also scored 18 first-quarter points and never trailed Friday night, winning 42-13 against the Southern Boone Eagles to remain undefeated.
"I thought our kids played really, really hard," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "Now I don't know if we played as smart as we should have and we didn't execute in some instances, but we got a lot of young guys playing and you're going to make some mistakes. You just got to hang with them and play through them."
The defense gave Blair Oaks the early lead, tackling Southern Boone running back Cole Morris in the end zone for a safety. On the ensuing drive, the offense then added to the lead with a 14-yard touchdown catch by Cody Alexander, who also scored the 2-point conversion to give the Falcons a 10-0 lead with 6:46 to play in the first quarter.
Blair Oaks quarterback Nolan Hair added a 1-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to extend the lead to 18-0. Running back Brenden Brown also scored on a 6-yard run with 1:31 to play in the second quarter, but Southern Boone scored a quick touchdown in the final minute of the first half with an 18-yard pass from Spencer Taggart to Clay Jeffrey to make the score 24-7 at halftime.
The Falcons held the Eagles to 20 yards rushing in the first half. As a result, Southern Boone came out passing often in the second half, more often than not lining up with five wide receivers and an empty backfield against Blair Oaks.
"They came out empty, which was another set we had not seen them in," Walker said. "It would be nice to go one week where the offense comes out in something we practiced against all week."
Southern Boone completed 9-of-24 passes in the second half for 167 yards, including another 18-yard touchdown pass from Taggart to Jeffrey, which came with 5:33 to play when the game was already out of reach.
The Eagles finished with just 18 yards rushing and passed for 197 yards.
Blair Oaks tallied three touchdowns in the second half, starting with another 1-yard run by Hair for his eighth rushing score of the season.
Brown also had a 3-yard run for his second touchdown of the night in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Blair Oaks added to its lead with a 35-yard touchdown catch by Braydan Pritchett with 1:22 to play.
Jake Van Ronzelen had 14 carries for 236 yards, including a 76-yard run to start the third quarter for the Falcons. Brown also had 10 carries for 68 yards.
Hair completed 13-of-20 passes for 197 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Alexander led the Falcons with four catches for 62 yards.
Blair Oaks (6-0) will host School of the Osage (6-0) next Friday night in Wardsville, with kickoff at 7 p.m. Both teams are tied for first place in the Tri-County Conference with 4-0 records in league play.