ASHLAND - The Blair Oaks passing game was improving week by week this season, but it took a small step backward Friday night against the Southern Boone Eagles.
It wasn't the result a lackluster performance in the passing game. It was because the running game was the best it had been all season.
The Falcons rushed for a season-high 331 yards on 39 carries (8.5 avg.) in a 42-13 win against the Eagles to stay undefeated while improving to 4-0 in the Tri-County Conference.
"Our rushing game tonight was a lot better than it has been the past few games," Blair Oaks running back Jake Van Ronzelen said.
Van Ronzelen rushed for a career-high 236 yards on 17 carries (13.9 avg.), gaining more than half his yards on two long runs.
"All year, I hadn't really had a long run where I actually broke over a 50-yarder," Van Ronzelen said. "I had two this game and it felt really good."
His final run of the first half was a 62-yard run, which pushed him past the 100-yard mark for the fourth time this season. But his next run was the more memorable of the two big carries.
Blair Oaks started its first possession of the second half on its own 8-yard line. Van Ronzelen took the handoff from quarterback Nolan Hair and found a hole through the middle, then started running to his right along the sideline. It appeared as if he was going to finally be stopped for about a 40-yard gain, but he wasn't finished.
Van Ronzelen stopped at the Blair Oaks 45-yard line, then cut across the field toward the left sideline, juking three Southern Boone defenders in the process. He was finally brought down at the Southern Boone 16 for a 76-yard run, which pushed him past the 200-yard mark for the first time of his career.
"Jake has been a kid all year that, if you look at his performance, he's had four 100-yard rushing games, and he had to have at least that tonight," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "He's got a really good feel for the offensive line, he's got really good vision in between the tackles, he does a really good job of cutting back on defenses and putting them in bad spots.
"If we're going to be the team we want to be, then we need No. 7 to run like he's been running."
Van Ronzelen finished with no rushing touchdowns, but his two long runs led to a 6-yard touchdown run by Brenden Brown and a 1-yard keeper by Hair. Brown and Hair each finished the game with two rushing scores.
"It's not really about the touchdowns," Van Ronzelen said. "My runs set up touchdowns."
The Southern Boone defense was set up to stop the Blair Oaks passing game. Hair still completed 13-of-20 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw a season-high three interceptions.
"When you play a 5-2 (front), you put additional stress on your secondary," Walker said. "You can go back and look at this film with Southern Boone and they came out of their 5-2 front. They were not going to allow us to beat them with the passing game."
Southern Boone didn't really have much of an option. It had to pass against Blair Oaks. Seven of its 16 run plays in the first half went for negative yards - including a 1-yard loss by Cole Morris, who was tackled in the end zone for a safety on Southern Boone's second offensive play of the game.
"Our kids enjoy playing defense," Walker said. "We didn't always play really clean, but we did play really hard, and sometimes when you play really hard, that makes up for a lot of things."
The Eagles attempted 37 passes against Blair Oaks, completing just 14 of them for 197 yards. Their two touchdowns came on a pair of 18-yard strikes from quarterback Spencer Taggart to wide receiver Clay Jeffrey, who has seven touchdown receptions this season.
The Blair Oaks defense came up with some big stops as well. Southern Boone advanced to the Blair Oaks 3-yard line during an 11-play drive in the second quarter, but a 27-yard field-goal attempt was short. The Eagles also had two other turnovers on downs in Falcon territory.
"Between our not-so-stellar kickoff coverage and the turnovers, we really put our defense in a bad spot," Walker said. "For our defense to play like they did and shut them down on three fourth downs inside the red zone, that's really good defense."
The Eagles finished with 215 yards of total offense, while the Falcons gained 518 yards. Blair Oaks is averaging 407.8 yards of offense and allowing just 136.8 yards through six games.
The Falcons' next matchup will likely determine the Tri-County champion. Friday's matchup between Blair Oaks (6-0) and School of the Osage (6-0) in Wardsville pairs the last two remaining undefeated teams in the conference. The Indians won 42-6 against Versailles on Friday, improving to 4-0 in the Tri-County.
"From a fan's perspective, it's going to be a great event," Walker said. "From our perspective, it's going to be Game 7."
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.