WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Blair Oaks Falcons have already ended the football season for one Mexico high school. Tonight, they're looking to knock out the remaining Mexico squad.
The Falcons, the No. 1 seed in Class 3 District 6, host the second-seeded Mexico Bulldogs for the district title at the Falcon Athletic Complex. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
"They're big, fast, physical, athletic," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "All the things you want a football team to be, they are."
Mexico (8-3), which ended the regular season with a 21-20 defeat against Moberly and missing a chance to share the North Central Missouri Conference title, has trailed in the fourth quarter in both of its district playoff matchups.
The Bulldogs were down 28-24 after three quarters in the district opener against seventh-seeded O'Fallon Christian, then reached the end zone four times in the final 12 minutes for a 52-28 victory.
In last Friday's semifinal, Mexico was down 31-21 against the Southern Boone Eagles with 7:39 to play. The Bulldogs scored a pair of touchdowns in the next two minutes to rally for a 33-31 win.
"Every team is here for a reason," Walker said. "They're here because they play hard."
Blair Oaks (11-0), meanwhile, has been piling on the points in district play. The Falcons scored a season-high 72 points last Friday, beating the fourth-seeded Wright City Wildcats by 46 points."I thought that we executed pretty efficiently offensively, with the exception of two or three possessions," Walker said. "Defensively, we had stretches where we played really well, but then we gave up too many big plays.
"Big plays is one thing, scoring big plays is something different. We gave up too many big plays that were scoring plays."
Mexico has capitalized on big plays offensively in districts. Last week against Southern Boone, three of Mexico's five touchdowns were plays of 40 yards or more.
The Bulldogs are led by three players who were recognized on the All-NCMC team on both sides of the ball.
Up front, Mexico is anchored by senior lineman Terrese Aaron (6-foot, 270 pounds), who has helped the Bulldogs average 258.0 yards rushing per game. On defense, he leads the team with 25 tackles for loss.
"He was a state champion wrestler last year in the heavyweight division, so the kid knows how to handle himself," Walker said. "He's a bigger kid, but he's incredibly athletic."
The Bulldogs run a triple-option flexbone offense that is led by senior quarterback Jonathon Grubb (5-11, 170), who has a team-best 864 yards rushing to go with nine touchdowns.
"He makes it all go," Walker said. "You got to have a signal-caller and a guy that understands what you're trying to do with the triple option in order for it to be successful."
As a linebacker on defense, Grubb has 91 tackles and added an interception return for a touchdown against O'Fallon Christian.
Another key piece to Mexico's flexbone is senior running back Cameron Holman, who has 775 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. Defensively, Holman leads the Bulldogs with 136 tackles and three interceptions.
"You need to know where he's at," Walker said. "We've been watching that kid for a couple years. He's kind of the quarterback in the defensive secondary, he makes plays all over the field."
Mexico's flexbone offense has yielded a 7-to-1 run-to-pass ratio this season. Blair Oaks has rarely seen a flexbone offense since facing Helias in the preseason Jamboree.
"We have played a couple of teams that have dabbled with the triple option, but if you're going to be a true triple-option football team, you've got to marry it, you can't date it," Walker said. "They have done a great job with their scheme and they have players in the right places for the triple option."
Mexico averages 29.2 points per game, while teams are scoring an average of 22.5 points against the Bulldogs.
"They want to operate out of a three-man front," Walker said of Mexico's defense. "They have three big guys up there that make it go.
"Ultimately, I think they want to try and let those big guys control the line of scrimmage for them, and then let their linebackers and the guys in the secondary run and make plays."
Blair Oaks is averaging 43.5 points per game and holding opponents to an average of 11.7.
Walker said he was pleased with the way the Falcons handled a bigger line against Wright City. The Falcons produced 509 yards of offense in last week's win.
"Size doesn't really bother me too much unless I see a kid that has size and understands how to use it as a leverage to his advantage," Walker said.
Blair Oaks is seeking its third straight district championship, while Mexico is trying to win its first district title since 2009.
"I feel quite confident they're going to have a great game plan and we're going to have to out-execute and outplay them if we want to advance," Walker said.
III
The Blair Oaks-Mexico winner will face the District 5 champion - either top-ranked McCluer South-Berkeley (9-0) or St. Charles West (6-5) - next week in the Class 3 quarterfinals. With a win tonight, Blair Oaks will be on the road for the quarterfinal game. The District 5 championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at McCluer South-Berkeley. Blair Oaks converted on all nine 2-point conversion attempts in last Friday's win, marking the first time this season the Falcons were successful on every 2-point try in a game. Blair Oaks has scored 67 touchdowns this season and converted on the 2-point try 37 times for a 55 percent success rate.
Related media:
Blair Oaks Falcons Football Podcast [Mexico preview, Nov. 3, 2017