WARDSVILLE - A record-breaking performance led to a district championship rout for the Blair Oaks Falcons.
Quarterback Nolan Hair threw a school-record eight touchdown passes and the Falcons totaled 483 yards offensively, beating the Mexico Bulldogs 60-14 to win the Class 3 District 6 championship Friday night at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
It's the third consecutive district title for the Falcons, who have reached the state quarterfinals in six of the past seven seasons.
"I'm really happy for the kids," said Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker, who has yet to lose in either the regular season or district playoffs in three seasons with the Falcons. "They're the ones who are going to remember this season, especially the seniors.
"For these kids, it's really special for them. They embraced an opportunity and made the most of it."
Blair Oaks struck first on the opening possession of the game. Hair found Marcus Edler for an 11-yard touchdown to cap an 11-play, 76-yard drive and Braydan Pritchett caught the 2-point pass, giving the Falcons an 8-0 lead 3:48 into the game.
Mexico turned the ball over on downs on its opening possession and Blair Oaks answered with 24-yard touchdown pass from Hair to Ben Thomas. The Falcons led 14-0 with 2:57 left in the opening quarter.
The Bulldogs scored on the next play from scrimmage after muffed kickoff by the Falcons. Jonathon Grubb connected with Cameron Holman, who broke multiple tackles for a 32-yard touchdown reception. Gage Gilmore added the first of his two extra points to cut the Blair Oaks lead to 14-7.
The Falcons came up empty on their next two possessions, but they bumped the lead back to double digits with a 35-yard touchdown grab by Ethan Luebbering, making the score 20-7 with 8:04 left in the second quarter.
Mexico answered with its final touchdown of the game, a 25-yard keeper by Grubb on a delayed run, to trim the deficit to 20-14 with 6:36 left in the half.
The Bulldogs would have three turnovers on downs, two punts and a lost fumble on their remaining possessions.
"I was really pleased with our defensive effort in the second half," Walker said. " We told the kids at halftime if you eliminate big plays, it's going to be hard for them to come back and mount a successful comeback, if we make them go four or five yards at a time."
Blair Oaks added two more touchdowns - an 8-yard pass to Thomas and a 24-yard pass in traffic to Pritchett - in the final 3:08 of the half to give the Falcons a 36-14 lead at the break.
Blair Oaks scored on each of its first three possessions of the second half. On the Falcons' first offensive play of the third quarter, Hair found Pritchett for a 7-yard reception to take a 30-point lead.
Pritchett then recorded his 18th touchdown this season with a 15-yard grab with 4:57 to play in the third.
Hair's record-breaking touchdown pass came with :01.3 left in the third quarter, lobbing a 27-yard pass to a wide-open Edler to the front left corner of the end zone. Pritchett added the 2-point catch to push Blair Oaks to 60 points, the third time in the past four games the Falcons have eclipsed that point total.
Nolan Hair's eight touchdown passes surpassed the Falcons' single-game record of seven, previously set by Anthony Clutts in 2010 and matched by Jordan Hair in 2015.
"Nolan had a great night and he had a lot of help around him," Walker said.
Nolan Hair completed 31-of-39 passes for 406 yards and led the rushing attack with nine carries for 35 yards. Thomas had eight catches for 138 yards - all in the first half - and Pritchett finished with nine catches for 126 yards.
Thomas' two scores give him 15 touchdown receptions this season and he added a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter, his team-high ninth defensive takeaway.
The Falcon defense held Mexico's flexbone offense to 111 yards rushing and 182 total yards. The Bulldogs averaged 315.2 yards of offense entering Friday's game.
Dillon Nichols had a team-high 43 yards rushing on eight attempts to lead Mexico, which ends the season with an 8-4 record.
Blair Oaks (12-0) will play on the road next week in the Class 3 quarterfinals. The Falcons will face the winner of today's District 5 title matchup between top-ranked McCluer South-Berkeley (9-0) and St. Charles West (6-5).