Blair Oaks avenges loss, defeats McCluer South-Berkeley in quarterfinals

Braydan Pritchett of Blair Oaks runs in the open fileld during Saturday afternoon's Class 3 quarterfinal game against the McCluer South-Berkeley in Ferguson.
Braydan Pritchett of Blair Oaks runs in the open fileld during Saturday afternoon's Class 3 quarterfinal game against the McCluer South-Berkeley in Ferguson.

FERGUSON, Mo. - The Blair Oaks football team had been eyeing Saturday's rematch against McCluer South-Berkeley for a year.

The Bulldogs were the last team to beat the Falcons. If revenge wasn't enough motivation heading into the Class 3 quarterfinal matchup, Blair Oaks players had several reminders of last season's final score throughout practice last week.

"They probably heard '34-10' about 10,000 times this week in practice," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said.

When Blair Oaks huddled on the field after Saturday's rematch, players began chanting a more favorable final score, completing the redemption.

Nolan Hair had 368 total yards, throwing three touchdowns and rushing for another score, as Blair Oaks got its revenge with a 32-16 win against McCluer South-Berkeley.

The Falcons, ranked No. 2 in the Missouri Media Rankings, have won 13 straight games since losing last season to the Bulldogs, who were the top-ranked team in Class 3 heading into the postseason.

"I'd like to think we had a little more moxie, a little more heart," Walker said of his team's performance Saturday, compared to last season's defeat.

That was apparent on the opening play of the game, when the Falcons forced Nathan Smith to fumble near midfield. Braydan Pritchett recovered the loose ball, which was McCluer South-Berkeley's only turnover of the game.

Blair Oaks drove into Bulldog territory, but turned the ball over on downs at the McCluer South-Berkeley 1-yard line. The Falcons would come up one yard short of the end zone again in the third quarter, bringing back flashes of last year's red-zone struggles against the Bulldogs.

"Their defense did a great job once we got inside the red zone," Walker said. "What I really like is how the kids responded, even though we didn't score on two red-zone possessions inside the 5. We just kept battling."

The Falcons got on the scoreboard first on their next possession. Hair connected with Ben Thomas for a 3-yard touchdown pass and Ethan Luebbering caught the pass on the 2-point conversion to give Blair Oaks an 8-0 lead with 8:10 left in the first quarter.

Hair had a 36-yard keeper to set up the game's opening touchdown. The Blair Oaks quarterback finished with 20 carries for 114 yards, often turning potential sacks into scrambles for positive gains.

"If you give an opportunity for a young man of his athletic ability to run around and make plays, he's going to make some plays," McCluer South-Berkeley coach Howard Brown said of Hair. "Once you get your hand on him, you have to bring him down."

The Bulldogs tied the game late in the first quarter after Daevon Trust made a one-handed pick off a pass from Hair at the Falcons' 41-yard line. It was Hair's first interception since the season opener against Kirksville.

Eight plays later, Devon Blanchard ran it in from 5 yards out to put McCluer South-Berkeley on the board. Quarterback Tavian Willis ran in the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 8 with 1:52 left in the opening quarter.

The second quarter would begin with scoring exchanges as well.

Pritchett caught a 31-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the quarter and Thomas hauled in the 2-point conversion pass. The Bulldogs answered with a nine-play, 68-yard drive, capped by a 6-yard run from Dai'shawn Cotton. Willis added the 2-point run to tie the score at 16 with 9:01 left in the first half.

Blair Oaks followed with two turnovers on downs, but the Falcons came up with a big score shortly before halftime.

Going to its two-minute offense with 1:19 to play, Blair Oaks advanced the ball 63 yards in 63 seconds. Hair scored on a 1-yard keeper with :16.2 left and Pritchett caught the 2-point pass to give the Falcons a 24-16 halftime lead.

"(McCluer South-Berkeley) had athletes at the defensive line, linebackers and secondary," Walker said. "For us to have the success we did throwing the football, and to consistently move the football, I think speaks volumes to the kids."

The Falcons came up empty on both offensive possessions in the third quarter, but McCluer South-Berkeley was unable answer either time.

"We had opportunities like last year, we just didn't capitalize when we had the opportunities," Brown said.

The next time Blair Oaks had the ball, it finished the drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Hair to Pritchett, while Thomas added the 2-point conversion.

McCluer South-Berkeley, which allowed only 55 points in 10 games prior to Saturday, now trailed Blair Oaks 32-16 with 10:08 to play.

"I don't know if they've been down by two scores," Walker said. "When they went down by two scores, I felt pretty confident that they were going to be outside their comfort zone."

The Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs at the Blair Oaks 26-yard line on the ensuing possession. The Falcons then forced McCluer South-Berkeley to punt with 3:09 to play, which sealed the win.

Blair Oaks held McCluer South-Berkeley (10-1) to 144 yards rushing and 65 yards passing for 209 total yards. The Bulldogs averaged 424 yards of offense entering the game.

"I'm very, very proud of our defense," Walker said. " I could not be any more pleased with how they played."

Hair finished 26-of-42 passing for 254 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Thomas hauled in nine catches for 92 yards, while Pritchett had 89 yards on eight receptions - giving him 81 catches to break the school single-season receptions record of 76 set by C.J. Closser in 2015.

Pritchett now has 1,011 yards receiving this season. He also had 14 carries for 63 yards Saturday, picking up most of those yards in the fourth quarter.

Blair Oaks (13-0) will host Maryville (11-2) next Saturday in the Class 3 semifinal round at the Falcon Athletic Complex. Game time is still to be determined.

The Spoofhounds, ranked No. 7 in Class 3, won 19-15 against eighth-ranked Kansas City Center in Saturday's quarterfinal.

"They're a better team this year," Brown said of Blair Oaks. " They need to win state now, because it doesn't hurt so bad when the team you lose to wins state."