WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Blair Oaks Falcons and the California Pintos have one thing in common entering tonight's Tri-County Conference matchup: they'll each start a freshman at quarterback.
Aside from that, the 2017 season has gone in different directions for the two rivals. Blair Oaks enters tonight's matchup with a 7-0 record, needing one more win to clinch a conference title. California, meanwhile, has dropped its last four games to fall to 1-6.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"What jumps out about California on film is that their kids are playing hard," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "Even though they have not had a ton of success record-wise, you can tell when a team is ready to pack it in, and this is not them.
"Any time you have kids that are playing hard, you're going to be in for a handful. We fully expect that on Friday night."
Both teams are playing without their starting quarterbacks. Blair Oaks has been without Nolan Hair since he suffered a hairline fracture in his lower right leg in a Week 3 win against Versailles.
California has been without its starting quarterback since before the season began. Jacob Wolken suffered an ACL injury in the preseason, which ended his high school football career. He took the field for one play last week on Senior Night in the Pintos' 49-6 home loss last Friday against Southern Boone.Freshman Bryant Davis, the Pintos' third different quarterback to play this season, made his first career start behind center last Friday. He is expected to start again tonight against Blair Oaks.
"We know exactly what that's like to have a freshman quarterback back there," Walker said. "We know some of the things that kid is thinking about. You get a freshman in there at any level, it doesn't matter. Things happen pretty fast. That being said, he looks like a tough kid. It's going to be a challenge and we have to be ready for it."
The California offense is led by senior running back Cory Friedmeyer, who scored the Pintos' only touchdown last week on a 48-yard run. Friedmeyer has scored half of the Pintos' 10 touchdowns this season - four rushing, the other on a fumble recovery.
"He's a huge contributor," Walker said of Friedmeyer. "I would call him their best running back. When he's got the ball in his hands, he's dangerous. We've got to account for him."
California has yet to score 20 points in a game this season, averaging 9.4 points. The Pintos' first two quarterbacks, Alex Currens and Liam Glenn, have combined for four rushing touchdowns. California's only receiving touchdown this season was caught by Dakota Henry.
The Pintos enter the season with a new head coach, Mikel Gragg, but Walker said he expects California to continue to be a run-dominant offense.
"That's still the staple of their offense," Walker said. "That's core to the coaching staff's beliefs. They've been running quite a bit of two-back stuff.
"They run some gun split with some zone triple option, and then they run some I-formation with triple option and then they'll run some of the basic plays out of I-formation that you'll see teams do, toss right and toss left to and from the tight end."
With a handful of injuries this season to the Pintos, Walker said California has turned to a number of younger players.
"They're going to come in hungry and really, they have nothing to lose," Walker said. "They're just going to go out there and play as hard as they possibly can and we're going to have to match their intensity."
California's defense performed well at the start of the season, holding opponents to less than 20 points in three of its first four games. However, teams have averaged 47.3 points the past three weeks against the Pintos.
Blair Oaks enters tonight's game with a scoring average of 35.1 points per game and is coming off a season-high point total in last Friday's 52-26 win at School of the Osage.
"Their base front looks like a 4-3," Walker said. "They will adjust to different spread formations, dependent upon where they think you're trying to attack them. We've seen them take three or four guys out of the box versus trips, we've seen them not take three or four guys out.
"They're chasing the football and they're pursuing. They're doing a good job of getting hats to the football and tackling."
Osage was the first team to score more than 20 points this season against the Falcons and the two teams were neck-and-neck late in the third quarter, until Blair Oaks scored four touchdowns in the game's final 13 minutes. The Falcon defense had a season-high four takeaways in the win.
Tonight is Senior Night for Blair Oaks' 10 seniors, although it won't be their final home game. The Falcons are currently projected as the No. 1 seed in Class 3 District 6 with 50.24 points and two games to play. Getting the top seed would guarantee Blair Oaks home-field advantage through district play.
Mexico (5-2) is second in the district standings with 44.1 points and Wright City (4-3) is a distant third at 34.24 points.
"The senior class always set the tone for the year," Walker said. " It's been a strong group of seniors, these kids have worked really, really hard. We're certainly appreciative of all the efforts they put in toward Blair Oaks football and the Blair Oaks community. We're looking forward to recognizing them on Friday."
III
Blair Oaks maintains the No. 2 ranking in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings. However, this week marks the first time all season the Falcons have received a first-place vote. McCluer South-Berkeley had the other 14 first-place votes and remains No. 1. Blair Oaks has won 21 consecutive Tri-County contests. The Falcons' last conference loss was a 21-10 defeat Oct. 3, 2014, at California. Blair Oaks has won 27 straight regular-season games since. Walker said Hair had his cast removed from his right foot Monday. Hair was cleared to jog some and went through a few drills in practice this week, but he has not been cleared for contact or running at full speed. "Hopefully he'll go back to the doctor on Monday and the doctor will clear him and we'll get to see him next Friday night," Walker said.
Related media:
Blair Oaks Falcons Football Podcast [California preview, Oct. 6, 2017]