The California Pintos face their toughest test yet as they get ready to play undefeated Blair Oaks, ranked No. 2 in the Class 3 Missouri Media Rankings.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. tonight in Wardsville.
California head coach Mikel Gragg doesn't want his team to worry about who they are playing.
"We've talked about all week that going in they're the ones with something to lose," Gragg said of Blair Oaks. "For us going in as the underdogs, go in relax and have fun."
Gragg wants his young players who started to play well as their last game went on, to continue that growth and keep playing better.
"We want them to carry that on into this week and have fun and play loose and see what can happen," Gragg said.
Bryant Davis, who made his first start last week, will be the starter at quarterback for tonight's game. The team will continue to ask some younger players to step up as the Pintos have to continue to deal with injuries.The Pintos offensive line, which struggled early in the year, has played much better the last two weeks. Gragg believed it is because players are just more used to their responsibilities.
"They are getting the system down themselves," he said. "They are making the right checks and picking up blitzes."
Gragg also thinks Davis has helped the offensive line by getting them in the right positions before the play starts.
"He's come in with a confidence that is leading them," he said.
With a confidence boost on offense, Gragg believes the team is getting better each week.
Going into the game, Gragg said his players are going to have to win the one-on-one battles on offense if they are going to have any success.
"We know they are going to give us a lot of man coverage and they are going to do a lot of one-on-one scenarios and we are going to have to wins those one-one-one battles when we can," he said.
California (1-6, 1-4 Tri-County) suffered a 49-6 loss to Southern Boone in its final home game of the regular season. Blair Oaks (7-0, 5-0) overcame an 11-point deficit to beat School of the Osage 52-26.
Blair Oaks lost its starting quarterback, Nolan Hair, to a right leg injury last month in a win against Versailles. Since taking over as starting quarterback, freshman Cade Stockman has led the Falcons to four straight wins.
Sophomore running back Riley Lentz leads the Falcons with 679 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns, tallying 100 or more yards on the ground in four of Blair Oaks' past five games. Junior wide receiver Braydan Pritchett had 50 catches for 581 yards and five scores.
Defensively, Pritchett leads Blair Oaks with 71 tackles at safety, while junior cornerback Ben Thomas leads the area with six interceptions. Defensive linemen Justin Cobb, Rylee Niekamp and linebacker Bryant Gipe each have 3 sacks.
While the Falcons have won the past two meetings against the Pintos, California is the last team to hand Blair Oaks a regular-season loss, winning 21-10 in 2014. Since then, Blair Oaks has won 27 straight regular-season contests.
III
Geary Labuary, who led the California Pintos to three straight appearances in the Class 3A state football championship game in the late 1990s, passed away Monday morning at age 65.
Labuary was the head coach at California when the Pintos defeated MICDS 36-19 to win the state title in 1997 at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis.
California advanced to the title game the next two seasons as well, falling 33-22 to Boonville in 1998 and 7-0 to Aurora in 1999.
California, known for its hard-nosed brand of football during the era, finished 39-2 in those three seasons.
Labuary served as head coach at California for 15 years, retiring after the 2007 season. He returned to the school as defensive coordinator in recent years.
Labuary played football at Festus High School. He also served as head coach at Windsor and Beliot, Kan., before coming to California.
In 34 seasons as a head coach, Labuary compiled a record of 307-79, a .795 winning percentage.
Related media:
California Pintos Football Podcast [Blair Oaks preview, Oct. 6, 2017]