WARDSVILLE, Mo. - He's baaaaack.
After missing five full games and three quarters of a sixth, Nolan Hair is set to return as Blair Oaks' starting quarterback for tonight's regular-season finale at Warsaw. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Hair has been sidelined since Sept. 1, when he suffered a hairline fracture in his lower right leg during the first quarter of the Falcons' 34-14 win at Versailles. Hair was cleared by his doctor to play earlier this week.
"He won't play the whole game," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "He'll maybe play half the game, we'll just have to see how it plays out and we'll have to see how Nolan feels."
Because it will be Hair's first game in more than a month, Walker said Cade Stockman will also play at quarterback during tonight's game.
"The most important thing is for Nolan to get back out there on the field, to get used to having guys flying by him and seeing guys moving, reading and reacting," Walker said. "We try to come up with an offensive game plan which both of them can execute, and hopefully we've done that."
The Falcons are looking to wrap up their third straight undefeated regular season, but it won't come easily against a much-improved Wildcats squad.Under new head coach Ryan Boyer, Warsaw has bounced back from an 0-10 finish last season to a 4-4 record in 2017. The Wildcats are 3-1 at home this season.
"Their staff has done a great job," Walker said. "They've struggled the last couple of years, and as we watch them on film this year, it's easy to see that the kids are really playing hard.
"That's the first thing that I look for, to see how kids finish plays and I look to see how they finish games. These guys have been playing the entire time and they're playing with great effort. Consequently, they've been able to have some success as a result of that."
Warsaw snapped a 26-game losing streak - which includes the postseason - with a 14-12 win against Clinton in its season opener. The Wildcats edged Cole Camp in overtime the following week to start 2-0 and have picked up Tri-County Conference wins against Versailles and Hallsville.
"They've got some really nice skill players," Walker said. "It looks like they have some younger players in there at the offensive line positions. They're doing a good job of firing off the football and sustaining blocks.
"Defensively, they're doing a nice job of spreading the field with their players and allowing their players to make plays in space. It has been significant improvement from last year to this year."
Last Friday, Warsaw (4-4, 2-4 Tri-County) lost 47-12 at Southern Boone.
Warsaw is led by junior quarterback Matt Luebbert, who has 459 yards passing with two touchdowns and another 265 yards rushing and four scores.
In the backfield, senior Keegan Glenn leads the Wildcats with 590 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Junior Kieon Davis has a team-high five touchdowns to go with 350 yards rushing.
"They're doing a good job of getting blockers at the point of attack, and the running backs are doing a good job of reading the blocks," Walker said. "They're actually very physical, downhill running backs."
The Wildcats are averaging 22.3 points per game this season, nearly double that of last year's average of 12.2. They scored a season-high 48 points against Eldon, although the Mustangs put up 82 points in the win.
"They believe in the system that they're running, which I think is the most important thing," Walker said. " The numbers kind of speak for themselves, they've had a lot of success offensively. It's going to be a great matchup for us defensively."
After holding opponents to 15.3 points per game in its first three contests, Warsaw has allowed an average of 44.2 points since.
Junior linebacker Colby Schwartz leads the Wildcats with 38 tackles. Junior defensive end Jacob Luebbert has a team-high three sacks to go with 25 tackles.
Safeties Jayden Schepker and Dalton Nichols each have two interceptions.
Walker said Warsaw runs either a 3-4 scheme or a soft 5-2 scheme defensively.
"A lot of their kids are going both ways, just like our kids, so they're putting their best athletes on the field," Walker said. They're fundamentally sound with their alignments and they've been forcing teams to drive the field in 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-yard chunks.
"It's not like it was a couple years ago when you just throw everything over the top and it was just a jailbreak."
Blair Oaks (8-0, 6-0 Tri-County) holds a firm grasp on the No. 1 seed in the Class 3 District 6 standings heading into tonight's finale. The Falcons have 49.3 points, while second-seeded Mexico is the only team in the district within reach at 43.93 points.
A win will seal the top seed in the eight-team district for Blair Oaks, but not everyone has looked that far ahead.
"I can tell you the last two years and eight games that we've been here, I don't look at the district standings until Week 9 is done and we come in on Saturday morning and we go, 'OK, where are we going and who are we playing?'" Walker said. "I don't know how other coaches look at it. You can spitball it all you want, but it's going to be what it's going to be. You just go out and play who they pair you up with."
III
Blair Oaks received one first-place vote in this week's Missouri Media Rankings in Class 3. The Falcons are No. 2, trailing top-ranked McCluer South-Berkeley. Blair Oaks won last year's meeting at home against Warsaw 45-6. Tonight's game will be the final Tri-County contest for Warsaw, which is departing for the Ozark Highlands Conference next season. The Falcons clinched at least a share of the Tri-County championship with last week's 44-6 home win against California. A win tonight would give Blair Oaks its third straight outright conference title. With Hair's return, Walker said the Falcons should be a full strength for tonight's game. "We had a couple kids get some bumps and bruises (last week), but all the kids have practiced well this week," Walker said.
Related media:
Blair Oaks Falcons Football Podcast [Warsaw preview, Oct. 13, 2017]