LAKE OZARK, Mo. - To the surprise of no one, after cutting down on the turnovers the School of the Osage Indians had their best performance of the season last week.
Now the Indians want to build on that tonight when they hit the road to play at Warsaw in Tri-County Conference action. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
Osage improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Tri-County by stopping Hallsville 31-6 last week. The Warsaw Wildcats come in 2-1 and 0-1 after falling to California 12-8.
"We played much better," Osage head coach Devin Johnson said. "We read well on the option game and the passing game. And I thought our offensive line played well all night. It was 19-0 at halftime and 31-0 after three quarters. And Hallsville was a good team."
The Indians figure to see an improved Warsaw squad under first-year head coach Ryan Boyer. The Wildcats finished a combined 0-20 during the previous two seasons and before this year hadn't won back-to-back games since 2013.
Boyer's Wildcats quickly ended those streaks by winning their first two games in 2017 with fourth-quarter rallies - 14-12 against Clinton and 28-22 in overtime against Cole Camp.
And Warsaw was just a few yards away from coming into this week undefeated. Last week Warsaw was within a couple of yards from scoring what would have been the game-winning TD with less than two minutes to play, but could not punch it in.
"We came up a foot short," Boyer said. "We're very pleased with the boys' effort so far, and their overall buy-in. And it's not just the players, it's the community. Obviously you'd like to win them all, but we'll take what we can get."
"Warsaw is similar to us," Johnson said. "They run the ball, but run the ball effectively different in that they rely on size and strength instead of speed and quickness. And they have two comeback wins in the fourth quarter and had a great chance to beat California last week."
Warsaw junior quarterback Matt Luebbert has completed 17-of-36 passes for 181 yards and one interception while rushing for 184 yards on 37 carries and three TDs.
Senior running back Keegan Glenn has 166 rushing yards on 37 carries and a touchdown while junior running back Eli Hawkins has 123 yards on 34 carries and three TDs.
Wildcat senior wideout Jayden Schepker has caught five passes for 81 yards while Hawkins has five catches for 17 yards, senior wideout Cole Branson three receptions for 39 yards and Glenn three for 28.
"Luebbert is pretty good," Johnson said. "He's probably one of their best runners. He's their best weapon and throws the ball well downfield."
The Wildcat defense is allowing an average of 15.3 points per game.
Schepker, a strong safety, leads the squad with 20 tackles while junior middle linebacker Colby Schwartz has 19, senior end Nathaniel Fauquier 18 and sophomore Lane Bates 17.
"Fauquier has started since his freshman year," Johnson said. "They have a really good defense up front, a really big defense. We've got to do a good job maintaining gap control.
"They are pretty different (defensively). They've gone from a 4-4 (front) to a 3-4. Their offense still runs the option and iso similar stuff. They spread it out a little more now."
Osage has featured a balanced offense attack this season with 523 rushing yards and 505 passing yards.
For the Indians, senior quarterback Zach Wheeler has completed 47-of-83 passes for 474 yards, seven interceptions and five touchdowns. His top two receivers have been junior wideout Dalton Depee with 18 catches for 154 yards and two TDs and senior Drake Gaines with 15 receptions for 195 yards and three touchdowns.
Senior running back Nick Riley has run for 249 yards on 44 carries and four TDs and caught seven passes for 61 yards while senior running back Austin Magnuson has 180 yards on 40 carries and a TD.
Despite 11 turnovers, the Indians are averaging 23.3 points per game. On defense Osage is giving up 19.7.
Magnuson, at middle linebacker, has 48 tackles to pace the squad while Nick Riley, at strong safety, has 35.
Also for the Osage defense junior linebacker Traygen Whittle has 27 tackles and senior free safety Ben Baker 23. Junior tackle Garrett Sutherland and sophomore tackle Matt McCubbin each have three sacks.
"Coach Johnson does a good job," Boyer said. "I'm a little familiar with them because they would always come to the Jamboree with us where I used to coach. They have a lot of athletes and a lot of speed. They do a good job of getting them in space. They are physical up front and their quarterback has a big arm.
"We've got to play four quarters - we can't wait until the second half. That's our big challenge this week, we don't want to wait until halftime to decide if we can play with them, because by then it will be too late."