WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker will do something tonight he has not done in his three years leading the Falcons.
He's not starting a Hair at quarterback.
Nolan Hair will not get the start behind center for the Falcons against the Eldon Mustangs. Hair left last week's 34-14 win against Versailles in the first quarter with an injury, which has been diagnosed as a hairline fracture in his lower right leg. He is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.
"You can't really predict injuries, and in many cases, you can't even prevent them," Walker said. "We talk to the kids extensively about going full speed on every play and then making sure that you're in an athletic position when you're at the point of contact. Nolan was doing that."
Hair's injury came on a fake handoff to Riley Lentz on a zone read play, and his run for a short loss looked like nothing out of the ordinary at the time.
"It's a play that I've seen Nolan make hundreds of times out there on the practice field," Walker said.
Freshman Cade Stockman, who took Hair's place last week, will get his first career start tonight against the seventh-ranked Mustangs at the Falcon Athletic Complex. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Stockman finished 10-of-19 passing for 100 yards in three-plus quarters against the Tigers.
"I think Cade's going to be much improved," Walker said. "Our offense will be much improved, in the sense that we'll be more consistent. We don't expect Cade to go out there and throw the football for 300 yards. We expect Cade to execute the things that he can do, and Cade certainly has some skill at the quarterback position."
One of the areas of improvement comes with executing the snaps. Blair Oaks works out of the shotgun and fumbled the ball nine times against Versailles, with most fumbles coming on the snap between center Hunter Herigon and Stockman. Walker said that's something that has been cleaned up this week in practice.
"We've got to protect the football," Walker said. "We worked a lot on just the handling of the snap, and Cade has done fine at that. Cade has spent a lot of time on the scout team, so I knew that would improve, and that has."
Although the Falcons are making a change at quarterback, it won't alter the team's offensive scheme moving forward.
"Some of that will have to be simplified, but at the same time, we're not going to totally abandon everything we do," Walker said. "We believe in what we're doing; it fits our kids, it fits our personnel."
Last year, Blair Oaks beat Eldon 42-7 without running back Jake Van Ronzelen, who missed the game after suffering a concussion in the Falcons' previous contest. Eldon was also playing without its starting running back, Trenton Kidwell.
But the Mustangs return three running backs this season that have combined for more than 1,000 yards rushing through three games.
Eldon's wing-T offense is led by senior running back Isaiah Merida, who leads the area with 610 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. Junior Isaiah Parsons has 293 yards rushing and seven touchdowns, while senior Trenton Dillon has added 173 yards rushing on just 10 attempts.
"Their primary play, which is the buck sweep, they have three options off of it," Walker said. "They have the buck sweep, the dive to the weak side and they have the quarterback boot.
"We'll have to be fundamentally sound, we need to control the line of scrimmage and we have to do a good job of gang-tackling."
The Mustangs are off to their first 3-0 start since 1995 following a 29-7 win last Friday at home against then-No. 6 Southern Boone.
"They have more experience. They're bringing back eight or nine guys back on both sides of the ball," Walker said of Eldon.
Last year, Blair Oaks' defense held Merida to minus-1 yard rushing, while Parsons finished with 27 yards on 16 carries. Dillon finished in positive yardage after scoring on a 52-yard run late in the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs finished with 42 total yards of offense in that game, gaining 30 yards rushing on 34 attempts for less than one yard per carry.
"We effectively controlled the line of scrimmage," Walker said. "In order for us to be successful, we're going to have to do a good job again of being gap-sound, fundamentally sound. We're going to have to honor each one of the options that they have off their primary play."
Eldon piled up most of their offense in Week 2, winning a 72-69 marathon against Owensville that wasn't decided until the final minute. Walker said the Mustang defense did a better job of putting pressure on the Southern Boone quarterback last week.
"As the game progressed, it looked like they got real aggressive with how they were attacking the line of scrimmage and how they were attacking the box," he said.
The Blair Oaks defense faces its second run-heavy team in three weeks. The Falcons showed they can contain the run in Week 2, holding a powerful Oak Grove run game to just 12 yards rushing.
"We spend a bunch of time talking about some of the things we've done offensively, but the success of this Blair Oaks team lies with the defense, and the defense's ability to take away what the opposition does best," Walker said. " I don't think this game will be any different."
III
Blair Oaks moved up one spot to No. 2 in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings. Maryville dropped from No. 2 to No. 6 following a 24-0 road loss to Chillicothe, which was unranked last week and is now No. 4 in Class 3. The Falcons gained 14 additional votes in this week's poll. Eldon is tied with Center at No. 7, while Southern Boone dropped out of the top 10 but is still receiving votes.
Related media:
Blair Oaks Falcons Football Podcast [Eldon preview, Sept. 8, 2017]