WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Another week, another run game stifled by the Blair Oaks defense.
The Falcons held the Eldon Mustangs to 150 yards rushing - 3.1 yards per carry - in last Friday's 32-12 win to remain unbeaten to start the season.
"We're really pleased with how hard the kids played," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "Sometimes when you play incredibly hard, you cover up some mistakes. We watched the film, and certainly we made mistakes throughout the game, but I think the kids' effort helped minimize some of those mistakes.
"Fortunately, we were able to put some points on the board, and then I thought our defense did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage."
For the third straight week, Blair Oaks shut down the opposition's leading rusher. Isaiah Merida, who averaged more than 200 yards rushing entering last week's game, was held to 39 yards on 16 carries. He had five carries for negative yards.
"If you're going to have a good defense, first you have to identify what the opposing offense's bread and butter is," Walker said. "I think the coaching staff has done a good job of that. Secondly, you have to get the kids to buy in to what scheme it is that you're wanting to execute on that particular week, what focus you're trying to take toward that particular team. Our kids have done a great job of that so far."
Blair Oaks quarterback Cade Stockman won his first career start, passing for 235 yards and three touchdowns while throwing one interception."We thought Cade was really composed with how he approached the game," Walker said. "He made some mistakes, but he made a couple of really nice plays, a couple of really nice reads. He executed in the manner that we need him to do, and we feel like Cade will just continue to improve the more experience he gets."
Stockman will look for his second win behind center when Blair Oaks goes on the road tonight to play the Hallsville Indians in Tri-County Conference play. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Hallsville (3-1, 1-1 Tri-County) won its first conference game last Friday, a 28-24 victory at Southern Boone. The Indians scored to go-ahead touchdown on a 20-yard pass on fourth-and-14 with :40 left in the game.
The Indians' offense is led by junior quarterback Zane Parnell, who started last week's game with a 77-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. In last year's 61-20 drizzly Homecoming win, Blair Oaks intercepted Parnell four times and held him to 8-of-31 passing.
"They're explosive," Walker said of Hallsville's offense. "They've got a couple kids at receiver and then a couple kids at running back that, when they get the ball in their hands, they have the ability to really stretch the defense vertically, laterally and have the ability to put the ball in the end zone."
Sophomore running back Cooper Crane has led the Indians' ground attack, averaging more than 100 yards rushing per game, while junior BJ Fisher and sophomore Mason Huskey each have more than 100 yards receiving.
"They may run a little bit more on first and second down, and they throw a little bit more on third down, depending upon the down and distance," Walker said. " As far as how to gauge their offense, they can attack you in a couple different ways. We've got to be fundamentally sound against the run game and the pass game."
Hallsville is scoring 27.0 points per game and allowing 18.8 points.
Walker said the Indians made some defensive adjustments in the second half to slow down Southern Boone's run game, using a six-man front on the line.
"It looked like Hallsville got really aggressive about putting eight or nine guys on the line of scrimmage," Walker said. "It looked like Southern Boone struggled a bit throwing the football. Since Hallsville made them pretty much one-dimensional, I think they were really able to load up the box and really get them behind the chains when it comes to running the football."
Walker added the Falcons need a balanced attack against the Indians, preventing them from loading up on either the defensive line or the secondary.
He also emphasized Blair Oaks (4-0, 2-0 Tri-County) needs to continue to limit the big play on defense. Last week, Eldon had just five offensive plays for 10 yards or more.
Last season, Hallsville scored in all three phases of the game against Blair Oaks: a 53-yard pass, an 82-yard kickoff return and a 21-yard interception return.
"We made (Eldon) earn everything that they got offensively, and if we can continue to do that, then I think we'll be just fine," Walker said.
III
Blair Oaks remains at No. 2 in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings, trailing only McCluer-South Berkeley, which received all 15 first-place votes. Park Hills Central is No. 3, followed by Chillicothe and Maryville to round out the top five. Eldon dropped three spots to No. 10 after suffering its first loss of the season against the Falcons. In last Friday's game, Stockman completed a 97-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Luebbering in the third quarter, which breaks the Blair Oaks school record for longest touchdown pass. The previous record was a 92-yard pass from Blake McPheeters to Justin Ortmeyer in 2000. "It just goes to show you that, given opportunities in the right place and right time, and if you've done your preparation, anything can and does happen," Walker said. "Those two kids executed the play, the offensive line executed the blocks to allow Cade to set for a couple of counts, and then he threw a good football. Once Ethan caught it, there was really no one around him." Walker said aside from Hair's right leg injury, the Falcons are injury-free heading into tonight's game.
Related media:
Blair Oaks Football Podcast [Hallsville preview, Sept. 15, 2017]