Photo Gallery
Weekend Theater Gala
The theater's small lobby was filled as actors and patrons enjoyed hors d'oeuvres, silent auction, a musical performance and the announcement of the 2009-10 season
WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Going against a talented Lutheran North team was supposed to be a daunting challenge for the Blair Oaks Falcons.
Instead, they made it look like business as usual.
Blair Oaks showed itself worthy of the No. 1 ranking in Class 2, using a dominant performance on both sides of the ball Saturday afternoon to win 48-21 against fourth-ranked Lutheran North in the state semifinals at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"We had four keys," Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage said. "The four keys were technique, tackle, ball security - which we didn't do sometimes - and have heart.
"We read our keys and we stayed consistent. It was unbelievable the effort we played with today."
Blair Oaks (14-0) advances to its first state championship game since 2012. The Falcons will face third-ranked Lathrop (14-0), which knocked off seven-time defending state champion Lamar 28-21 in Saturday's other semifinal game.
The 48 points were the most allowed in a game this season by Lutheran North (10-4), which had its 10-game win streak snapped with the loss. The Crusaders had held opponents to 10.2 points per game entering the semifinals and had won four of their previous five games by shutout.
"They have an amazing football team," Lutheran North coach Carl Reed said of Blair Oaks. "They looked tough all year. Every time I watched them play, they looked tough. They have a great quarterback, great coaching, they executed well and they were tough all the way around."
Blair Oaks quarterback Nolan Hair, who entered the game one yard shy of 3,000 passing yards for the season, completed 16-of-21 passes for 387 yards and six touchdowns. Hair has thrown 46 touchdown passes in 2018 without a single interception.
"Since Day 1, he said, 'I want to learn the three-step drop, I want to learn some stuff. They said you all could teach us,'" LePage said. "Coach (Lerone) Briggs, myself and him have clicked. He has been so humble."
Wide receiver Ben Thomas broke two school records Saturday. Late in the first half, he broke the school record for receiving yards in a single season. The previous record of 1,419 yards was set by CJ Closser in 2015.
Thomas finished the game with seven catches for 240 yards - breaking the previous school record of 213 set by Adam Schell, also in 2015 - and tied another single-game school record with four receiving touchdowns.
"In game, the only thing I'm thinking about is winning the football game," Thomas said.
Blair Oaks also broke a school record for most points in a season. The Falcons have scored 744 points in 2018 - the previous record was 726 in 2015 - and they are averaging 53.1 points per game.
For the eighth straight game, Blair Oaks scored a touchdown on its opening possession. Hair connected on a 60-yard pass to Thomas, and Marcus Edler added the extra point to put Blair Oaks ahead 7-0 with 9:10 left in the first quarter.
Lutheran North answered on the ensuing drive. The Crusaders converted twice on fourth down and finished an 11-play, 66-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jordan Smith. Smith was sacked on the 2-point try, leaving Blair Oaks in the lead at 7-6 with 3:33 to play in the opening quarter.
Thomas caught a 27-yard touchdown pass over the middle on Blair Oaks' next possession to extend the lead to 13-6 in the opening minute of the second quarter. The Falcons were forced to punt the next time they had the ball, but Lutheran North punted it back with :24.0 left in the first half.
Blair Oaks started at the Crusaders' 45-yard line and found the end zone again just before halftime. Thomas was left wide open and caught a 28-yard pass in the end zone with :02.5 left. Hair added the 2-point run to give Blair Oaks a 21-6 halftime lead.
"Benner Thomas called that play," LePage said. "He came over after I called timeout and he goes, 'Coach, they're not covering this play if we'll run it.' I looked at him and said, 'Well, let's do it then.'
"He thought Braydan (Pritchett) would come open, and they doubled Braydan and they left Ben open, and Nolan was able to hit him."
The Falcons were 7-of-8 on third-down conversions in the first half.
"That kept the ball away from them," LePage said. "As great as our defense was playing, you don't want to give them too many opportunities."
Blair Oaks thwarted a fake punt attempt by Lutheran North to start the second half. Two plays later, Hair found Thomas again for a 45-yard catch-and-run touchdown to extend the lead to 28-6.
The Crusaders scored their remaining two touchdowns off Blair Oaks' turnovers, both fumbles. Isaiah Azubuike had a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:42 left in the third quarter.
Following a 27-yard fingertip grab by Edler for another Falcon touchdown, Lutheran North's Isaac Glenn scored on a 2-yard run with 8:03 left in the game to cut the Blair Oaks lead to 34-21.
Pritchett caught a 68-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing Blair Oaks drive, but it was his defense that sealed the win.
Pritchett picked off a pass from Smith and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown with 3:03 to play, giving the Falcons a four-possession cushion.
"I knew that was one of the ones I could not miss," Pritchett said of his second pick-six of the season. "Under no circumstances could I miss that, and I just started running.
"It was the icing on the cake."
Pritchett also finished with seven catches for 113 yards.
Blair Oaks finished with 471 yards of total offense, while the defense held Lutheran North to 271 yards.
The Crusaders had 127 yards rushing on 47 carries. Azubuike led the way with 12 carries for 69 yards.
"We were undersized and undermanned, but we stood in there and fought toe-to-toe with them," LePage said of the Blair Oaks defense, which had 11 tackles for loss. "We didn't give them very much."
Itayvion Brown caught five passes for 108 yards to lead the Lutheran North receivers.
Blair Oaks forced three turnovers, all in the fourth quarter. Thomas grabbed his team-high fifth interception and Riley Lentz - who had 12 carries for 47 yards on offense - recovered a fumble on a Lutheran North punt return.
"They did a great job of slowing us down, stopping us and making big plays when they needed to," Reed said.
Blair Oaks is making its fifth state championship game appearance and will try to win its first state title since 2006. Lathrop is making its first title game appearance.
"This wasn't what we came here for. We came here to win a state title, and these kids want to win a state title," said LePage, who previously won a state title at Blair Oaks in 2004. "We're going to go to work tonight and we're going to do everything we can to help these players."