ASHLAND - The Blair Oaks Falcons have been waiting for a challenge since their Week 1 win against defending state champion Maryville. They were expecting to get that challenge Friday night against Class 3 No. 6 Southern Boone.
The Falcons, ranked No. 2 in Class 2, are still waiting for that challenge after routing the Eagles 56-17.
In the six weeks leading up to this game, Southern Boone had allowed just 65 points all season. In one game, the Eagles went from allowing 10.8 points per game to 17.3.
"Our scheme is going to allow us to bludgeon you with an inside run, and the way they have to stop that is they have to commit so many guys," Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage said. "We have the one-on-one matchups we think we can win with on the outside. Tonight, we went with some sets we thought would give them some problems."
Blair Oaks had just 29 offensive plays in the win. Nine went for first downs, seven went for touchdowns.
"I have to give credit to the coaching staff," said Blair Oaks wide receiver Ben Thomas, who had three catches for 104 yards. "They're the masterminds behind all this. We just run what they put into paper."
Much like Blair Oaks' win two weeks earlier at Eldon, the Falcons lost mightily on time of possession against the Eagles, but for good reason.
Five of the Falcons' seven scoring drives lasted three plays or less:
A 3-play, 46-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard run by Nolan Hair.
A 2-play, 46-yard drive that ended with a 39-yard pass from Hair to Marcus Edler.
A 2-play, 34-yard drive that ended with a 32-yard run by Braydan Pritchett.
A 2-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 63-yard pass from Hair to Thomas.
A 1-play, 64-yard drive, which was another touchdown run by Pritchett.
LePage was particularly pleased with that last score, which was a triple-option read. Rather than hand off to Riley Lentz or keep it for himself, Hair paused and then pitched it to Pritchett, who raced to the right and then raced past the Southern Boone defense.
"It was just a good triple-option," LePage said. " Braydan just became Braydan."
Hair was a perfect 9-of-9 passing for 276 yards and a pair of touchdowns. That increases his season total to 23 touchdown passes without an interception.
"He threw the ball very, very well," LePage said of Hair, who had been under the weather in the two days leading up to Friday's game.
LePage likes what he is seeing from his senior quarterback, regarding his reads on the field before the snap.
"The reason I was really excited about our first drive is because our quarterback made two checks, and they were both right," LePage said of his offense's first touchdown, an 11-yard run by Lentz that came late in the first quarter.
"That's an up-the-middle, old-fashioned good run play, and he checked it. For Nolan to do that, it really showed me the maturity of where we're going with the offense."
Blair Oaks finished with 465 total yards of offense, adding 189 yards rushing.
"I think we're really getting comfortable with each other," Thomas said, "and we're really starting to take off."
Southern Boone's offense managed to produce 335 yards against the Falcons, but the Eagles only had three scores to show for it.
Most of Southern Boone's production came from quarterback Sam Stichnote, who had 26 carries for 125 yards and both touchdowns for the Eagles. He also passed for 109 yards, but Edler's pick-six of Stichnote in the first quarter was an early jolt for Blair Oaks.
"(Assistant) coach (John) Butler warned our players before that this was going to be one of the best players we play this year," LePage said of Stichnote. "He really is, that's a special dude. I don't know how many times he got out of tackles."
Blair Oaks held Southern Boone off the scoreboard for four straight possessions in the first half. Two drives ended in punts, while the other two were turnovers on downs, including a shuffle pass on a fake punt that resulted in a 4-yard loss.
"We just had to do our job, make sure we had our man covered and do our assignments," Blair Oaks sophomore linebacker Cade Stockman said. "If you do your job, you're going to have good, stellar defense."
Stockman said playing Maryville in the season opener helped get the Falcons ready for the remaining eight games in the regular season.
"None of our linebackers had started a game on varsity," he said. "It built character and it built defensive skill."
The Falcons have gotten through the difficult part of their schedule. All that remains in the regular season are games against the bottom two teams in the Tri-County Conference.
Up next for Blair Oaks (7-0, 5-0 Tri-County) is School of the Osage (2-5, 1-4), which dropped a 29-13 decision on Friday to Versailles. The Falcons will host the Indians on Friday for Senior Night.
After that, Blair Oaks goes on the road to play California (0-7, 0-5), with a possibility of hosting the Pintos the following week in the first round of districts.
"We're getting closer," LePage said. "We're still not where we want to be. I explained to the players right after the game, we have to go 1-0 next week. If we let up now, we're doing a disservice to everybody on our team. We need to continue to work, because we've got bigger things coming."