OSAGE BEACH - After a brutal road loss, the School of the Osage Indians will attempt to right the ship in their Tri-County Conference opener tonight.
Coming off a shutout loss to Moberly, Osage begins league play by traveling to California for 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Indians struggled offensively last week in a 34-0 setback at Moberly to fall to 1-1. The California Pintos have had problems of their own in a 0-2 start to 2018.
"Moberly is good - big and physical with a lot of good players and a lot of depth," said Osage head coach Devin Johnson. "It was 7-0 at half; we played really well defensively. We just never could get things going offensively. It was a competitive game for three quarters."
California, which averaged just 9.2 points per game in 2017, hasn't lit the field on fire offensively this year either, having scored just three touchdowns.
Last week the Pintos lost 22-15 to Mexico. That game was tied at 15 after three quarters before the game-winning touchdown came in the fourth period.
In their season-opener the Pintos were clubbed by Class 4 foe Warrensburg 55-7.
So far this season the California touchdowns were a 78-yard run by senior receiver Alex Meisenheimer, a 7-yard run by junior quarterback Alex Currens and a 1-yard run by sophomore running back Lucas Ash.
Led by a veteran offensive line - led by returning all-conference tackle Gabe Bailey - California was able to move the ball on the ground against Mexico, using a stable of running backs to total 220 rushing yards.
The Pinto defense has forced four turnovers so far. California uses a 4-4 defensive front. All-conference junior defensive back Kaleb Keeran and Meisenheimer at linebacker are a couple of the team anchors.
"California uses a variation of the single-wing and runs the ball very well," Johnson said. "Their quarterback is good. Offensively they try to get as many bodies as they can in the way to get running lanes for the quarterback and running backs. Their quarterback, No. 1, is a really good player on both offense and defense and is only a junior.
"Defensively they force a lot of double teams. On defense Meisenheimer is a really stout tackler."
For the Indians senior quarterback Dalton Depee has completed 8-of-15 passes for 74 yards, a TD and interception while rushing for 158 yards for 22 carries and a touchdown.
Also for Osage, junior running back Jack Dulle has 109 rushing yards on 27 attempts. The Indians have rushed for 424 yards this season.
Junior linebacker Drew Edwards leads the Indians in tackles with 21 while junior linebacker James Hutchcraft has 19 and Depee, an outside linebacker, 17 with an interception.
Johnson says now that the conference schedule is underway each week will be a challenge.
"The conference, from top to bottom, is pretty strong," he said. "Blair Oaks will be one of the best Class 2 teams and Eldon has another strong lineup. Boonville joining the conference will be tough. Every week our conference is a challenge."