ELDON, Mo. - Talk about a Homecoming challenge.
The Eldon Mustangs will be trying to bounce back from their first loss of the season tonight by hosting perhaps their stiffest regular-season competition in the Blair Oaks Falcons. Kickoff for the Mustangs' Homecoming game is set for 7 p.m.
The two Tri-County Conference rivals come into the contest with a combined 7-1 record. Blair Oaks, ranked No. 2 in this week's Missouri Media Class 2 state poll, is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference. Eldon fell to 3-1 and 1-1 last week with a 39-7 conference setback to state-ranked Southern Boone. With the loss the Mustangs fell out of the Class 3 rankings.
"We moved the ball," said Eldon coach Chad Hult of last week's contest. "We got on their side of the field five times in the first half, but just scored once. We've had some turnovers; we had four of them last week. We're just turning the ball over too much right now. And we had some big penalties that hurt."
There won't be room for turnovers tonight with the Falcons soaring into town, as every scoring opportunity must be treated as precious.
Defending Tri-County champion Blair Oaks posted its third consecutive shutout last week, blanking league foe Versailles 37-0. The Falcons have scored a total of 116 points during that span and overall are averaging 38.5 points.
"Defensively they just fly around," Hult said. "There aren't just one or two of them who stand out defensively; they just have so many guys around the ball. Their team defense is very impressive."
For the Falcons' offense it starts with senior all-state quarterback Nolan Hair.
Last week Hair hit on 12-of-15 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 52 yards and another TD. Overall, Hair has completed 45-of-74 passes for 859 yards and 14 touchdowns while running for another 194 yards and two TDs.
And he has a large group of talented receivers to go to. Last week it was senior wideout Marcus Edler's turn to shine, as he caught five passes for 109 yards. Also, senior running backs Braydan Pritchett and Ben Thomas each had 88 receiving yards.
Thomas now has 399 receiving yards and eight touchdowns while adding one rushing TD for Blair Oaks while Pritchett has 265 receiving yards.
Leading the balanced rushing attack is junior running back Riley Lenz with 323 yards on 54 carries.
"Their kids are really hard-nosed and well-coached," Hult said of Blair Oaks. "They've tweaked some offensive stuff but still run a lot of option football. They have more pure-designed runs but still have some RPO (run-pass option) stuff.
"Hair has been outstanding. You can tell he reads the offense well and is playing with a lot of confidence. They have one big lineman who stands out, and the other guys play extremely hard."
For the Mustangs senior quarterback Dawson Brandt has rushed for 467 yards on 65 carries (7.2 yards per carry) and four touchdowns while completing 14-of-34 passes for 158 yards and a TD.
Senior fullback Isaiah Parsons has run for 374 yards (5.6) and six touchdowns and junior tailback Logan Hall has rushed for 237 yards on 47 carries and has caught five passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.
Brandt, a safety, paces Eldon in tackles with 17 solos and 15 assists, as well as interceptions with three, while Parsons at linebacker has 14 solos and seven assists and senior lineman Kaden Dillon five solos and 12 assists.