After losing Hair to injury, Falcons get past Tigers

VERSAILLES, Mo. - It was the scenario Blair Oaks fans were hoping they wouldn't see this season, especially in the first quarter of a game.

That scenario was the sight of quarterback Nolan Hair being helped off the field Friday night, remaining on the bench for the rest of the game with a right ankle injury.

Backup quarterback Cade Stockman played the rest of the game, leading the Falcons to a 34-14 win against the Versailles Tigers.

The Falcons never trailed, and Versailles never threatened to take the lead after Hair's injury, but Blair Oaks struggled to maintain its composure after scoring on its first three possessions.

"What we tell the kids all the time is when things are going well, everybody is happy and everything is going great and everybody loves it," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "But the real measure of yourself as a player, an individual, a person or a team is how you respond when things go bad, and that's really when I start paying close attention to the kids and to the team. When something bad really happens, how do we choose to respond?

"There were times I thought we responded better than what I thought we would, and then there were times when I thought we didn't respond as well as we should have."

Hair's injury occurred on the first play of Blair Oaks' third drive with about five minutes to play in the first quarter. Hair faked a handoff to Riley Lentz on a zone read and ran toward the left before he was brought down for a 1-yard loss.

Hair was on the ground for less than a minute before he was helped off the field. Up to that point, the junior quarterback already had 69 yards passing and another 49 yards rushing.

For the rest of the game, Hair sat on the bench with a taped right ankle, but he stood on the sideline during parts of the second half. Afterward, he limped unassisted to the locker room.

"We don't know the severity of the injury, and he was very, very tender walking around there on the sideline," Walker said. "We'll let him go to the doctor, take some X-rays and see what they say."

Stockman, a freshman, made his debut the week before late in the fourth quarter against Oak Grove, with the Falcons already ahead 46-7.

"To be quite honest, I was actually somewhat impressed with Cade," Walker said. "We watch Cade in practice, we know he's going to be a good quarterback.

"But I can promise you when Cade got off the bus, Cade did not think he was going to enter the game in the first quarter."

Lentz carried much of the offensive workload after Hair's departure, posting career-highs of 24 carries, 141 yards and four touchdowns.

"Riley is a sophomore and he's developing," Walker said. "He's going to be a very, very good running back. He just needs time and experience."

But the change in the offensive chemistry wore down on the Falcons, particularly in the second half.

Blair Oaks was flagged for 13 penalties and 94 yards Friday, after having just 12 penalties total in its first two games. Four of those penalties were false starts after the first quarter.

"I'm sure some of it had to do with the different voice that's calling the cadence," Walker said. "A lot of it is just focus. The kids have to lock in, and I can promise you we've got a couple things that are going to help them focus."

The Falcons also fumbled nine times in the game, losing two of them. Most of the fumbles were mishandled snap exchanges.

"What our offense has been really good at the last year has been staying ahead of the chains, and not putting ourselves in long-distance situations," Walker said. "We did not do that this evening. You don't have a bunch of plays in your playbook for second-and-16."

Friday's postgame discussion had a different mood compared to the week before, with Walker asking players to assess their performance.

"Granted, the kids did what they had to do to win the football game, but at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, 'Is it about winning and losing, or is it about me playing to my level?'" Walker said. "I feel quite confident the kids will tell you they didn't play to their level."

Blair Oaks (3-0, 1-0 Tri-County) will have a tough test this week when it hosts the Eldon Mustangs on Friday. Eldon (3-0, 1-0 Tri-County) knocked off sixth-ranked Southern Boone 29-7 on Friday, and after receiving votes last week, the Mustangs will likely enter the Class 3 rankings later this week.

For now, Walker won't speculate on his starting quarterback.

"We'll see what Nolan's status is, but I feel quite confident Cade is going to be much better next Friday, as will the entire team," Walker said.