WARDSVILLE, Mo. -It's pretty clear there will be no shortage of defense tonight between the Blair Oaks Falcons and the School of the Osage Indians, which is to be expected when a conference championship is hanging in the balance.
The top two defenses in the Tri-County Conference will clash with first place in the conference on the line. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
Both Blair Oaks and Osage enter tonight's game with 6-0 overall records and 4-0 records in the Tri-County.
"Between the kids and the school, the local community and all the fans, they are fully aware that both teams are undefeated," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. " A game like this, you don't have to build it up as a coach, because everyone else is already doing that for you.
"As a coaching staff, we want the kids to be even-keeled, we want them to understand they're going to make mistakes throughout the course of the game. Play through the mistakes and we'll let you know when the game is over."
Both defenses have taken different approaches to catapult their teams to undefeated starts.
Osage's defense has been putting up points just as often as its offense. The Indians have scored six defensive touchdowns the past three games. They returned two interceptions and a fumble for scores against Southern Boone on Sept. 16.
Last week in a 42-6 win against Versailles, Osage's defense scored twice - on a 23-yard interception return by safety Nick Riley and a fumble recovery in the end zone by lineman Christian Gonnella.
"If you get two or three defensive scores throughout the course of a year, you're doing pretty good," Walker said. "We had our first defensive score last week with a safety, but their defense has been very opportunistic."
After what has transpired the past few weeks, the Blair Oaks offense will be extra wary of the turnover battle. Osage has forced 25 turnovers - 13 interceptions and 12 fumbles.
"Every week, we emphasize the importance of no turnovers, so it's not like that's anything new for us," Walker said. "The part that has kind of bothered our staff is the fact that we turned the ball over three times last week and we might have turned it over three or four times the previous week.
"The last couple of weeks, we haven't been real good with our ball security."
The Blair Oaks defense has forced 16 turnovers this season, but seven of those came in the season opener against Kirksville. The Falcons' defense did not have a takeaway in last Friday's 42-13 win against Southern Boone.
Then again, it hasn't been necessary for Blair Oaks to force turnovers on defense. The Falcons have allowed an average of 10 points per game, while the offense is scoring 40.5 points per game.
The focus has been more on stopping teams from moving the chains. Blair Oaks has allowed just 14 first downs on defense during the past three games and teams have totaled just 12 yards rushing on 74 carries in that stretch.
"We are very pleased with the fact that we've been able to make teams effectively one-dimensional," Walker said of forcing teams to pass against the Falcons.
Walker added his team will have to continue to stop the run and prevent big plays from occurring. Both Southern Boone touchdowns last week were 18-yard touchdown passes, the first red-zone scores the Blair Oaks defense has allowed all season. All other touchdowns have come as a result of big gains.
"If they catch an 8-yard pass, big deal. Line up, let's play again," Walker said. "We can't let them catch an 80-yard pass."
Jason Edwards leads Osage on both sides of the ball. The senior has 17 catches for 290 yards and four touchdowns as a wide receiver, but as a cornerback, he has three interceptions this season, returning two of them for touchdowns. Quarterback Zach Wheeler has thrown for 806 yards and 10 touchdowns with just four interceptions.
The Osage offense presents a balanced attack, leaning on running back Nick Riley and his 480 yards rushing and two touchdowns this season. Osage is averaging 190.3 yards rushing and 140.3 yards passing.
"Football is a tough game, in the sense that you can't take two or three players and devote them to one player, because then it just becomes a numbers matchup with everyone else," Walker said. " They're just a balanced team. You can't spend too many resources or players towards any one player, because they have several players that can hurt you."
The Blair Oaks offense saw a resurgence last week in the rushing department, with Jake Van Ronzelen accounting for 236 of the team's 331 yards rushing. The passing game has continued to be constant, with quarterback Nolan Hair throwing for 187 yards against Southern Boone to give him 1,058 yards passing and 14 touchdowns this season.
The sophomore quarterback also leads Blair Oaks with eight rushing touchdowns.
"We have to have the ability to threaten them," Walker said. "I think teams that stunt a lot or move a lot do so as long as continue to have success doing it. We've got to do a good job, if we're running the ball, of matching up against the front they have in front of us, and if we're throwing the football, we have to do a good job of protecting.
"The running backs, receivers and quarterback have to protect the football."
III
Notes: Blair Oaks continues to be ranked No. 2 in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings. The Falcons have been No. 2 for six straight weeks. Osage, which has been ranked for four straight weeks, moved up one spot to No. 9 in this week's Class 3 poll. With three weeks left in the regular season, Blair Oaks is seeded No. 1 in the Class 3 District 6 standings with 49.84 points. Mexico is second with 45.34 points. Because there are only seven teams in the district, the top-ranked team after Week 9 will have a first-round bye in district play during Week 10.
Blair Oaks hosts Osage
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