WARDSVILLE - Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage is going back to high school tonight.
The Mexico Bulldogs will come at the Falcons with their flexbone offense - the same offense LePage operated as a Helias quarterback - in a battle for the Class 3 District 5 championship. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Hawthorne Heights Stadium in Mexico.
"I'm thankful that I got to grow up in this type of offense and know the dynamics of it," LePage said. "But boy, stopping it is another issue."
It's no secret Mexico likes to run the football.
The Bulldogs (8-2), the No. 1 seed in the district, are coming off a 50-19 win last Friday against the Eldon Mustangs. In that game, Mexico ran the ball on 48 plays and had just five pass plays, which mirrors what it has been doing all season.
"At 89 percent run, I think they like to run it," LePage said with a laugh. "They run it extremely well, they run a very complex offense."
Mexico is averaging 322.5 yards rushing per game, and the Bulldogs accumulated 405 yards on the ground last week.
Junior fullback Andrew Runge (5-foot-10, 165 pounds) has gotten most of the workload in the backfield for the Bulldogs, entering the game with 128 carries for 730 yards and eight scores. He finished with 16 rushes for 97 yards against Eldon.
"Everything is based off the fullback in the option," LePage said. "They run three different types of option, and his paths are very good. He's a strong runner, doesn't come down on the first contact."
LePage said the second option in the flexbone is the quarterback. Mexico junior Ty Sims (6-2, 190) has 92 carries for 532 yards and five touchdowns.
"He not only has to be an effective runner, he's got to be able to distribute and be able to react to what he sees," LePage said. "This guy is very smooth at it."
The third option is the wing backs, and they're the ones doing the most damage for Mexico in its run game.
Leading the way is junior Anthony Shivers (5-6, 136), who has 95 carries for 968 yards and 16 touchdowns. He finished with 13 carries for 187 yards and three touchdowns against Eldon.
The other wing back, senior Michael White (6-3, 175), has 75 rushes for 658 yards and 13 touchdowns. Last Friday, he had seven carries for 81 yards.
"Those two guys, they carry the bulk of the load, as far as explosive plays," LePage said. "If you take the first option away at fullback and the second option away at quarterback, they're going to give it to their third option.
"And if you don't match on it, you'll watch their cleats run into the end zone, because they're going to be out the gate."
Having a good offensive line also boasts the prowess of a flexbone offense. Junior Kendyr Taylor (5-10, 251) made the All-North Central Missouri Conference first team and senior Deacon Haag (5-10, 230) was all-conference second team.
"Their right side is really good," LePage said. "And on the left side, they have two dudes who are over 300 pounds. They're a big, physical offensive line."
LePage said Mexico's offense is similar to what Blair Oaks saw against South Callaway in the 2018 district championship game.
"They had a really potent three-headed attack there," he said.
Blair Oaks has seen a version of the wing-T offense in five games this season. While the running styles are different, LePage said those past games will prove to be helpful tonight for the Blair Oaks defense.
"You have to be disciplined, you have to be gap-integrity conscious to everything," he said. "If you open up a gap, they've got a guy going through it."
Mexico's defense will resemble a 3-5-3 setup. LePage said he has seen as many as nine of the Bulldogs' starters on offense turn around and play defense.
"And a lot of them turn around and play special teams," he said. "They're not real deep, so that's something we have to look at as the game wears on. Hopefully we can use some of our depth and be able to wear them down."
Senior Matt McCurdy (6-0, 170) will line up at middle linebacker.
"He sets the tempo for the whole defense," LePage said.
Also at linebacker, junior Morgan Grubb (6-0, 180) leads the Bulldogs with 100 tackles, 13 coming for a loss. Runge is another linebacker and is second on the team with 79 tackles, along with a team-high four interceptions.
"They all flow extremely well," LePage said. "They run to the football and attack it with a vengeance."
Leading the defensive line is Haag. He tops the team with 21 tackles for loss and six sacks.
"He is a defensive end and he'll line up over the tackle," LePage said. "He is aggressive, he uses his leverage very well and is able to get in the backfield and make plays."
Both wing backs, White and Shivers, turn around and play in the defensive secondary. Each has three interceptions.
"Defensively, they just want to take you out of your game," LePage said.
Blair Oaks (9-2), the No. 3 seed in the district, is coming off a 64-38 semifinal win against sixth-ranked Boonville last week.
"I think that was a huge confidence builder," LePage said, "not only for this year, but years to come. We were able to go into an environment that we lost in, and turned around and turned the tables on them."
In that game, the Pirates took nearly five minutes off the clock on their first scoring drive, but with the Falcons' ability to score often and force teams into a catch-up mode, it ended up being Boonville's longest possession of the game.
Like many of the teams the Falcons have played, LePage said Mexico will try to be methodical on offense and win the time-of-possession battle.
"We can't make mistakes," he said. "When we get the ball on offense, our offense has so much confidence ... we're going to score when we touch the ball, and you better too."
Notes: Blair Oaks is 2-1 all-time against Mexico. In their most recent meeting, the Falcons routed the Bulldogs 60-14 in the 2017 district championship game in Wardsville behind a school-record eight passing touchdowns from Nolan Hair. ... In addition to breaking the school single-season rushing record last Friday against Boonville, quarterback Dylan Hair also broke the Blair Oaks single-season points record of 220, shared by Derek Otto (2012) and Cody Alexander (2015). With 36 rushing touchdowns and five 2-point conversions, Hair has scored 228 points in 11 games this season. ... The winner of tonight's district title game will play the District 6 champion between Seneca (7-4) and Mountain Grove (8-2). With a win, Blair Oaks would host next weekend's state quarterfinal game. ... LePage said all starters are injury-free heading into tonight's game.