WARDSVILLE - Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage wasn't kidding around when he said ahead of Friday night's game the School of the Osage offense was going to be one of the best offenses the Falcons have faced this season.
In fact, it was far from a laughing matter in the opening minute of the second quarter, with Blair Oaks and Osage tied at 14.
"You like a competitive football game," LePage said. "It got our juices flowing, it got to where our players said, 'Hey, they're a good football team and we've got to make some plays.'"
But Osage's offense couldn't keep up with the Blair Oaks offense for a full 48 minutes. The Falcons went on to score seven unanswered touchdowns to win in a rout 61-14 at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"We started making some plays defensively outside of our normal, routine plays," LePage said. "We started doing some things that were very, very good, and I'm really pleased with the way our defense finished up the game. They really did a good job."
Osage scored both its touchdowns on passes from Brock McLaughlin to Hunter Graber for 18 and 22 yards.
"They had three receivers they can go to," LePage said. "That's a good football team offensively."
But the Blair Oaks defense didn't allow the Indians in the end zone the rest of the night, forcing seven turnovers: four interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
"Any time you can create seven turnovers in a game, you can't be upset with the way your defense is playing," LePage said. "That's tremendous."
McLaughlin, a dual-threat quarterback, entered the game with 1,975 yards of total offense in seven games played. He finished with 144 yards passing and 103 yards rushing against Blair Oaks.
"Coming in, we realized he was going to get his yards," LePage said. "But we had to take away that big play. We allowed two of them, and we can't allow that."
LePage used Blair Oaks quarterback Dylan Hair as the scout team quarterback to help the defense prepare for McLaughlin. Hair finished the game with 241 yards passing and 82 yards rushing.
"You try to emulate it at practice," LePage said. " He did some things that that young man was doing tonight."
Blair Oaks was also playing without all-state defensive lineman Rylee Niekamp, who missed the game with a right shoulder injury. He was dressed and ready to play, but LePage held him out to give him an extra week of rest before the district playoffs.
"We knew we were the No. 1 or 2 seed no matter what," LePage said. "We made the decision to let him have another week off."
The Blair Oaks defense stepped up in his absence, as 20 of Osage's 47 run plays went for no gain or negative yardage.
"The negative plays outweighed the positive plays for them," LePage said.
Meanwhile, it was another good night for the Blair Oaks offense, which produced 376 yards on 39 plays and scored seven touchdowns.
Hair's 241 yards on 13-of-17 passing were his second-highest total of the season.
"With the way they were playing defense, they were trying to take away our inside run game and our perimeter run game," LePage said.
Ten of Hair's completions went for 10 or more yards, mixing in a combination of hitting receivers across the middle and finding them in the flats and letting them produce yards after catches.
"They backed up a little bit because of the depths of our routes," LePage said. "Those underneath routes can turn into big plays because of the ability of our receivers. All of our receivers had great catches tonight and had greats runs after the catch."
Three of Hair's touchdown passes were down the middle to either Jake Closser or Carson Prenger.
"That was a great adjustment that we made offensively, deepening our routes and making it harder for those defensive backs to make a decision if it was going to be a go route or a short route," LePage said.
Hair added 11 carries for 82 yards and Jayden Purdy finished with six carries for 48 yards.
"We ran the ball really well, we just felt like there were some things in the passing game that were there, and they took advantage of it," LePage said.
Closser added an interception return for a touchdown and Purdy returned a kickoff for a touchdown, both in the second half after Blair Oaks held a 41-14 lead at intermission.
"Any time you get a special teams score, you're really excited about your night," LePage said.
The loss kept Osage (3-6) at the No. 4 seed in Class 3 District 5. The Indians will host fifth-seeded Eldon at 7 p.m. Friday.
In their regular-season meeting, Osage defeated Eldon 41-26. The winner plays the following week at top-seeded Buffalo.
"I think in their district, they're going to be a handful," LePage said of Osage.
Friday's win extended Blair Oaks' conference winning streak to 43 games and the Falcons' sixth straight outright Tri-County Conference championship.
"The players said that's goal No. 1," LePage said. "Goal No. 2 is to be district champs. Now we have to go back to work and try to be district champs."
Blair Oaks (8-1) moved ahead of Centralia to take the No. 1 seed in Class 3 District 4. The Falcons get a bye this week and will host either fourth-seeded California (6-3) or fifth-seeded Boonville (5-3) on Nov. 6 in the district semifinals.
"We have to go in and have a good week of practice," LePage said. "Anything you look at, it all goes back to the practice field. We're going to have to still get better next week."