WARDSVILLE - The Tri-County Conference has an excess of wealth at the quarterback position this fall.
Blair Oaks has the reigning Class 3 offensive player of the year in Dylan Hair, and Hallsville's Tyger Cobb and Boonville's Colby Caton both had huge rushing performances against the Falcons.
And then there is School of the Osage's Brockton McLaughlin.
"They may have the scariest quarterback in the conference," Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage said, as the Falcons play tonight at Osage in the regular-season finale. "He's probably the most improvisational. Within their offense, he does a tremendous job."
Hair was the Tri-County offensive MVP and first-team quarterback last season, but McLaughlin also made the all-conference first team as an "athlete."
And it's McLaughlin's unpredictability that has Blair Oaks' attention.
"We've seen on two separate occasions where the snap either went through his hands or over his head, it gets kicked around in the backfield, and he picks it up and goes 70-plus yards with the ball," LePage said. "He's just unbelievable when he gets to make stuff up. It is just scary to watch him on film, and you won't catch him."
Osage (3-5) opened the season with back-to-back wins against Fulton and Moberly. The Indians dropped their first five conference games, then won 34-24 last Friday at Versailles.
In that game, three ball carriers rushed for more than 100 yards for Osage. McLaughlin, a senior, led the way with eight carries for 162 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 69 and 35 yards.
"They were able to run the ball downhill with their running backs, and that allowed him to get on the edge," LePage said.
Junior running back Jackson Fundberburk finished with 25 carries for 112 yards and two touchdowns against Versailles.
"(Funderburk) is not real big, he's low to the ground," LePage said. "But he's got an incredible bounce speed. He'll hit his landmark and then he'll bounce and be able to go the same speed. His ability to change directions and not lose speed is really, really impressive."
Junior running back Derek Bradley added 15 carries for 108 yards and Osage's fifth rushing touchdown in the win against the Tigers.
Thirty of Osage's 33 touchdowns this season have come on rushing plays. McLaughlin leads the team with 11 rushing scores, followed by Funderburk with seven and Bradley with six. Junior running back Eric Hood also has five rushing touchdowns.
"(Bradley) is a hard runner, he's more of a 'straight ahead' guy," LePage said. "(Hood) is a downhill runner, too. They really are well-balanced with three guys that they can set in there at any point in time. They really like to come right at you."
Osage was a spread offense last season, but under new head coach Shannon Jolley, the Indians have switched to the veteran coach's wing-T formation. It will be the fourth time this season the Falcons face a wing-T offense.
LePage said McLaughlin, a dual-threat quarterback, has been "even more dangerous" in the wing-T.
"What makes them so different from any wing-T we've seen is his ability to pull it and go back door, away from what the play is designed to do," LePage said. "All of a sudden, he's one-on-one with a person out in space, and that's not where you want to be with him.
"He is a game-wrecker when he's one-on-one in space."
Although McLaughlin's passing numbers have dropped this season - last week he was 5-of-8 passing against Versailles - LePage said he's still a threat through the air. Senior wide receiver Keigan Vaughn has caught all three of McLaughlin's touchdown passes, and junior wide receiver Hunter Graber had three catches for 38 yards against the Tigers.
"They're not a big pocket passing team, they want to get him out on the edge where he has a run-pass option," LePage said. "That's where the improvisation really comes in, and that's where they've done a good job of adapting what they do to him. They'll get receivers out, they'll spread the field and they'll let him scramble."
LePage said he was pleased with the Falcons' run defense in last Friday's 71-34 victory against Southern Boone. Blair Oaks held the Eagles to 142 yards rushing, with 50 of those yards coming on a pitch to the right for a touchdown.
"It was one gap we missed, and it was right on the point, just exactly what has happened to us all year," LePage said. "But the player that happened to, the next series they came back and ran the same play, and we corrected the mistake and shut it down.
If you take out that one run play, (Southern Boone) only averaged 2.4 yards per carry."
Osage enters tonight's game averaging 27.8 points and allowing 34.3. Blair Oaks is scoring 55.4 points per game and allowing an average of 30.1.
LePage said the Indians have lined up in a four-man front defensively.
"They have done some real good things defensively, and they've presented some challenges for some people" LePage said. "I think this is a game where they're going to try to sit back and make us make a mistake."
He noted Osage's strength defensively was on the line.
"They're very big up front," LePage said. "They have guys who play both ways."
One of those players is junior Ashton Carter, who plays offensive guard and linebacker.
"He's a downhill, 'thud' guy," LePage said. "He's going to put some heat on you."
The Osage defense will be tasked with stopping Blair Oaks, particularly Hair, who has broken two school records in recent weeks.
In the loss at Hallsville, Hair became Blair Oaks' all-time record holder for career total yards, surpassing the mark of 10,051 yards set in 2018 by his older brother, Nolan Hair. In last week's win against Southern Boone, Dylan Hair's second quarter touchdown run gave him 422 points scored for his career, eclipsing the mark of 420 points set by Braydan Pritchett in 2018.
Dylan Hair already holds the single-season total yards record (4,406 in 2020) and has tied the single-game rushing touchdowns mark (six). Tonight will be his 36th career game, and several other school records are still within reach.
"All the records, everything is extremely, extremely prideful," LePage said, "but I know he wants something more. He wants to keep moving on, and he's a big force right now for us."
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Osage Beach.
Notes: Entering the final week of the regular season, Blair Oaks (6-2) is third in the Class 3 District 5 standings with 41.23 points. Mexico (6-2) is No. 1 with 43.63 points and plays tonight at Class 4 Warrenton, while Boonville (7-1) is second with 42.5 points and hosts Hallsville tonight for the conference championship. Osage is fourth with 27.31 points, meaning Blair Oaks needs a win tonight to stay ahead of the Indians in the standings. "We let the players know that this is the most important game of the year," LePage said. "This is a game we have to play very well in." St. Mary's: St. Louis is the new No. 1 team in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings, following then-No. 1 Odessa's 36-20 loss last week to Excelsior Springs. Valle Catholic is No. 2, while Boonville moved up to No. 3, its highest state ranking since after Week 9 of the 2001 season. LePage said offensive lineman Kaden Hoelscher will miss another week due to a hand injury, but he should return in time for the start of the postseason. Defensive lineman Bryson Varner will return tonight after missing the Southern Boone game due to injury.