MOKANE, Mo. - For a South Callaway squad that has wrecked the early portion of its schedule, head coach Tim Rulo's toughest task right now might be in keeping his state-ranked Bulldogs engaged.
Unbeaten South Callaway - which continues to be ranked No. 4 in Class 2 - will look to continue its impressive march tonight when it plays its Homecoming game against Eastern Missouri Conference foe Van-Far. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs (3-0) have outscored their first three opponents by a definitive 160-30 margin, including a 53-14 rampage last week at Clopton/Elsberry in South Callaway's debut as an EMO member. Dictated by the decisive victories, the Bulldogs' offensive and defensive starters mostly have been done by halftime and have yet to play a full game this season.
"We're trying to talk about what does it really look like to be successful," Rulo said after practice Tuesday night. "What does success look like? Is success blowing a team out but not having good technique? Is success having great technique and maybe still having a big score, a lopsided score, but at least your technique was flawless?
"Playing that perfect game, giving perfect effort and what that looks like - it's been a topic of conversation."
As strong as his team has looked so far, Rulo insists he and his coaching staff need to see continual progress if the Bulldogs plan to be a presence in the postseason.
"Can we get better at something?" Rulo said. "Because if we're really as good as people are saying we are, then we better keep getting better.
"The level of football that we're playing right now I do not believe is the level needed to go and do the things we want to do down the road. It's getting there."
South Callaway will square off against a Van-Far squad that will be trying to regroup after suffering its first loss of the season last week. The Indians (2-1) were manhandled by Mark Twain 50-0 in their EMO opener at Vandalia.
"I expect an athletic team that is growing and developing as a program," Rulo said. "I mean, they just doubled their wins (from last season's 1-9 record). Their program is going in the right direction.
"... I would expect a team that's going to be kind of salty and hopefully has got a little edge to them because they lost."
Van-Far runs a spread offense with senior quarterback Lucas Robinson lining up exclusively in shotgun formation. The 6-foot, 165-pound Robinson completed only 9-of-23 passes for 146 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions, against Mark Twain. He also ran for a team-high 41 yards on 15 carries.
Robinson is 24-of-37 (65 percent) passing on the season for just 284 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He is also the Indians' rushing leader with 343 yards (12.7 average) and three scores.
"Their quarterback is a runner, he's an athlete running around back there," Rulo said. "Literally, he will run all over the place."
South Callaway's defense surrendered just 92 yards rushing last week against Clopton/Elsberry. Rulo explained that the main job tonight will be to keep Robinson hemmed in.
"You need to make sure you're containing him, that we're handling a scrambling quarterback," Rulo said. "That has to be the message, for sure. Everything we do has got to be about containing him and corralling him, because you don't want to let him beat you."
On the defensive side, Rulo noted that Van-Far will line up in a 4-4 scheme.
"They don't blitz a whole lot, but they rally to the ball pretty well," Rulo said.
Senior quarterback Troy Hentges threw three touchdown passes and also ran for two scores last week as the Bulldogs accumulated 246 yards of total offense, 142 of that output coming from their running game. Hentges was 5-of-6 passing for 104 yards and no interceptions.
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