Falcons have their sights set on winning the turnover battle vs. Southern Boone

Blair Oaks running back Cody Alexander (right) races past the Hallsville defense for a touchdown during last Friday's game at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
Blair Oaks running back Cody Alexander (right) races past the Hallsville defense for a touchdown during last Friday's game at the Falcon Athletic Complex.

WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Turnovers were abundant last Friday night, but they had different effects on the Blair Oaks Falcons and the Southern Boone Eagles.

Blair Oaks committed a season-high four turnovers - two interceptions and two fumbles - but they had little impact in its 61-20 victory against the Hallsville Indians.

Southern Boone committed six turnovers - including a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery all returned for touchdowns - in the Eagles' 32-17 loss against the School of the Osage Indians.

The rain was a guilty accomplice for most of the turnovers, but those mistakes will be fresh on the minds of both Blair Oaks and Southern Boone as they clash in a Tri-County Conference matchup tonight in Ashland. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

"When I look at a game with two solid teams, the first two things I worry about are injuries and turnovers," Blair Oaks coach Terry Walker said. "We've got to make sure we can take care of the football, we need to avoid injuries.

"If we do those two things, then we just have to go out there, relax and play."

Southern Boone also forced six Osage turnovers, yet only scored points off one turnover for its first touchdown of the game. Defensive back Sam Stichnote grabbed one of the Eagles' three interceptions thrown by the Indians and has five picks through five games.

"We're going to have to do a good job with how we're reading their secondary, to make sure we're not putting the ball into a bad spot," Walker said.

Blair Oaks is also familiar with Southern Boone's defensive setup.

"They like to run a 5-2 front, which we're used to seeing that kind of front because that's the kind of front we run," Walker said. "Their two defensive ends do a good job of attacking and their two inside linebackers do a great job of finding the football."

Aside from the three touchdown returns, the Southern Boone defense held its ground and allowed just 12 points against Osage. The Eagles gained 277 yards offensively to 249 yards for the Indians.

"They're an attacking-style defense," Walker said, "and they were an attacking defense last year. I don't see them changing off of that. They're not afraid to bring their backers anywhere on the field."

The Blair Oaks defense, meanwhile, snagged four interceptions last week - including three by Jake Van Ronzelen - and held Hallsville's running game in negative yardage. The Falcons will see a good mix of both passing and rushing against Southern Boone.

Quarterback Spencer Taggart has thrown for 811 yards and nine touchdowns for the Eagles, but four of his five interceptions came against Osage. Three of his favorite targets are Stichnote (274 yards and two touchdowns), Clay Jeffrey (237 yards and five TDs) and Kolton Schupp (228 yards and one TD). Stichnote also had a passing touchdown last week.

"I think they really want to be a spread football team, but (Southern Boone coach Trent Tracy) has a couple of really physical running backs that are maybe not suited for a spread attack," Walker said. "He's trying to balance between those two, having the two physical running backs that like to run downhill in an overload set versus having a quarterback who can throw the football. They can do multiple things and we're going to have to be prepared to stop them."

The Southern Boone backfield is led by the duo of Cooper Mange and Tyson Smith. Mange leads the Eagles with 219 yards rushing and two touchdowns, but Smith produced better results against the Indians and has 217 yards rushing with four touchdowns.

"I would guess Southern Boone is going to be pretty straight-forward, with regard to that they're not going to change a whole lot," Walker said. "They may change some of their route combinations or a couple of their run looks, but I would think their base sets are going to stay the same."

Walker said Southern Boone will use a variety of offensive sets, just as Hallsville did. But in last week's game, Hallsville came out with a two-back set in the first series, something it hadn't shown all year. Fortunately, Walker said, his team was able to adjust and defend that formation.

"When you play against a team that's balanced, you've got to be fundamentally sound across the board," Walker said. "That's our goal for Week 1 when we enter the season, to be balanced defensively or fundamentally sound defensively against all types of offenses."

Through three weeks of the Tri-County schedule, Blair Oaks (5-0) and Osage (5-0) are tied for the league lead with a 3-0 record. Both Southern Boone (4-1) and Versailles (3-2) are one game back with 2-1 records.

If both Blair Oaks and Osage win tonight - Osages hosts Versailles - then the Indians will travel to Wardsville next Friday with the Tri-County championship on the line.

Walker said he has been pleased with the energy his team has shown during the conference slate.

"They have really kind of embraced playing with a little bit more passion and a little bit more intensity and better focus," Walker said. "That's really been the difference the last two weeks for me."

Notes: Blair Oaks stayed put at the No. 2 spot in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings. While the Falcons maintained their usual two-first place votes, they received two additional votes this week and carried 128 total points. Southern Boone, which received four votes in last week's poll but remained outside the top 10, did not receive any votes this week after losing against Osage.

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