WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Blair Oaks Falcons know better than to take the Hallsville Indians lightly.
Last season, the Indians gave the Falcons their closest contest of the regular season, hanging tough in an 18-6 defeat.
If that wasn't enough motivation, the Blair Oaks coaching staff left a note on a dry-erase board in the Falcons' locker room, reminding players the last time Blair Oaks lost a home game against a Tri-County Conference opponent was in 2014 to Hallsville.
"On Monday, we were able to show last year's video (to the players)," Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage said. "We showed (Hallsville) scoring, we showed them stopping Blair Oaks. The attitude the players took coming out of that meeting was, 'This was a team that did give us trouble, and we have to have a good week of practice.' That set the tempo early in the week."
The Falcons will host the Indians tonight for their Homecoming game. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
Hallsville enters the game with a 1-4 record, 1-2 in the Tri-County. The Indians dropped a 34-8 decision last Friday at home against state-ranked Southern Boone.
LePage said Hallsville had a first-half fumble near the goal line that deflated its offense, allowing Southern Boone to take control of the game.
"They had a nine-play drive that ended with a fumble on the quarterback-running back exchange," LePage said. "Before that, the first quarter was a big fight, and I think our players are respectful of them."Hallsville recorded its only win two weeks ago, a 40-15 rout of School of the Osage.
Although senior quarterback Zane Parnell left that game due to injury, Hallsville's run game flourished. Junior running back Mason Huskey had 147 yards rushing and three touchdowns, while junior Cooper Crane - who filled in for Parnell at QB - had 209 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
"Crane runs behind his pads real well," LePage said. " It seems like people bounce off him a lot. He's not a 'one guy and go down' type of running back. He continues to plug and he's not afraid to take the hard hit up the middle.
"Huskey is more of their outside threat. He comes in and blocks, but they like to get him on the edge. He's got very good wheels."
Parnell brings another facet to Hallsville's offense, which LePage said looks like a flexbone set with two players split, the quarterback operating out of the shotgun and a pistol back behind him.
"He does a good job with the play-action pass," LePage said of Parnell. "They do a lot of bootleg packages, they get him out of the pocket and let him try to roll."
LePage added the Indians appear balanced in their offensive setup and will throw to Huskey at times.
"What's scary is when you play a team like this, they can go right or left with the same play," LePage said. "We've got to be able to balance with our defense."
Blair Oaks managed just 208 yards of offense in last year's meeting against Hallsville, nearly half of the Falcons' season average of 399 yards.
While the Falcons moved the chains for 14 first downs, they fumbled the ball seven times. Although they recovered all seven loose balls, each one stunted the offense's flow.
"They play five down linemen, and their D-linemen try to dominate the line of scrimmage," LePage said. "That allows them to make some opportunities in the secondary to take some chances."
Hallsville recorded three interceptions against Osage, once each by Crane, senior Colton Graybill and Huskey. Crane, a linebacker, had eight tackles in the win, while Graybill, a defensive back, and Huskey, a linebacker, each had six tackles.
"If he gets a chance to put his hands on you, nobody breaks his tackles," LePage said of Crane.
LePage said he has been preaching patience to his offense this week.
"You can't get off task. With this type of aggressive defense, you have to maintain your patience and block your areas," he said. "If they make a mistake because they're being aggressive, that's when the opportunity for a big play will be there."
Blair Oaks' defensive shutout streak ended last Friday, when Eldon quarterback Collin Tamm scored on a 7-yard run with 2:27 to play in the game. It was the first points Blair Oaks had allowed since Week 1 against Maryville, nearly 16 full quarters.
"It's tough. You're playing offenses that can score from anywhere on the field," LePage said. "Just one mistake in high school football can get you.
"What I took away from that (streak) is we played very good team defense."
On the other hand, the offense has started its own streak. The first-string offense has scored on each of its 13 possessions - 12 touchdowns, one field goal - in the past two games against Versailles and Eldon.
"You've got to start with the offensive line," LePage said. "Those five guys up front are just tremendous, they're doing a great job. We're able to run between the tackles, and with the explosiveness that we have you know that if we're able to exploit you between the tackles, you're going to have to commit more players in there to stopping the run. When that happens, we get one-on-one matchups.
"That's when you get excited about your offense, because you know that you're maturing."
LePage has emphasized to his players he wants to see them get off to a fast start tonight.
"If we let this team have confidence, this is going to be a heck of a football game," he said.
III
For the fifth straight week, Blair Oaks (5-0, 3-0 Tri-County) holds the No. 2 spot in Class 2 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings. The Falcons continued to receive 107 points, trailing top-ranked Lamar. After dropping back-to-back games, Eldon (3-2, 1-2 Tri-County) did not receive any votes in this week's Class 3 rankings. Southern Boone (4-1, 2-1 Tri-County) moved up three spots to No. 6 in Class 3. The Eagles play tonight at Osage. With four games to go until postseason play, Blair Oaks holds the top spot in Class 2 District 5 with 56 points. North Callaway (5-0), ranked No. 10, is second with 49.44. Blair Oaks linebacker Kyler Griep returned to the lineup in last Friday's game after suffering a right elbow injury. However, LePage said the Falcons will be without backup center Zack Wilbers, who broke his hand in the JV game against Eldon earlier this week.
Related Media: Blair Oaks Football Podcast [Hallsville preview, Sept. 28, 2018]