WARDSVILLE - This week is new territory for this current group of Blair Oaks Falcons.
Following the team's first loss of the season, Blair Oaks didn't turn in uniforms this week. There are still four more regular-season games to play.
"Our kids played hard," Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage said of last Friday's 35-28 loss to Valle Catholic in Ste. Genevieve. "We didn't play clean and we didn't play smart at times, but we went down the and played a heck of a really competitive football game against a really good football team."
The game was a last-minute addition to the Falcons' schedule after Versailles canceled on Blair Oaks due to COVID-19 concerns. It snapped the Falcons' 51-game regular-season win streak that dated back to the 2014 season.
"We learned some things about ourselves that we wouldn't learn in a normal football setting," LePage said.
Now the Falcons return to their normal schedule, getting back into Tri-County Conference play tonight with a road game against the Eldon Mustangs. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
"They're a really hard-nosed football team," LePage said. "They go right at you, there's no mistaking it.
"I told our players this is a great game to come back to, because this team is playing with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder."
Eldon (1-3) dropped a 54-20 decision last Friday at state-ranked Southern Boone. The Eagles led 41-0 at halftime.
"They really turned it up a notch on Southern Boone and scored three touchdowns in the second half," LePage said. "They did some things to help them try to win the football game."
Eldon operates out of the wing-T offensively. Maryville also ran the wing-T earlier this season against Blair Oaks.
"I think they may run a little more designed quarterback runs," LePage said of Eldon. " Maryville was more designed to pass, so you had to make sure you matched not only on the wing-T, but you had to match on the passing game."
Running backs Mason Kirkweg and Owen Levesque each have a team-high 38 carries this season for the Mustangs. Kirkweg leads the team in rushing with 293 yards and four touchdowns, while Levesque had 118 yards rushing and two scores.
Krystopher Shepard leads the Mustangs with 13.2 yards per carry and five rushing touchdowns.
"They'll run a succession of plays that are very well set up," LePage said. "Their offensive line fires off the ball, they're very big, very strong. Their quarterback does an extremely good job of manipulating your eyes with his fakes. Then their two running back run hard. I've really been impressed."
Hunter Hees, Eldon's freshman quarterback, is 21-of-54 passing for 123 yards. He has also carried the ball 28 times for 70 yards.
"They'll run false keys where the quarterback keeps the ball," LePage said. " We'll have a boot-counter-reverse player on every play that's on the back side. He's going to have to check on the quarterback."
Leading Eldon's offensive line is right tackle Fisher Snelling (6-foot-4, 239 pounds).
"He's a train going down the tracks," LePage said.
LePage said Eldon's defense lines up similarly to Valle Catholic, using a 4-2 box.
"Then they'll try to cover the rest of the players in man-to-man," he said. "We got a good look at it last week, we felt like we left a ton of points on the field."
Lineman Sam Coppock leads the Mustangs with 20 total tackles, including 14 solo stops. Snelling, also a lineman, is next on the list with 14 tackles.
"I think they're real physical up front," LePage said. "We watched the Southern Boone game, and Southern Boone wasn't having a lot of success running between the tackles. All their success was coming from throwing the ball over the top."
The Falcons completed just 12-of-40 passes last week against Valle Catholic. LePage said Blair Oaks was just off the mark on several of those passes.
"Speaking with other coaches that have watched the film and are friends of mine, they're like, 'You were just one fingertip away,'" LePage said. "It just seemed like they did some things to affect our timing. That has been addressed this week."
The same goes with the pass defense. LePage also noted how three Hail Mary passes led to three touchdowns for Valle Catholic.
"Our defensive backs had a drill where they were just punching the ball out instead of trying to intercept it," LePage said. "Things you learn about yourself when it hurts sometimes are the biggest measuring sticks of how you can move forward."
Notes: Blair Oaks (4-1) dropped two spots to No. 3 in this week's Class 3 Missouri Media Rankings. With the win, Valle Catholic vaulted up three spots to No. 1, while defending state champion Odessa stayed put at No. 2. Last week's loss also caused Blair Oaks to drop to the No. 2 seed in Class 3 District 4 with 44.89 points. Centralia (4-0) - ranked No. 4 - is the top seed with 48.13 points, while Southern Boone (4-1) - ranked No. 8 - is third with 42.66 points. California (4-1) is the No. 4 seed with 40.28 points. This will be the second straight week the Falcons play on a grass field. Blair Oaks will also play on the grass in two weeks at Southern Boone. ... LePage said left guard Brysan Jeffries will miss tonight's game after suffering a broken hand during practice this week. James Thomson will get the nod to start in Jeffries' place.