Pintos aim for second straight win as they head to Boonville

California's Calen Kruger fights through School of the Osage's defense to cross the goal line during last Friday night's game in California.
California's Calen Kruger fights through School of the Osage's defense to cross the goal line during last Friday night's game in California.

CALIFORNIA - The California Pintos are looking for their second win in a row after a commanding 43-13 Homecoming victory last week against the School of the Osage Indians.

To do that, they'll head on the road tonight for a Tri-County Conference matchup against the Boonville Pirates. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Boonville (2-2) coming off a 51-7 loss last week to Blair Oaks, the top-ranked team in Class 3 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings.

Last week, California (3-1) had three rushing touchdowns and three passing touchdowns. Calen Kruger had his hand in five of those touchdowns: three passing and two rushing.

Pintos coach Derek Scroggins said in order to continue that success, the team needs to execute.

"It is going to come down to the same thing it did last week. We have to do a good job of executing and playing to the whistle," Scroggins said. "I think that if we do that, it should open both aspects of the game up and we should be able to take advantage of whatever they are giving us."

Fundamentals will also be a key for the Pintos in this game.

"If we do the things we are capable of doing I think we can have a good week," Scroggins said.

Both teams have some solid defense. Aside from their loss to Blair Oaks, the Pirates' defense has not given up more than 20 points in a game.

For the Pintos, aside from allowing 50 points two weeks ago to Blair Oaks, their defense has not allowed more than 21 points in a game.

Scroggins said it should be a good battle on both sides of the ball.

"Boonville has looked real good this year, outside of their game with Blair Oaks, which looked pretty similar to our game versus Blair Oaks," Scroggins said. "We have not given up a point with our varsity defense except for the game versus Blair Oaks. (Boonville) is pretty similar so it looks like we should be pretty evenly matched and it should come down to who executes better."

Scroggins said the Pintos are expecting to see some pretty good athletes from Boonville, and to see some different things from the Pirates on both sides of the ball.

Quarterback Colby Caton has thrown for 465 yards and five touchdowns, while running back Andrew Wiser had 274 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

Defensively, linebacker Harper Stock has a team-high 34 tackles, while linebacker Lane West leads the Pirates with 12 tackles for loss and six sacks. D.J. Wesolak, a Division I target at defensive end, has 19 tackles, seven for loss, with 3 sacks.

"They do a good job of changing up what they want to do on both sides of the ball and so we prepare for what they have shown so far," Scroggins said. "It looks like they are definitely doing things a little bit different than last year because they have lost some seniors they had last year who were pretty good. They have been able to rebound pretty well so far. We are just going off what they have shown and doing what we need to do to get ready for what they are going to give us."