WARDSVILLE - Going into the game with the No. 3 team in the state California head coach Marty Albertson knew his team would have to play its best game of the season.
While the Pintos hung tough in the first half, Blair Oaks proved to be too much in the second half as they scored 42 unanswered points after California opened the game with eight-play 72-yard scoring drive.
"Obviously they were a lot better of a team than we were tonight," Albertson said. "When you're playing a good team, you have to play almost clean. We had two interceptions and I don't think they had any turnovers. We're young and we just made some mistakes."
California marched down the field easily on its opening drive, averaging more than 9 yards per play. Junior running back Gunner Baquet ripped off runs of 8, 5 and 5 yards, then sophomore quarterback Jacob Wolken found senior wide receiver Landon Mouse on the right side for a 42-yard reception.
Mouse reached for the right pylon but his foot was just a little out of bounds at the 2-yard line when he dove for the goal line. Wolken pushed ahead for a quarterback sneak on the next play for the 2-yard score to give the Pintos an 8-0 lead after the successful 2-point conversion.
But after the drive, California's offense sputtered for most of game. The Pintos gained only one first down for the rest of the first half and Wolken threw two interceptions on back-to-back drives.
"I think the first drive, (Blair Oaks) was more worried about our pass," Albertson said. "Then they moved six or seven guys back in the box on us later on and stopped our run. So earlier they only had five in there so it was a little easier to run on them."
Blair Oaks matched California's first scoring drive with one of its own. The Falcons put together a 12-play, 63-yard drive for a touchdown, but the Pintos kept the 8-6 lead after holding Blair Oaks on its 2-point try.
After a California three-and-out, Blair Oaks again moved the ball deep into California's territory. This time though, the Pintos held the Falcons on fourth down from the 5-yard line.
But Blair Oaks exacted revenge on its next two of three drives by scoring twice to take a 20-8 lead. The two of those drives started after the Falcons' defense forced the two interceptions on consecutive drives.
After the first of the two Blair Oaks touchdowns, and down 12-8 late in the second quarter, Albertson seemed content with running out the clock and head into halftime down by four points. After running plays on first and second down, Wolken was picked off near midfield by C.J. Closser and he returned it to the Pintos' 20-yard line. That was his second of two interceptions.
"It was a big play," Albertson said. "If I had a do-over, I probably wouldn't of put the ball up. I'd probably had run out the clock and went in down 12-8 and felt good about it. Hindsight is 20-20.
The Falcons used a wide receiver reverse to score Closser at the left pylon to take the 20-8 leading into halftime.
"It was huge," Blair Oaks head coach Terry Walker said. "We were looking at 12-8 going into halftime. 12-8 versus 20-8 is a big difference. We knew we were going to get the ball back, so we really felt like if we can punch one in that the game certainly wouldn't be decided by no means, but it certainly kind of puts them in a tougher spot."
On the first Blair Oaks drive, the Pintos forced a quick three-and-out, but California followed that up with a three-and-out of its own. The Falcons went on a run of scoring three straight touchdowns to pull away from California 42-8 on their next two drives.
"They're a good football team," Albertson said. "They aren't ranked third for nothing. Their offense is really tough to handle. Not only can they run the ball, they can throw the ball."
The Pintos did put together a solid scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Wolken moved the offense 79 yards on eight plays to bring the game to its final score of 42-15.
Wolken completed a 10-yard pass to senior Ethan Hodges, then found Kyle Hofstetter for a 35-yard gain to set up a first-and-10 on the Falcons' 17-yard line. On third-and-six, Wolken connected with Hodges at the goal line for the 13-yard score.
Wolken reached the 1,000-yard passing mark on the season with his first pass of the night. He needed just five yards entering the game, and in the first quarter he completed a 9-yard pass to Mouse that gave him 1,000 yards.
He completed 11-of-18 passes Friday night for 134 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He also totaled 11 tackles on defense to lead the team.
The Pintos (4-3, 4-1 Tri-County Conference) now turn their attention to a road game with School of the Osage Friday night at 7 p.m.
"We can just hope that we can win out and maybe get another shot at (Blair Oaks) later on," Albertson said.