Blair Oaks takes three-game shutout streak on road to Eldon

Marcus Edler of Blair Oaks makes a tackle on an Eldon ball carrier during last year's game at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville.
Marcus Edler of Blair Oaks makes a tackle on an Eldon ball carrier during last year's game at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville.

WARDSVILLE - For the past three weeks, the Blair Oaks defense has handled varying types of offenses with ease.

Now it's time for the Falcons' annual matchup against the wing-T formation.

Blair Oaks will take its three-game shutout streak on the road tonight, as the Falcons face the Eldon Mustangs on Homecoming night. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

"They are a team that gets up, puts their hand on the ground and goes north and south," Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage said. "There is no zig-zag about them."

Eldon averaged 47.6 points per game in 2017, but that number has dropped considerably to 22.3 points per game through the first four weeks this season. After opening Tri-County Conference play with a 6-0 win against Hallsville, the Mustangs suffered a 39-7 defeat last Friday at Southern Boone in a matchup of Class 3 state-ranked opponents.

The score was tied at 7 at halftime, but four Eldon turnovers led to a lopsided second half for Southern Boone.

"Last week got away from them a little bit in the second half," LePage said. "Southern Boone played extremely well.

"But we anticipate their Homecoming to be their best game of the year."

The Eldon offense is guided by senior quarterback Dawson Brandt, who leads the team with 467 yards rushing and four touchdowns. He is also 14-of-34 passing for 158 yards.

"Their quarterback is extremely talented, he's a great running quarterback," LePage said. "But he is an effective thrower."

This will be the second time this season the Falcons have faced a wing-T offense.

"It's very similar to what we saw against Maryville, but what they do different from Maryville is they involve their quarterback more in the running game," LePage said. "That makes you have to commit another man to the box, you have to put another guy close to the line of scrimmage. That opens up the opportunity for some big-play potential out of their passing game."

Although the Mustangs lost all-state running back Isaiah Merida to graduation, senior Isaiah Parsons has picked up more of the workload in 2018. After gaining 1,275 yards on the ground last season, Parsons already has 374 yards rushing and a team-high six touchdowns this year.

"He looks like a bowling ball in pads," LePage said of Parsons. "He really does a good job of running behind his pads. He has a low center of gravity."

Brandt led the Mustangs with 105 yards rushing in last week's loss and Parsons added 98. Despite reaching the end zone just once, Eldon compiled 299 yards rushing, adding 69 yards from freshman Logan Hall.

"They're dangerous because of their ability to hit every gap on the offensive side of the ball," LePage said. "If you try to commit a person, they have an answer for it, and they're very efficient at answering the call.

"At the point of attack, their blocking is so crisp and so strong, their running back and their quarterback hit the exact hole they're supposed to."

Blair Oaks has held opponents to an average of 177.5 yards of offense, and opponents are averaging just 2.5 yards per carry. In last year's 32-12 win, the Falcons held the Mustangs to 150 yards on 49 carries.

The momentum continues to roll for the Blair Oaks defense, which rose to the occasion and shut down Versailles quarterback Coby Williams in last week's 37-0 win.

"It was a big exclamation point for us to go out and have a good game defensively," LePage said. "I thought the tempo got set early, getting that early three-and-out. They won the toss and they wanted the ball, and our players went out and did extremely well."

The Blair Oaks offense has been doing its part as well, averaging more than 440 yards per game.

Quarterback Nolan Hair has thrown for 859 yards with 14 touchdowns and no interceptions.

"Our offense, we came away with some great statistical numbers, but more than that I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage real well," LePage said.

Last year's meeting was the first career start behind center for Cade Stockman, who threw for 235 yards against the Mustangs.

Brandt, a returning all-state safety for the Mustangs, leads the team with 32 total tackles and three interceptions. Parsons, a linebacker, has 21 total tackles, 14 solo, and defensive end Kaden Dillon has 17 tackles.

LePage said Eldon will use a five-man front with two linebackers and a man-to-man secondary, which can lead to a "feast or famine" offense.

"There may be a lot of negative plays," LePage said. "There may be a lot of plays that are held to no gain. But playing defense the way they do, they are susceptible to the big play."

LePage said Eldon's offense is capable of dragging time off the clock, so in addition to making some stops, he said the Falcons will have to be efficient offensively.

"We have to find a way early to maintain some good offensive possessions and string together some good defensive possessions to control the tempo of the game," LePage said.

Blair Oaks wide receiver Ben Thomas surpassed 2,000 yards receiving for his career in last Friday's win. Thomas holds the program's record for yards receiving (2,082) and touchdown receptions (35), breaking the former record in Week 3 against Boonville.

LePage said Thomas was recognized during practice earlier this week for his accomplishment.

"I told him some of his reception numbers may go down with the offense we're running compared to what they ran (last year), but his yards per catch and his touchdowns will go up," LePage said of Thomas, who is averaging 30.7 yards per catch to go with eight touchdowns. " He's the first one to admit that there are a lot of guys who helped him get to this."

III

Blair Oaks remained at No. 2 in Class 2 in this week's Missouri Media Rankings. However, the Falcons gained two additional points to accumulate a total of 107. They received second-place votes on 11 of the 12 statewide ballots. With last week's loss, the Eldon Mustangs dropped out of the Class 3 rankings after holding the No. 6 spot. Southern Boone (3-1) moved up one spot to No. 9. Through two weeks of conference play, Blair Oaks is alone in first place with a 2-0 record. Six teams - Boonville, Eldon, Hallsville, School of the Osage, Southern Boone and Versailles - are tied at 1-1, while California is 0-2. Junior linebacker Kyler Griep missed last Friday's game with a right elbow injury. LePage said Griep was cleared to practice Wednesday and will be a game-time decision to play.

Related Media: Blair Oaks Football Podcast [Eldon preview, Sept. 21, 2018]