Head coach Terry Walker and the Blair Oaks Falcons scored the game's final 26 points to knock off the Osage Indians 52-26 on Friday night.
Falcons continue to roll, hold
off Indians; Jays lose 4th straight
Loeffler's Link
Sept.29, 2017
Two teams headed in opposite directions tried their luck again Friday night.
Fortunately for one, they're still headed the same direction.
Unfortunately for the other, so are they.
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AT OSAGE BEACH, the Blair Oaks Falcons extended their regular-season winning streak to 25 straight as they turned back the Osage Indians 52-26.
Rest assured, the Indians (4-3) gave the Falcons (7-0) all they wanted --- probably more than they wanted.
In other words, the final score was not indicative of this affair.
Blair Oaks was denied deep in Osage territory on its first drive, but made good on its second effort when Cade Stockman tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Edler midway through the first quarter to take an 8-0 lead.
If the Falcons (No. 2, Class 3) thought they'd cruise from there, they'd quickly have second thoughts.
The energized Indians, who were celebrating Homecoming, scored the next three touchdowns, the first coming on a 50-yard pass from Zach Wheeler to Drake Gaines to cut the margin to 8-6 after one quarter.
In an action-packed, four-touchdown second quarter, the Indians recovered a Blair Oaks fumble and took a 12-8 lead on the next play, as Wheeler hooked up with Austin Magnuson on a 23-yard touchdown with 8:31 left in the first half.
The lead grew to 19-8 when Stockman's punt was blocked by Josh McCubbin, who scooped it and scored from 13 yards.
If the Falcons were shell-shocked at that point, it didn't show.
After Stockman found Brayden Pritchett on a big pass play inside the Osage 20, Pritchett would later score on a 4-yard run to make it 19-14.
Stockman --- who was 8-of-22 for 184 yards, two scores and two interceptions in the first half --- then hooked up with Pritchett on a 57-yard catch and run to paydirt with 61 seconds left in the half, and the Falcons led 20-19 at the break.
During Terry Walker's three-year run as head coach at Blair Oaks, the Falcons have owned the second half. But would they again?
Yes they would.
"Whoever was going to play the hardest and the longest," Walker told laketv.com after the game, "would be the last team standing."
The Falcons took the second-half kickoff and sprinted 68 yards to make it 26-19, an effort capped on Stockman's 43-yard strike to Ben Thomas just 59 seconds into the second half.
Back came the Indians, who had three fourth-drive conversions on their ensuing possession to tie it 26-26. One was of those conversions was a fake punt, while the score came on a 4th-and-goal from the 7 when Wheeler threw a short pass to Garrett Sutherland, who broke a pair of tackles on his way to the end zone midway through the third.
After that, however, the Indians ran out of arrows.
The Falcons put together an impressive, 97-yard march --- a drive keyed by a 50-yard Stockman to Edler pass --- and took the lead for good at 32-26 lead on Pritchett's 10-yard run with just 7 seconds left in the third quarter.
That was part of a huge night for Pritchett --- both offensively and defensively. The 5-11, 175-pound junior finished with 273 yards of total offense, while he intercepted two passes and compiled nine tackles.
Blair Oaks finally got some separation in the fourth quarter --- Pritchett scored his third touchdown, this one from 2 yards, while Riley Lentz had scoring runs of 17 and 51 yards to bust over the century-mark.
The Falcons look to be a good bet to wrap up their third straight unbeaten regular season, as they host California next Friday before playing at Warsaw on Oct. 13.
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AT ST. LOUIS, the struggling Jefferson City Jays received no break from the schedule makers, as their task to turn things around was a trip to No. 1 ranked CBC.
The Cadets would have none of it.
Brett Gabbert --- younger brother of former MU star and current NFL quarterback Blaine Gabbert --- threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns as CBC brushed aside Jefferson City 42-15.
The Cadets (6-1) busted open leads of 14-0 after one quarter and 35-0 at the half against the Jays (2-5), who lost their fourth straight.
Gabbert, a highly-touted junior, was a tidy 14-of-16 for 260 yards and four scores before the break, putting him on pace for a 520-yard, eight-touchdown evening of work.
Thankfully, the running clock kicked in, so that didn't happen.
Gabbert had touchdown passes of 5 and 26 yards to Cameron Brown in the first half, one to Tyler Walton covering 40 yards, and a fourth to Tyler Walton that spanned 45 yards.
Bryan Bradford scored on a 13-yard run in the first quarter for CBC, while Chance Lotts had an 8-yard scoring run in the third to make it 42-0 entering the fourth.
The Jays --- who were outgained 533-250 --- avoided the shutout in the final frame on Mitchell Houston's 1-yard plunge, before Elijah Jackson scooped up a fumble and raced 58 yards for a touchdown.
It doesn't get any easier for the Jays the rest of the way.
Next week, they host Battle (No. 5, Class 5), before hosting Rockhurst (No. 8, Class 6 on Oct. 13). If they lose both, Jefferson City would be the No. 8 seed in its eight-team district and play on the road in the district opener Oct. 20.
As it stands now, the game would be at Rock Bridge (No. 10, Class 6), a team that's already defeated Jefferson City this season.
If the Jays lose those three games --- and that certainly seems like a distinct possibility --- it would be the first losing season in the 12-year tenure of head coach Ted LePage. A 2-8 record would also match the worst record the program has endured in the last 67 years (2002, 1980, 1950.)
The 1949 Jays went 1-7-1.