No warm welcome: Falcons rip

​Pirates in their Tri-County debut

Sept. 7, 2018

WARDSVILLE, Mo. --- Welcome to the neighborhood, here's your gift.

A 31-point loss.

So much for a warm, fuzzy welcome.

Playing in its first-ever Tri-County Conference game, Boonville had the displeasure of drawing the Blair Oaks Falcons, who greeted the Pirates with a 31-0 whipping on a rain-drenched night at the Falcon Athletic Complex.

Blair Oaks coach Ted LePage was not available for comment after the game.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Falcons (3-0, 1-0 Tri-County, No. 2 Class 2) busted it open with three touchdowns in the second to take a 19-0 halftime lead.

Blair Oaks did drive it 68 yards on its first possession --- Class 3 Boonville (1-2, 0-1) would finish with just 48 total yards in the first half --- but turned it over on downs at the Pirates' 15. Not to worry, as the Falcons would score touchdowns on their next three possessions.

After a three-and-out and a short punt by the Pirates, the Falcons went 27 yards in six plays, with Riley Lentz having the honors on a 2-yard run to make it 7-0 just 24 seconds into the second quarter.

Blair Oaks made it 13-0 on a 1-yard plunge by Brayden Pritchett, capping a 10-play, 61-yard effort with 7:56 left in the first half. The Pirates then fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, which would lead to a 15-yard pass from Nolan Hair to Ben Thomas to make it 19-0 at the break.

This one was basically over. At that point, we could have all gone home and been a lot dryer.

On the first possession of the second half, the Hair to Thomas connection struck again, this one a 27-yard strike to make it 25-0. It was Hair's 11th touchdown pass in just over 2 1/2 games this season, and Thomas' seventh touchdown reception.

While the Blair Oaks defense notched its second straight shutout, the offense capped the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 56-yard dash by Pritchett, who finished with 119 yards rushing.

Blair Oaks ended with a staggering 385-87 edge in total yards, making this another dominant effort on both offense and defense by the Falcons, who extended their regular-season winning streak to 32 straight.

For Boonville, well ... welcome aboard. Not every night will be like this.

Lastly, prior to Friday night's game, LePage told KRCG's Rod Smith: "We haven't even scratched the surface. We haven't played our best yet, our best is yet to come."

Not comforting words for the rest of the Tri-County ... not to mention the rest of the state.

Loeffler's Link

There was a long line of happy --- and dry --- Blair Oaks fans as they came to watch football and enjoy free hot dogs and t-shirts at the Central Bank/KRCG Tailgate prior to Friday night's game with Boonville at the Falcon Athletic Complex.