Oct. 12, 2018

WARDSVILLE, Mo. --- We've gone from baseball weather to basketball weather, a time when it's more fit to watch something inside.

And it happened before you could say I love sweater weather --- it's gone from 90 to 40 in a blink.

But weather or not, it really doesn't matter to the Blair Oaks Falcons. Because the beat(ings) goes on.

Senior quarterback Nolan Hair threw for three touchdowns --- two of those to senior Ben Thomas --- and senior Brayden Pritchett rushed for a pair of touchdowns and also caught a scoring pass, as Blair Oaks blasted the Osage Indians 59-7 to celebrate Senior Night on a cold, damp evening at the Falcon Athletic Complex on Friday night.

The Blair Oaks seniors certainly celebrated in style.

As did the juniors.

And the sophomores, freshmen and everyone else in green.

This wasn't expected to be much of a fight, and it wasn't. Actually, it wasn't a fair fight after the opening kickoff.

Hair connected Ben Thomas on a 50-yard pass on the game's first play and the Falcons (8-0, No. 2 Class 2) were off and running. They scored three plays later on a one-yard plunge by Lentz to finish a four-play, 70-yard drive, and it was 7-0 just 75 seconds into the game.

The Indians (2-6), who've now lost five straight, punted and the Falcons --- on fourth-and-7 --- scored on a 45-yard toss from Hair to Thomas to make it 14-0 five minutes into the game.

The lead was 21-0 after one quarter after Hair's 18-yard pass to Pritchett, and it grew to 35-0 on a 10-yard run by Lentz and a 26-yard pass from Hair --- who was 8-for-8 for 200 yards in the first half --- to Thomas midway through the second quarter.

The Indians --- who lost three fumbles and also failed to cover a kickoff at their own 1 --- had their best moments with six-minute drive to get within 35-7 at the break, an effort finished on a 14-yard pass from Dalton Depee to Drew Edwards on the last play of the half.

The Falcons --- who secured another Tri-County Conference title with the victory --- finished the scoring in the third quarter on runs by Pritchett (10 yards), Lentz (four) and Levi Haney (one), and a 30-yard field goal by Marcus Edler.

The next two weeks, Blair Oaks will play a home-and-home doubleheader against the California Pintos. Yes, that's right, back-to-back.

Next Friday, Blair Oaks closes out the regular season at winless California. With both teams in Class 2 District 5 --- and the Falcons locking up the No. 1 seed and the Pintos "locking up" the No. 8 seed --- the teams will meet again in the district opener Oct. 26 in Wardsville.

Don't forget your sweater.

Weather or not, Falcons continue
to roll, rumble past Indians 59-7

Loeffler's Link