Dec. 5, 2020

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- Blair Oaks has given up 86 points in its last two games, leaving the Falcons with a 31-point scoring differential.

You're not going to win many games when you give up an average of 43 points.

Wait, hold on.

That's a PLUS 31-point scoring differential. As in, the Falcons scored 117 to make it an offensively radioactive total of 203 points.

Two games. 203 points. Yes, this is football.

Go ahead, I did the same thing. Read it a few times, believe it forever. Because it doesn't matter how many points you give up, after all, as long as you score one more point than the other guys.

Quarterback Dylan Hair had an incredible season and was even better than that Saturday night, as he piled up a 468 yards of total offense and seven touchdowns as the Falcons flew past the Maryville Spoofhounds 62-40 in the Class 3 state championship game at Adkins Stadium.

What a great, triumphant break this was from the misery of 2020.

"This has been a really bad year for a lot of people," Falcons coach Ted LePage said. "When we got on that bus I said, 'Just think, you all caused so much emotion and jubilation today.'

"You did it."

This is the program's second state championship in three years and fourth overall, all coming in the last 15 years. It's is the third for LePage, who is a mad genius when it comes to offense.

Nobody does it better.

This one took a page straight out of LePage's playbook--- offense, offense and more offense --- as Blair Oaks beat Maryville once again to give this championship season fitting bookends. The Falcons punched the Spoofhounds in the mouth 51-8 in the season opener Aug. 28.

Before we go any farther, what is a Spoofhound? Good question, odd answer. It's a plaster of Paris carnival toy from the 1920s.

Of course it is. That almost makes Kewpies sound good.

Maryville (11-4) had its best moments early and late, as it actually outscored Blair Oaks (13-1) by a combined 21-14 in the first and fourth quarters.

The problem for the Spoofhounds was the other two quarters, especially the second when the Falcons --- who rolled up 566 total yards --- used a gaudy 33-7 scoring edge to build a 40-21 lead at the half.

The Spoofhounds, who had 430 total yards of their own, held a 14-7 lead after one quarter on a Connor Drake touchdown pass and his 1-yard run. Those scores were sandwiched around a 1-yard run by Hair that proved to be the appetizer for his bountiful buffet of greatness.

For those around the state ready for Blair Oaks to shed its Hair --- Dylan was proceeded by brothers Jordan and Nolan, who both had stellar careers --- too bad for you.

Dylan is only a sophomore.

Maryville never had an answer for Hair, whether it was on a designed pass, run or the result of a scramble out of the pocket. In the second quarter alone, he had touchdown runs of 8, 13 and 26 yards, while he also tossed a 27-yard scoring strike to Jayden Purdy.

Hair finished with 241 yards on the ground and six touchdown; through the air, he was 10-of-15 for 227 yards and the one score.

"We worked for this all year, starting last December and ending it now," said Hair, who fought through leg cramps in the second half. "It feels good."

Purdy also added a 7-yard run in the second quarter as the Falcons built the 19-pont lead at the break, while the margin was 48-27 after three quarters.

The Spoofhounds made it mildly interesting in the fourth, getting within 48-34- with still 10 minutes left. But the play that sealed it came when Blair Oaks faced third-and-12 from its own 16 with eight minutes left, and Jake Closser gained just enough get the first down and dig the Falcons out of a possible trouble spot.

The Falcons' second-half touchdowns were scored on scampers of 27 and 30 yards by Hair, and a 1-yard plunge by Purdy. Closser had his own big night and the senior receiver did it without scoring a touchdown ---- six catches for 141 yards.

"We got as far as we could," Closser said, "and went out on a great note."

Indeed they did. Color this celebration Green.

Try as you might, you just can't stop them from scoring. They're like trying to catch a feather, a Falcon feather, in a hurricane.

Now, they've scored the biggest prize of all.

Chris Leuckel

Hair's huge night leads Falcons
to second title in three years

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