So much for practice : Sports : ConnectMidMissouri.com

So much for practice

by Tom Loeffler

Posted: 11.07.2011 at 11:32 PM

Tom Loeffler

Tom Loeffler is a sports columnist for connectmidmissouri.com and KRCG.

Read more: Local, Loeffler, High School

/ Tom Loeffler

This was a throwback game you used to play in your backyard, with everything you could want.

Mud and slop.

And no moms yelling at you for getting muddy.

It was only fitting the game-changing play was drawn up in the dirt, err, mud.

Scrapping the playbook on the final play of the first half, the Blair Oaks Falcons scored on a 58-yard, hook-and-ladder pass and pitch to take the halftime lead on their way to a gritty 14-8 win over the South Callaway Bulldogs on Monday night.

The Class 2 sectional game was a slugfest and a mudfest, to be sure

"It was just a matter of slugging it out and making enough plays to win," Falcons head coach Brad Drehle said. "That's the whole deal this time of year, making enough plays."

The play of the game was improbable, to be sure.

Playing in ankle-deep mud, the teams had slopped their way to a scoreless tie with 15 seconds left in the first half, when the Falcons got it at their own 30.

"The conditions were atrocious," Drehle said. "It's really kind of unfortunate that you have a game of this caliber played in conditions like this. But the bottom line is, it boils down to getting the job done.

"We both played on the same field conditions."

An incomplete pass and a 12-yard gain moved it to the 42 with :00.2 seconds left --- not even enough time for you to say the Blair Oaks Falcons can pull of wacky stuff, you just watch.

Here it came.

"We just told them: 'Ben (Cooper), run a hitch and then get the ball to to Derek (Otto) and see what happens," Drehle said. "We called it hitch and pitch ... it's the first time we've ever run it, ever. We just made it up."

So much for those hours and hours of practice, huh?

This will go down in Falcons lore, like Tinkers to Evers to Chance --- this was Castillo to Cooper to Otto.

Daniel Castillo threw a strike to Cooper around midfield, he pitched it to Otto and --- with help from a block from Cooper --- Otto completed the 58-yard touchdown play as time expired to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead.

"We were just trying to find a way to get a big play," Drehle said. "We took two of our best players and drew it up.

"That was the difference in the game, really."

The Falcons (10-2) made it 14-0 on a 22-yard pass from Castillo to Tanner Kemna with 8:32 left in the third quarter.

"We were fortunate to put the ball in the end zone on our first possession of the second half," Drehle said. "That was huge."

The Bulldogs (10-2) got back within 14-8 on a 21-yard scamper by Ben Seitz with 4:47 left in the third quarter. But there were no more serious scoring threats by either team the rest of the way.

When the game ended, many of the Falcons rolled in the mud like so many Arnold Ziffels.

If you're not sure, ask your parents.

"When the players celebrate like that," Drehle said, "that's what it's all about. They've worked their tails off and they've earned it."

With the win, Blair Oaks advances to host Macon (11-1) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals. It also avenges a 45-19 beatdown the Bulldogs laid on the Falcons last month.

"First off, South Callaway has a great team and great players," Drehle said. "The first game, we were missing three of our starters and we turned it over five times. We thought if we could come over here and hang on to the football and make them play a complete game, we had a chance.

"That's all you could ask. And that's what we did."

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