Pirates have deja vu against Osage in sectional playoffs

In a rematch of last year’s playoff game, the Osage Indians football team once again worked its magic against the Boonville Pirates last night in a Class 3 Sectional game at Osage.

And for the second year in a row, the Indians proved to be just a little better than the Pirates while prevailing by a score of 38-20.

While matching the 11-0 and No. 3 stated ranked Indians versus the 10-1 and No. 3 Pirates, the first half was everything you thought it would be with great defenses and opportunistic offenses.

Unfortunately, the Indians’ offense proved to be a little better on this night while out-gaining the Pirates 344-186.

While the loss closed out Boonville’s season at 10-2 overall, head coach Devin Brown said his team came up a little bit short against Osage.

“A couple of plays here or there but it’s one of those things where you have to give them credit,” Brown said. “We started off good and then they just kind of wore us down and had a little bit more speed than we did. But I can’t be more proud of Wes Davis, Ty Green, Keith Poindexter, Dyllan Crowley and Holden Hinkle and all the seniors. None of these guys quit playing all year. We haven’t lost since August 26 or whatever day that was. For me coming in late July and they could have said forget it, but they came out and they wanted to be good and they were good.”

Boonville senior Wes Davis, who closed out his career with 26 carries for 114 yards and three touchdowns, said after the game that Osage is 11-0, now 12-0, for a reason.

“They are a really good team,” Davis said. “We came out and thought we could hang with them and we should have, but they are just a good team. They flow to the ball and their defensive line was good. We had a good game plan and came out and had some good plays, but they are just a good team.”

While the Pirates had their 10-game win streak snapped, they would give Osage everything they wanted and more early on when Davis scored on a 44-yard run with 5:35 left in the first quarter to put Boonville on top 7-0.

However the yards, or touchdowns for that matter, would be hard to come by for the rest of the game as Osage answered with a touchdown of its own on a 7-play, 48-yard drive for the score with 3:16 left to tie the game at 7-all. The 12-yard pass from sophomore Bo Dean to Jared Edwards set the tone for the rest of the night as the Indians displayed an aerial attack unseen by the Pirates this year.

Nonetheless, after exchanging punts, Osage initiated another long scoring drive by moving the ball 46 yards on 11 plays down to the Boonville 14. Then, after facing a fourth and four, Osage coach Dan Henderson elected to go for a field goal from 31 yards out. The move paid off as senior Vincent Saborin just barely cleared the uprights on a line drive to put the Indians on top 10-7.

The Pirates struggled offensively for the rest of the half while punting the ball for the third time in the half after a three and out. Then, after forcing the Indians to punt the ball back after six plays, Boonville closed out the out with a two-play drive.

Boonville finished the first half with four punts and one touchdown while Osage had one touchdown, one field goal and four punts.

The game was far from being over, though.

In a wild second half, the Pirates punted the ball on three straight possessions while Osage hit paydirt on its second possession of the half on a 50-yard pass from Dean to Jared Edwards to make it 17-7 with 6:23 left.

With things looking pretty grim offensively, Boonville finally made its own break when junior Kelsey Callaway blocked a Osage punt and recovered the ball at the Indians 1-yard line. Of course it didn’t take the Pirates long to get the ball in the end zone. On the very next play, Davis crossed the goal line to cut Osage’s lead to three at 17-14 with 2:29 remaining.

Brown said he called the punt block. “That’s something that can change a game,” Brown said. “Kelsey made a real good play for us on that and that should have changed the game for us, but we didn’t come out and make enough plays after that.”

Unfortunately for Boonville, they would get no closer in the ballgame as Osage came back again with a long touchdown pass from Dean to Kyle Jones from 58 yards out to extend the lead to 24-14 with 1:06 left in the third.

It got worse before it got better for Boonville as Osage came back and recovered the ball on the ensuing kick off at the Pirates 26. Then, after faking a field goal from the Boonville 7 on fourth and two, the Pirates coughed up the ball on the very next play from their own 9.

Two plays later from the 5, Dean hit paydirt with 10:51 left in the game to make it 31-14.

The Pirates didn’t go down without a fight, though. Starting from their own 19 after the ensuing kick off, Boonville initiated a 12-play drive for the score when Davis crossed the goal line from the 3 with 5:45 remaining to cut the lead to 11 at 31-20.

However it was pretty much all Osage after that as the Indians came back and capped off a eight-play drive from their own 47 with a 6-yard run by senior Cody Maher to go up 38-20 with 3:31 left.
The Pirates wound up running only four plays after that while Osage came back and took over on downs to run out the clock.

Brown said after the game Osage’s balance made them tough to defend.

“Their quarterback is pretty good and put it where he needed to put it,” Brown said. “Their receivers caught it and they didn’t have any drop balls. Their routes were also well executed. Run-wise we were ok but route-wise they were able to complete them.”

Osage finished the game with 14 first downs along with 123 yards rushing and 221 passing for a total of 344. Boonville, meanwhile, finished the game with only five first downs along with 110 yards rushing and 76 passing for a total of 186.

While rushing for 114 yards and three touchdowns, Davis also completed 6 of 13 passes for 76 yards.
Gus Kemp led all receivers in the game for Boonville with two catches for 39 yards. Holden Hinkle had two catches for 30 yards while Kelsey Callaway added one catch for 4 yards and Jay Barnhart with one catch for 3 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, Davis led all tacklers for Boonville with 14 solo stops, four assisted tackles and three tackles for losses.

Dyllan Crowley had eight solo stops, four assisted tackles, two tackles for losses and one sack, while Ty Green added three solo stops, five assisted tackles, one sack and one tackle for a loss.

Keith Poindexter finished the game with three solo stops, three assisted tackles, three sacks and three tackles for losses, while Jalen Poindexter added seven solo stops, one assisted tackle and one tackle for a loss, Dakota Meyer with five solo stops, one assisted tackle and one tackle for a loss, Jay Barnhart with four solo stops and one assisted tackle, Jared Oser with two solo stops and three assisted tackles, Damario Walker with five solo stops, Gus Kemp with three solo stops, Holden Hinkle with two solo stops and Kelsey Callaway with one solo stop.