If the Southern Boone Eagles want to get back on the winning track, they are going to have to show improvement in the areas that have plagued them the past two weeks – passing, offense and defense and going out and putting a pop on their opponent.

The Indians, 3-1, come to Ashland for a 7 p.m. kickoff on a 3-game winning streak.
OK, they beat Warsaw 38-0 last week, and a lot of team accomplish that, but the

Indians are on a roll right now with their offense clicking.
The Eagles secondary will have to stop the passing game of senior quarterback Zach Wheeler – 8-for-12 and 145 yards last week – and the running game that features multiple athletic backs.

The Indians will try to get the ball into the hands of Drake Gaines and Dalton Depee, both of whom are reliable receivers, and running back Austin Magnuson.

In order to slow the Indians offense, the Eagles linebackers – Ty Varvil, Cooper Mange and others – will need to read their keys and fly to the ball.

SoBoCo’s defense looked great at moments in last week’s loss to Hallsville, but gave up too many big plays. Seth Mueller played the game with a broken hand and was effective on blitzes, but the Eagles will need consistent pass coverage this week.

On offense the Eagles will need to avoid loss-of-yardage downs – plays that killed drives last week and SoBoCo receivers will be pushed to get open for quarterback Sam Stichnote’s passes.

The Eagles offensive line, including Brett Price, Blake Wooden, Brady Holton, Dominic Lawrence and Charlie Smith – can compete with the Indians, if not dominate them up front. But the Indians have solid – if not big – athletes up front, including standout linebacker Garrett Sutherland, who returned a fumble 95-yards for a score last week.

In all, the Indians created three turnovers last week.

This is a game Southern Boone will win and turn their season around, if they can get their passing game untracked and the Eagles can hurry Wheeler into making bad passes.

Look for SoBoCo to get untracked this week and come out on top.


Prediction: Southern Boone 29 Osage 28

Week 5 Roster

Southern Boone vs Osage

7pm Friday, September 15, 2017