New group of Blair Oaks seniors hopes to lead Falcons to third-straight championship

WARDSVILLE, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Blair Oaks football team is a program that head coach Ted LePage emphasizes is built on tradition. And over the last few seasons, that tradition has included a whole lot of winning.

The Falcons have soared to a state championship win in three of the last four campaigns, including the program's first-ever back-to-back title run in 2024 and 2025. Now, the page is turning to a new season, with a new group of seniors in the driver's seat.

"It's about their year," Coach LePage said. "They're seniors. How do you want your senior year [to go]? You remember your senior year more than anything and that's one thing I really talk to them about. When I was in high school, I had a junior year, where we were undefeated until the quarterfinals and got beat. Senior year, we weren't undefeated, but we won state title and we still get together with our teammates. It's about [the seniors'] year. It's not about what anything is in the past. Tradition is outstanding. We want to live up to the tradition, but that tradition is only as good as today's work. How good are you getting today?"

You can watch the full interview with LePage in the video player below.

In the 2025 campaign, LePage's team was led to a state championship by a standout group of 17 seniors. However, headed into the 2026 season, he has an even bigger senior class on hand, as 19 of those fourth-year guys return to lead Falcon football.

The group returns a slew of seniors, who've been together since elementary school, including running back/defensive back Carson Versleus, outside linebacker Wyatt Libbert, defensive end Zayne West and quite a few others.

"This is an exciting group and I say that because I've been watching these young men since about the fourth grade, and they have never lost at any level," LePage said. "This senior class is really an exceptional athletic class, but also has got great chemistry. What I really like about this team is they can joke with each other, they can get after each other, they challenge each other, but it's always needling and there's always stuff going on behind the scenes to to make each other better."

A large number of Coach LePage's returning seniors come on the defensive side, in 2026, as the Falcons are primed to have another big year, wreaking havoc for opposing offenses. In 2025, the Blair Oaks defense limited opponents to an astonishing 5.8 points per game in the group's undefeated state title season.

Even though a new year is ahead, it's clear that the same stout defensive standard remains.

"Defense is looking great," Libbert said. "We got a lot of guys that are coming back from last year, a lot of dudes that were first and second string, so we got a lot of experience and a lot of guys that know what they're doing."

"[Winning a state title] takes a lot and it's a lot of hard work. It's 14 hard weeks of work and then everything before that, the six months before it, too, in the weight room and then practice out here like this," West said, when asked about what he and his defense can learn about what success takes from the last pair of state title runs.

On the other side of the ball, there's a new Falcon taking the lead, however, he's no stranger to making an impact on the field.

It is now junior quarterback Beau Buhr's turn to take the reins of offense, as he follows in the footsteps of graduated quarterback Tyler Bax. For quite some time now, Blair Oaks has become known for its strong quarterback tradition, spanning from Nolan Hair to his younger brother Dylan Hair, then to Tyler Bax and now it's in the hands of Buhr.

"I think that's what I was speaking about when tradition is important, but it's about the next year. They get to learn from the others and I like what Tyler last year in drill work. He was always speaking to Beau, Beau was always speaking to him. They were talking about things. So, this year Beau, when Vander [Halford] is playing quarterback, he's talking to Vander. When Owen's playing quarterback, he's talking to him. So, I think it's important that that's where the chemistry of our team is just so unmatched," LePage said. "You can't put a put a calculation on what their team chemistry is. That's what I've seen with these guys since they've been in fourth grade."

Buhr is new to the starting job, but he saw plenty of action in his sophomore season, working behind Bax. In fact, he came in in a crucial moment in Blair Oaks' state title run, when Bax went down with an injury in the state quarterfinal game in 2025.

"Tyler went out to the third play of the game and took played three more snaps. So, all but six snaps was Beau's game and he ended up with 300 yards total offense, four accounted for touchdowns. State quarterfinals, that's that's hard to do when you're a sophomore," LePage said. "I think Beau's the same guy every day, I think that's why the team really resonates to him. Nothing's too high, nothing's too low. Just do your job, watch what you're supposed to do, do what you're supposed to do and do it at 100 miles an hour. That's what Beau does every day. We saw it last year and it carried over into the playoffs and it's just carrying over right now...He's not a vocal guy like Tyler was. Tyler, he had some swagger to him, now I'm not going to lie. But, Dylan was that way. Dylan was not a talker. Dylan did, showed, but when he spoke, everybody listened. That's the way both Beau is. Beau's really quiet, but when he speaks and he brings the team together."

LePage said that Buhr is a lot like his predecessors in what he brings to the field, athletically, as well.

"He can run as well as, and you know, Dylan was different, I get it, but he can run dang near as well. Last year, he averaged nine yards per carry, almost 450 yards rushing and 12 rushing touchdowns as a backup. So, you know, his ability to run, but his his accuracy in the throwing game. He was 9-for-9 in a state quarterfinal game last year with three touchdowns. You know, coming off of the bench and being able to do that just shows that he took everything he learned from the other two guys and applied it when he got in that game. So, we anticipate nothing but what that's what he's going to do this year."

Blair Oaks will open up this exciting new season on August 28 at home against Maryville, as the quest to three-straight state title will begin.

In terms of what Coach LePage needs to see from his guys over the next few weeks, in the lead-up to that opener...well, it's simple.

"Stance, start, alignment, assignment, effort. Those five things, if you can do those five things, we got a chance after that. Everything else is, you know, we can't control it. But, you can control those five things and that's what we're looking for," LePage said.

That game against Maryville will kickoff at 7 p.m. on Friday, August 28.