ELDON - The Eldon Mustangs are galloping into Tri-County Conference action riding high.
Eldon finished off the non-conference portion of its regular season 2-0 and averaging 38.0 points per game.
It will be the Hallsville Indians who will be trying to slow down the Mustang attack in the league opener for both teams tonight. Kickoff in Eldon is set for 7 p.m.
Last week Eldon rolled to a 34-6 road victory against Owensville and is ranked No. 7 in this week's Missouri Class 3 state poll.
"We played pretty well in the first half," said Mustang head coach Chad Hult of last week. "The kids got a little unfocused in the second half. But overall they played pretty well."
Hallsville comes in 0-2 after being shut out by Class 2 state-ranked Ava 31-0 at home last week.
The Indians have been outscored a combined 60-16 in its two games so far.
"We're off to a little bit of a rough start," said Hallsville head coach Ty Harrison. "Our competition has been really high and we haven't executed very well. We're just trying to find that consistency. I knew coming in we wouldn't have any easy games. The good thing is we can play a lot better than we have played so far."
And now the Indians will have to deal with the high-powered Eldon running game.
Senior quarterback Dawson Brandt is pacing the Mustangs' ground game with 315 yards on 32 carries (9.8 yards avg.) with four touchdowns while senior fullback Isaiah Parsons has rushed for 203 yards on 37 attempts and six TDs and junior tailback Logan Hall has 126 yards on 24 carries.
Brandt has directed the Eldon play-action passing game, completing 9-of-19 attempts for 136 yards and a TD. Hall has caught five passes for 85 yards.
Brandt, a free safety, paces the Mustangs in tackles with 19 and has two interceptions while Parsons, at inside linebacker, has 10 tackles and senior inside linebacker Charlie Mays eight.
"They are like Eldon always is big, strong and physical," Harrison said. "You've got to stop the run game first, and you can't key on any one guy. It's going to be a challenge for us on both sides of the ball. From an offensive perspective, a lot of those guys play both ways.
"They run it very well; you can't key on one or two of those plays, because they've got counters off everything. You've got to be able to defend several people and several different plays."
Senior Zane Parnell has run the Hallsville flexbone attack the past three seasons at quarterback and is a dual threat for the Indians.
Leading the Indian rushing attack has been junior running back Mason Huskey. Huskey has around 150 rushing yards so far this season and displayed his breakaway abilities with a 70-yard TD run in Hallsville's season-opening loss to Father Tolton.
Senior outside linebacker/safety Colton Graybill has an interception for the Indian defensive unit.
"We know Hallsville is a big, physical team," Hult said. "They have two running backs who run extra hard and their quarterback can throw the ball well and has a couple of good receivers.
"They've got an outside linebacker who is just physical and kind of plays downhill and gets to the ball."
Eldon lost just one game in the regular season last season, and that was to conference champion Blair Oaks.
Blair Oaks figures to be the team to beat again in the Tri-County, but Hult says it will be a test every week.
"When you get into conference it always gets tougher, because all the teams are more familiar with each other," he said. "From top to bottom it's always a very competitive conference and I expect the same this year. Blair Oaks has been at the top and you've got to expect the same this year."
There is the chance of heavy rain in the area this week end and Hult doesn't expect that to be a problem for his squad.
"For us it would still be a regular game, when you run the ball as much as we do," Hult said of the chance of a muddy turf. "We still have a natural field, so our kids are used to playing in sloppy conditions."