CALIFORNIA - The California Pintos will have their first road game of the season tonight as they get set to take on the Boonville Pirates.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Pintos coach Mikel Gragg said the team is treating the game the same way it treated the Blair Oaks Jamboree and some of their camps during the summer.
"We have to stay focus on the bus and when we get there," Gragg said.
Heading into the game, Gragg said the team will look to slow down Boonville's multiple threats on offense.
While Boonville (1-2, 0-1 Tri-County) utilizes a spread offense, it has relied heavily on the run game through the first three weeks. Junior running back Avian Thomas leads the Pirates' rushing attack with 271 yards and two touchdowns. In last week's 31-0 loss to Class 2 No. 2 Blair Oaks, Thomas finished with 27 carries for 86 yards.
Junior quarterback Nick Ferrari has completed 18-of-35 passes for 205 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. His top target has been junior wide receiver Tramell Coleman, who has seven catches for 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
In Boonville's 49-14 win against Holden in Week 2, Thomas and Coleman combined to score six of the Pirates' seven touchdowns.The Pintos had issues with ball security during their 13-7 loss last Friday to School of the Osage. Gragg said the team has been working on that during practice.
"We've been making sure that every running back has two hands on the football," he said.
Boonville's defense is led by senior Brandon Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior who plays defensive end. Johnson was all-conference on both sides of the ball - he plays tight end on offense - and has a team-high five sacks to go with 19 tackles and two fumble recoveries.
Senior linebacker Landon Weaver has a team-high 38 total tackles, with 21 of those coming last week against Blair Oaks. Sophomore linebacker Lane West also has 19 tackles with a team-best three sacks.
Boonville has suffered a pair of shutouts this season, opener the year with a 42-0 loss to Pleasant Hill. The Pirates average 16.3 points per game and allows 29 points per contest.
This will be Boonville's first home conference game as a member of the Tri-County Conference. The Pirates played last season as a member of the North Central Missouri Conference.
The team is pretty healthy but the Pintos have lost their starting left guard Jordan Eubanks, who broke his wrist last week. Gragg said the injury won't change the team on offense too much.
"We have been able to play a lot of lineman," Gragg said. "We have had six really good ones and now we are down to five. We have to shuffle up our line a little bit but it is not going to change it a whole lot."
Boonville and California last met in the 2015 season opener, which the Pirates won at home 9-6. The two teams also met in the 1998 Class 3 state championship game, which Boonville won 33-22 in St. Louis.
Related Media: California Pintos Football Podcast [Boonville preview, Sept. 14, 2018]