Fair Grove and Lamar will face off for the Class 2 state championship at 3 pm on Friday at Mizzou.

Find a full team stat comparison along with individual leaders below.

Here are some things that stood to me.

RECENT HISTORY

Fair Grove has been one of the area’s most consistent programs over the past decade. The Eagles are 92-18 over the past nine seasons including five seasons with one or fewer losses including this season.

Unfortunately for Fair Grove, they have consistently run up against the gold standard of consistency in Lamar in five of the eight seasons prior to this one. The Tigers in that same nine-year span are 110-14 with four state titles and three other appearances in the state title game including this season.

Lamar has beaten Fair Grove in each of the previous five playoff matchups over the past eight seasons, including three times when Fair Grove entered the game with an unbeaten record.

KEY THING TO WATCH: Momentum Altering Plays

I didn’t say explosive plays because, after watching Lamar against Bowling Green, Lamar’s key plays were more making the big play at the right time versus a more traditional explosive play of 20+ yards.

Fair Grove majors in offensive explosion and the catalyst of it is Kellen Lair. Lair is averaging a staggering 15.6 yards per carry with 1,591 yards on just 102 rushes. Any time he touches the ball, he is a threat to take it to the end zone.

When Fair Grove desperately needed a spark against Lafayette County in the state quarterfinal game, Lair was there to ignite.

He took opening kickoff in the second half back 90 yards to get Fair Grove on the board. The Eagles rode that momentum to a 14-13 win.

I covered Lamar’s game against Bowling Green last Saturday. The Tigers seized the momentum for Bowling Green at every turn.

After an opening 3-and-out for the Lamar offense, the defense forced a turnover on Bowling Green’s first drive to set up a short field that led to a touchdown and the lead. When Bowling Green committed a penalty on a punt, Lamar made the Bobcats kick it again which led to a blocked punt and another short field for a touchdown.

The Tigers stopped three-of-four Bowling Green two-point conversion attempts including one with under a minute left to preserve a one-point win.

Lamar’s four losses on the season are deceiving as the Tigers play the toughest schedule of any Class 2 team in the state, period. The championship DNA was on display at every turn last Saturday. Lamar’s last three wins have come against teams that had a combined one loss before facing the Tigers.

Bowling Green was able to pull off some explosive plays against Lamar last Saturday, but the Tigers didn’t let the momentum turn against them and came up with stops when they needed them most.

RECORD WATCH

Brock Bruner comes into the game with 183 total tackles on the season for Fair Grove. That is No. 12 all-time for a single season in Missouri history. If he hits his average of 13 per game, it would give him 196 for the season which would tie for eighth all time. With 17 tackles, Bruner would become the eighth player in Missouri history with 200 tackles in a season.

TEAM COMPARISON

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS