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Meetin’ of unbeatens

St. C. to host Bellaire

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Coming into the season, many expected St. Clairsville to be one of the area’s top teams. Many also expected Bellaire to be much improved, but also maybe a year away from being really good.

As the prep football season enters its final month, St. Clairsville has delivered on what the pundits expected, racking up six victories in as many tries. Bellaire, meanwhile, has proven itself to be ahead of schedule because the Big Reds have also won all six of their outings.

But, something is guaranteed to give this Friday. The long-time rivals will put their unblemished marks on the line before a homecoming crowd at Red Devil Stadium.

“Bellaire hasn’t been a surprise to me or anyone on our staff,” St. C. head coach Brett McLean said. “We played against many of these same kids last year in a very tough game and we saw it coming. We’ve seen these kids, on both teams, grow up against each other.”

Bellaire head coach Mark Spigarelli, who is in his third season at the helm, has been around the Big Reds program for many years. After several minutes of thinking, he couldn’t come up with the last time when both teams faced each other undefeated other than the stretch of time when they served as the mutual season opener in the 90s.

“We took some lumps last year, but our kids have worked their butts off to get bigger and stronger and they’ve played well for the most part,” Spigarelli said. “When we haven’t played our best games, like against Harrison Central and Beaver Local for instance, we were still able to overcome some problems and get the job done. We know we have a huge challenge ahead this week and these are the kinds of games you want to be involved with. It’s going to be exciting.”

On top of being a rivalry game between undefeated outfits, it’s also a battle of 3A and 4A OVAC class leaders, state-ranked teams and squads who are currently on track to not only qualify for the postseason, but could end up playing host to a game.

“We really don’t talk about any of the ‘extra’ stuff,” Spigarelli said. “Our focus has to be strictly on St. Clairsville. “

The Red Devils, who are coming off a 49-6 rout of Harrison Central last week, remember quite well last season’s 28-14. That game wasn’t stretched to a two-score game until Justin Heatherington returned an interception for a touchdown.

“That was a war down there last year that came down to the wire,” McLean said. “There are so many similarities between the teams. Both teams are playing high-percentage football. By that, I mean neither team does a lot of things that maybe we shouldn’t be doing. Neither teams calls plays just to be fancy.”

Actually, as it pertains to offense, both teams are mirror images of each other. They let their quarterbacks — Bobby Roth (Bellaire) and Dustin Carrothers (St. Clairsville) — manage the game and they feed talented running backs who operate behind a strong, imposing and talented offensive line.

“Both teams want to run the ball,” Spigarelli said. “We know they have a really good one-two punch in (Brady) Kolb and (Justin) Heatherington with some other fullbacks who come at you hard. But, they have a mammoth offensive line, which is actually one of the biggest lines we’ve seen in quite sometime, so it’ll be a challenge for us to get off blocks and make tackles.”

Kolb and Heatherington have both been impressive. Kolb has rushed 152 times for 1,012 yards for 14 touchdowns. Heatherington, meanwhile, has carried 75 times for 575 yards and 8 touchdowns.

All told, the Red Devils have rushed for 1,891 yards and 26 touchdowns.

Bellaire, meanwhile, also has a one-two punch in its backfield with Roth. Junior Cole Porter has emerged as the featured back. He’s rushed 139 times for 843 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. Junior Trace Sechrest and Kaleb Pitchford have carried a combined 67 times for 486 yards.

The Big Reds have attempted just 52 passes all season, which is five more than the Devils have thrown.

“I think both staffs do a good job of coaching to their personnel,” McLean said. “I know we looked at our people and felt this approach (of running the ball) was the best for us.”

Both defenses have played well, too. The Brothers Sechrest — Trace and Colt — are the leaders of the Big Reds’ stop troops. Griffen Heatherington has also been a solid contributor and ranks second on the team in tackles and leads the way with six sacks. Trent Dunaway has broken up seven passes.

“We have to get them into punting situations,” Spigarelli said. “We can’t let them be in third and shorts or even fourth and shorts because they’re going to go for it. We need to make them feel uncomfortable. They have very few kids who play both ways, so our kids will have to be able to hold up against that.”

St. Clairsville’s defense is led by Justice McCamick, Isaak Myers, Heatherington, Kolb, Kyle Storer and David Mellema.

“Bellaire isn’t allowing many points,” McLean said. “They’re physical and teams simply aren’t finding ways to score much on them. They have good scheme and their kids tackle well. We have to find a way to get some points on the board.”

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