Photo/PAUL KRAJNYAK ST. CLAIRSVILLE wide receiver Justin Heatherington makes a move against Bellaire’s Trent Dunaway during Friday’s game at Red Devil Stadium.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Several questions have swirled around the St. Clairsville football during its impressive 6-0 start to the season.

Most centered around the passing game. Head coach Brett McLean and offensive coordinator Donnie Giffin have heard things like: can St. Clairsville throw? Will St. C. throw?

Quite simply, it boiled down to need and in those opening six games, the Red Devils’ ground attack has taken the game over. However, Friday evening during Homecoming at Red Devil Stadium, Bellaire simply dared St. Clairsville to throw.

And the Red Devils answered the aforementioned questions in resounding fashion.

Senior quarterback Dustin Carrothers completed 14-of-21 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns, which sparked the Red Devils to a hard-earned 27-16 victory over the now 6-1 Big Reds.

“We kind of had the inkling that we’d see the kind of defense we saw,” McLean said. “We committed all week that we had to be ready to throw the ball to at least back them off (of the line of scrimmage). Bellaire was true to its game plan by forcing us to try to throw the ball.”

The Red Devils came into the game with only 346 yards and three touchdowns passing for the season.

“I know it hasn’t looked that way on paper or at the games up until this point, but we do always try to strike a balance (offensively),” McLean said. “We do what we need to do to win the game. The chess match happens every week and sometimes it takes a quarter or so to officially see what you need to do.”

Actually, that’s about exactly how long it took for the Red Devils. The game was scoreless after one and they were stuffed on a fourth-and-goal from the literal one-foot line.

“We knew what they wanted to do, so we put 10 guys in the box to stop their run, but they went to splits on each side and we just don’t really have the talent to cover their talent,” Big Reds head coach Mark Spigarelli said. “Hats off to their coaching staff for being able to exploit that. I wanted to make their quarterback beat us and give him credit he played a hell of a game and they have two top-notch, big receivers.”

Of Carrothers’ 14 completions, 13 were spread between 6-2 senior Justin Heatherington and 6-5 classmate Craig Bober. Heatherington ran away from the Big Reds’ defense on multiple occassions.

He actually caught 9 passes for an astounding 324 yards and 3 touchdowns. Coming into the game, Heatherington had caught 6 passes for 133 yards. Bober, meanwhile, hauled in 4 balls for 62 yards.

Heatherington actually got the scoring started about midway through the second quarter. The Red Devils were backed up to their own 5 following a nifty punt from by senior Cole LaRoche.

Four plays later, Heatherington was off to the races. He burnt a Bellaire defensive back and went 86 yards for the score. Senior Luke Watt made it 7-0 with the first of his three placements in the game.

“I am proud of Dustin, Justin and Craig,” McLean said. “To play those positions on our team and not have too many attempts so far this year, I am sure they were frustrated, but we’re going to do what we need to do to win a game.”

The score remained that way until LaRoche — the reigning Division II state shot put champion — drilled a 40-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

However, the momentum the Big Reds had built with their late score was short lived. The air-raid Devils took the second-half kickoff and proceeded to connect with Bober for 30 yards and then Heatherington for 31 more.

Two plays later, senior running back Brady Kolb, who was limited to 48 yards on 14 carries, went 10 for a touchdown.

Back came the Big Reds, however. Junior Cole Porter, who surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season early in the second half, carried seven consecutive times before ripping off 34 for a touchdown. All told, Porter carried 37 times for 273 yards.

St. Clairsville answered once again and did so quickly. Bober caught a pass for 13, but a sack and an intentional grounding appeared to give the Big Reds another lift. However, Heatherington got free again and Carrothers found him in stride for an 83-yard pitch and catch this time.

“It was back-and-forth and back-and-forth,” McLean observed. “The kids didn’t ride the emotional roller coaster too hard. We were fortunate to strike back each time we needed to to get that momentum back because that’s such a tricky thing in high school football.”

The Big Reds certainly didn’t fold up their tents. After trading possessions, they went to work and put together a 12-play drive that culminated with a beautifully executed series of fakes by junior quarterback Bobby Roth, which led to a free sprint to the end zone from 19 yards out. The try for two failed, leaving it as a 21-16 reading.

As it had done each time, St. Clairsville had the final answer. And it was another Carrothers to Heatherington hook up. This time, Heatherington caught a simple pass just a few yards down the field. He slipped through two Red Devils’ defenders and was gone for a 58-yard score.

“We just gave up too many big plays,” Spigarelli said. “I knew all week we had to make them punt and we didn’t do that enough. I am proud of my kids because they never quit. The sun is going to come up (Saturday), it’s going to be warm and we need another great week of practice. We have to forget about this because we have another great team in Shadyside coming up.”

All told, the Devils finished with 421 yards of offense, while the Big Reds collected an impressive 368. Bellaire completed only 5-of-15 passes for 54 yards.

At halftime, Hailey McCort was crowned the Homecoming Queen after she selected the odd-colored rose.