Photo by Cody Nespor Barnesville's Ethan Spangenburg (53) chases down KIPP Columbus quarterback Cameron Frazier (4) for a sack.

BARNESVILLE — All conventional football knowledge says that KIPP Columbus should not have been at Shamrock Stadium Saturday night.

The Jaguars, whose football program began in 2017, went 6-4 in the regular season and none of those six wins came against a team with a winning record. Their first-ever trip into the playoffs should have ended in the first round last week against previously unbeaten, 9-0 Symmes Valley and yet, the Jaguars pulled off a surprising 16-13 upset and advanced to the second round.

They were going from one nine-win team to another though, as they were now matched-up with 9-1 Barnesville, who rolled over Dawson-Bryant 36-6 in their playoff-opener.

Again, KIPP Columbus put together a stellar team performance and took Barnesville down to the wire before two fourth-quarter turnovers allowed the Shamrocks to escape with a 28-20 victory.

“We wanted to pull this off,” said Jaguars coach James Lee. “I understand that we’re not supposed to be here, but that’s okay.

“Credit to Barnesville, that’s a great program and a great team, but I’m proud of our team.”

Trailing 28-20 in the fourth quarter, backup quarterback Cameron Frazier completed a 40-yard pass to Tomaryan Tanner that put the Jaguars at the Barnesville one-yard line with less than four minutes left to play.

Primed to potentially tie the game with a score and two-point conversion, KIPP Columbus had a bad snap on their first play at the goal line and Barnesville’s Gavin Carpenter recovered it in the endzone for a touchback, snuffing out the scoring threat.

“It was a turning point,” Barnesville coach Blake Allen said of the goalline fumble. “My hat’s off to KIPP Columbus, they battled. We were up 16 there in the fourth and they could’ve folded, but they have a lot of heart and they fought back. And credit to our kids, we also could have folded there when the momentum was swinging, but we found a way.”

Before that fumble, KIPP Columbus had seized all the momentum in the game. The Jaguars trailed 28-12 seven seconds into the fourth quarter after Barnesville QB C.J. Hannahs found Spencer Bliss up the left sideline for a 13-yard touchdown.

In need of two scores, the Jaguars faced fourth down on their next drive just inside Shamrock territory. Frazier, who was filling in for an injured Tymir Wynn, threw a pass down the middle of the field that was caught by Xavier Ferguson, who out-ran Barnesville’s defenders for a 43-yard score. The Jaguars forced Barnesville to punt on their next drive and had everything going in their favor until that goalline fumble.

“We stressed getting them down, don’t let them into the endzone and make them keep snapping it because when it gets down tight, you never know what can happen,” Allen said. “It was a great example of giving great effort, we got them down and made them keep snapping it and we just got fortunate they lost the ball and we made a huge play.”

KIPP Columbus had one chance left, starting from their own 14 with no timeouts and less than two minutes remaining. Frazier’s first pass of the drive was intercepted by Taison Starr, however, allowing the Shamrocks to kneel out the rest of the clock and win the game.

“This is what you put all the work in for,” Allen said. We’re just excited for this opportunity.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Barnesville (now 10-1 on the year) scored the game’s first two touchdowns on one-yard runs by Owyn Wise and Spencer Bliss to take a 14-0 lead. It would have been easy for KIPP Columbus to crumple there, down two touchdowns on the road against a nine-win team, but they did not.

The Jaguars scored on a one-yard run by Tyrone Woody 30 seconds before halftime and scored early in the third quarter on a 73-yard run by Frazier to make the score 14-12.

“I think it says a lot about our players,” Lee said. “I think it says a lot about the fight and the grit that they have. They want to be successful. I’m so proud of them, they gave everything that they had and continued to fight.”

The Jaguars benefitted from big plays all throughout the game. Frazier finished with 152 yards rushing and 114 yards passing with runs of 73 and 39 yards and throws of 28, 43 and 40 yards. Running back Antonio Campbell ripped off a 58-yard run that set up their first touchdown before halftime.

“We told them all week that if we miss a tackle they have a chance to break one,” Allen said. “Overall, I think we were sound but we’ve got to clean it up. We know we have a huge challenge ahead of us next week and we can’t afford to give up the big plays.”

The 5-foot-6, 180-pound Campbell gave trouble to the Shamrocks all night. Campbell was so strong and low to the ground that trying to bring him down seemed akin to trying to tackle a fire hydrant.

“It’s hard to even find him,” Allen said. “Their (offensive) line is so big that he just kind of sneaks through there and he’s just hard to tackle and hard to get down.”

Campbell ran 17 times for 142 yards. The Jaguars ran for 276 yards as a team.

Barnesville scored two touchdowns in the second half, both on throws from Hannahs, who finished 11-of-14 for 113 yards and ran for 37 more.

“That’s been his thing all year,” Allen said of his junior signal-caller. “He’s going to make good decisions and we trust him with the ball. He’s one of the smartest football players I’ve ever coached and I trust 100% that he’ll make the right decision.”

All four of Barnesville’s touchdowns came on short fields. The Shamrocks’ scoring drives started at KIPP’s 30-yard line, the 50, KIPP’s 49 and KIPP’s 20.

“We stress all three phases of the game and special teams is a big part of it,” Allen said. “I thought we made some big plays on special teams to flip the field around and we capitalized on it. We needed everything we could get tonight.”

Those short fields were set up by two punts and two turnovers on downs. Carpenter broke through the line and tackled KIPP’s punter before he could get the ball away to set up their final touchdown.

Ethan Spangenburg and Quentin Leasure registered sacks for the Shamrocks. Senior Chase Conner had an interception, a two-point conversion and had a 42-yard touchdown catch.

“Just another senior that’s made plays for us all year, on both sides of the ball,” Allen said. “When we need a play, him and Spencer Bliss are the two kids that we turn to and they once again did it for us.”

Bliss ran the ball seven times for 36 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 47 yards and another score.

Barnesville advances to take on Fort Frye (10-1) at a neutral site next week. The Cadets defeated the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes 36-6 in their game Saturday.

“This’ll be our sixth year in a row facing (Fort Frye) so we know what kind of team they are and the challenge that it’s going to present us,” Allen said.

Barnesville 28, KIPP Columbus 20

KC 0 6 6 8 — 20

B 0 14 7 7 — 28

B — Wise run 1 (run failed)

B — Bliss run 1 (Conner pass from Bliss)

KC — Brown run 1 (penalty on try)

KC — Frazier run 73 (pass failed)

B — Conner pass 42 from Hannahs (Carpenter kick)

B — Bliss pass 13 from Hannahs (Carpenter kick)

KC — Ferguson pass 43 from Frazier (Frazier run)

RUSHING: KIPP 38-276-2td (Frazier 14-152-1td, Campbell 17-142, Brown 2-3-1td, Wynn 4-(-6), Toure 1-(-15)). Barnesville 35-132-2td (Wise 14-58-1td, Bliss 7-36-1td, Hannahs 13-37, Jones 1-1).

PASSING: KIPP 4-10 114-1td, 2int (Frazier 4-8 114-1td-1int, Wynn 0-2). Barnesville 11-14 113-2td-1int (all Hannahs).

RECEIVING: KIPP 4-114-1td (Ferguson 3-74-1td, Tanner 1-40). Barnesville 11-113-2td (Bliss 5-47-1td, Conner 1-42-1td, Wise 4-18, Detling 1-6).

FIRST DOWNS: KIPP 14. Barnesville 13.

PENALTIES-YARDS: KIPP 11-87. Barnesville 6-32.

FUMBLES-LOST: KIPP 1-1. Barnesville 1-0.