Barnesville rocks Shadyside 53-0
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BARNESVILLE -- Rounding the bend of the halfway point this season, the Barnesville Shamrocks did not break stride Friday, continuing their undefeated streak with a dominant 53-0 victory over the Shadyside Tigers.
The Shamrocks (6-0) defended Shamrock Stadium against the Tigers (2-4) behind their usual effective running game, five touchdown passes from junior quarterback Casey Carpenter, and bullish play from the Rocks defense and special teams.
Carpenter threw for 181 yards to go with five touchdown tosses, four of them 20+ yard passes.
Bradey McIntire caught two scores, finishing with three catches for 44 yards.
Jason Castello reeled in two passes for 43 yards including a 33-yard touchdown.
Camden Carpenter caught one pass, a 37-yard touchdown. Luke Detline was the busiest of the Barnesville receiving corp, catching four passes for 63 yards and one touchdown.
"We have a good running game, and we've seen some teams load the box up on us," Barnesville head coach Blake Allen said. "When they do that, we feel like we can make them pay, because we've got a good passing game and good receivers. Casey made some great throws again, Luke Detling and Costello on the edges, Cam Carpenter getting involved, our backs as well, that's what we want to be. We want to be a team that can have a lot of different athletes get the ball, who can throw a lot of different guys at you."
On the ground, Barnesville freshman Evan Carpenter ripped off an 86-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, his lone tote of the game, to lead the Shamrocks on the ground. In one half of work, senior Taison Starr rushed 10 times for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Starr also tallied a sack Friday. Starr now has 393 yards and seven touchdowns for the Shamrocks, playing in five of their six games.
"We know what Taison's going to bring every week, he's a dynamic athlete," Allen said. "He can catch the ball, runs the ball well, and he's one of our best defensive players. He's a leader for us, that's what we expect from him and he brings it every week."
Shadyside was held down most of the night by Barnesville, quarterback Ben Wach throwing for 44 yards, sitting down in the second half along with many of the Tigers starters. Freshman Jayden Johnson took over under center for the latter portion of Friday, completing two of four passes for nine yards.
Senior Karl Tsoras had a productive day for the Tigers, reeling in a couple of contested catches on his way to four receptions for 37 yards on the day.
Freshman Dante Mavrikas led Shadyside in rushing with 14 yards. The Tigers couldn't get much going on the ground, with eight total team rushing yards.
Barnesville's defense had three sacks, led by 1.5 from big-bodied junior edge Marshall Meade. Bode Carpenter also pulled down an interception in the second half for the 'Rocks.
"Defense played well," Allen said. "[Shadyside's] got some athletes, they came out and hit a couple of passes early but we were able to tighten down and get stops."
Barnesville was able to overwhelm their opponent in the early-goings, benefitting from great field positioning all night to get quick scores against the Tigers. The Shamrocks' worst starting field position in the first half was on their own 39 yard-line. They began drives in Tigers territory four times in the first half, going into halftime ahead 47-0.
Barnesville's defense induced a three-and-out on the first drive of the game, and got into the red zone quickly. Facing a fourth-and-seven from Shadyside's 14, Carpenter's hard count drew the defense offsides, setting up a more manageable fourth-and-two.
The play was a pass to McIntire in the flats, the junior rumbling through a couple tacklers into the end zone for a nine-yard score.
Forcing the Tigers to punt on their next drive, the Shamrocks' Marshall Meade bulldozed back the Tigers line and timed a leap precisely at the right time to block the punt and set up Barnesville at the Shadyside 15 for their second drive of the game.
Starr finished the short offensive series with a six-yard touchdown run untouched right up the middle to put Barnesville ahead 14-0 with 2:18 to play in the first.
"I thought special teams was important to that too," Allen said of his team's quick start. "Marshall Meade made a big play early on, special teams flipped the field around, gave us a short field, we were able to capitalize. Got up two scores there and that got us rolling. We made big plays not just on offense, but on defense and special teams as well."
Detling reeled in a 32-yard touchdown pass on a pump-and-go, which Barnesville followed up with one of two successive trick plays on the goalline for a two-point conversion, going ahead 22-0 with one second to play in the first quarter.
Shadyside got their first first down of the game in the opening offensive play of the second quarter, a 13-yard pass to Tsoras.
Camden Carpenter scored next for Barnesville, a 37-yard streak up the sidelines after catching a swing pass which set up like a screen.
On their second trick play two-point conversion, the ball was pitched to wideout Jason Costello on an end-around, who then flipped the ball over the converging defense to the endzone to McIntire for two. 30-0 Barnesville with 8:40 left in the half.
After a failed fourth down by Shadyside, Barnesville started on the Tigers' 32, eventually settling for a 32-yard field goal from Evan Lough.
Castello got his own long-ball next, a 33-yard touchdown catch down the sidelines. McIntire scored his second touchdown of the day with under a minute to go until halftime, a 21-yard score on a crossing route.
With the clock running for the whole of the second half, the only score to speak of came on
Evan Carpenter's 86-yard burst that put Barnesville over the 50-point mark with 7:30 to play in the game.
Shadyside returns home next week against River (3-2). Barnesville next faces Caldwell (5-0) for a battle of the unbeatens.
"This is going to be a big one," Allen said. "We're going to be playing another undefeated team in Caldwell, one of the best teams around, we're going to go to their place, that's a tough place to go play. We're happy about this one, now turn the page and get ready for a tough test in Caldwell."