Photo by Kim North Barnesville’s Koby Jones (9) races to the end zone to complete a 14-yard pass-and-run from quarterback Cole Francis in the first half against Bellaire Friday night at Nelson Field. Jones scored three touchdowns as the Shamrocks extended their regular-season winning streak to 39 consecutive games. Bellaire’s Scott Balsei (16) and Trevor Dowery (54) give chase.

BELLAIRE — It didn’t take long for Barnesville to assert itself Friday night against Bellaire. A mere 10 seconds.

Junior tailback Trey Toliver raced 65 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and the Shamrocks (3-0) never looked back in shellacking Bellaire 40-0 at Nelson Field.

The lop-sided victory, in which the clock ran the entire second half per the OHSAA mercy rule, extended the Shamrocks regular-season winning streak to 39. It also gave them a 4-3 edge in the all-time series with the Big Reds (2-1).

“I’m really, really proud of our kids,” a jubliant Barnesville head coach Blake Allen said. “Our offensive line did a great job of getting off the ball and staying with their blocks. We’ve got three special backs and they can all break one at any time. The best part about them, they aren’t selfish. They root for each other. They block for each other. They get as excited when one of the other guys scores than when they score.”

Barnesville scored on its first four possessions in rolling to a 33-0 lead at the half.

Following a Logan Craker interception, Barnesville marched 58 yards on eight plays to make it 12-0 on a 3-yard burst by Koby Jones.

After a Bellaire punt, Jones took a handoff and found a seam on the right side of the line. He turned on the jets and went 82 yards to pay dirt. Spanish exchange student Luis Garcia made the first of four PATs in his first appearance of the season, making it 19-0.

On the fourth play of the second quarter, quarterback Cole Francis found Jones in the right flat. The hard-running senior went into the end zone standing up and Garcia bumped the count to 33-0.

Bellaire’s offense was held in check for the most part by a swarming Barnesville defense. The Big Reds totalled 132 yards of offense, with the majority of that coming with the game well in hand. They finished with 32 carries for 85 yards and had 47 passing.

The Shamrocks limited Raekwon Pettigrew to a single catch for three yards after he set a new school record with 261 yards in last week’s win over Monroe Central.

“I’m super proud of our defense. The challenging thing when you’ve got a guy like Pettigrew at wide receiver is that when you try to bracket him, it changes the entire defense,” Allen continued. “You have to make sure you’re covering everything else, and we did. Hats off to our coaches for devising the game plan and to our kids for executing it. They were really locked in tonight.”

Meanwhile, Barnesville piled up 314 yards and scored four touchdowns on just 20 carries as backup quarterback Evan Wells ran around his right end for an 82-yard score in the fourth quarter. Francis completed 4-of-7 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns as he and Toliver hooked up on a 53-yard screen pass just before the first half ended.

“Evan is a kid to watch out for in the second half of the season,” Allen warned. “We’re trying to find ways to get him on the field more. He showed his speed tonight.”

The scoring play was set up by a 26-yard connection from Francis to Joel Detling who caught the ball after it was tipped high into the air.

Francis also picked off a pass.

“They were the better team tonight,” Bellaire head coach Mark Bonar allowed. “That happens sometimes. It happened tonight.”

Barnesville will look to run their streak to 40 straight next Friday when Buckeye Local visits western Belmont County. Bellaire, meanwhile, heads to Moundsville’s Monarch Stadium to meet John Marshall.