Photo by Kim North Barnesville’s Hines Ford (8) moves in for a tackle against Fort Frye in the season-opener. Ford and the Shamrocks travel to Nelson Field Friday night to face Bellaire in a matchup of 2-0 squads.

BELLAIRE — The scoreboard operator at Nelson Field could be the busiest person around on Friday night when a pair of explosive offenses collide in the All American City.

Barnesville visits the riverfront to meet Bellaire with both teams being unblemished after two weeks. The Shamrocks have throttled Fort Frye (35-7) and Meadowbrook (51-21) while the Big Reds have defeated Buckeye Local (31-6) and Monroe Central (44-27).

Friday night will mark the seventh time the two programs have met, the first being way back in 1906 when the Shamrocks claimed a 46-0 victory. Bellaire won the next three meetings (1911, 1916 and 1925) before Barnesville claimed the last two by 38-14 and 50-6 margins, respectively, in 2023 and 2024.

I have liked the physicality of our play so far,” Barnesville head coach Blake Allen said. “Like I said in the preseason, this is the strongest team we’ve had here in my tenure. We’ve been able to establish the line of scrimmage. Our offensive line has been re-built and have played really well in two games and we have three (running) backs who can all run the ball effectively.”

One of those backs, junior Trey Toliver scored four touchdowns and rushed for 191 yards last week against the Colts. Koby Jones added two TDs on the ground. Hines Ford is the other running back.

As well as Barnesville has played, Allen knows there is room for improvement.

“We had a couple of turnovers last week that stopped us from putting the game away earlier than we did,” he noted. “We also had a couple lapses in our coverage on defense, but that comes with inexperience. We’ve still got some room for improvement.”

The veteran Barnesville head coach realizes Bellaire can take it to the house at any point in the game.

“Bellaire is the type of team where you watch them a couple of plays and then, ‘boom, they’re gone,'” Allen said. “They’ve got some kids that can break it at any time, and that all starts with Raekwon Pettigrew. He’s the real deal and he’s a special player. We’ve got to be aware of where he is at all times because they are going to try and move him around and get him into the open space. We’ve got to swarm to the ball and tackle him.”

During last week’s win at Monroe Central, Pettigrew broke a 37-year-old school record with 261 yards receiving which was held by former Ohio State and NFL standout Joey Galloway. He also tied Galloway’s single-game mark of four touchdown catches. He also picked up a fumble and returned it for a fifth touchdown.

“A couple of those touchdowns the other night were just short passes that he broke a tackle here and there before using his speed to break away,” Bellaire head coach Mark Bonar said. “He also caused a fumble and then returned it for a touchdown.”

Pettigrew’s touchdown catches came from 69, 66, 56 and 45 yards from quarterback Michael Dippel. His fumble return covered 24 yards. Dippel passed for 337 yards.

Rylin McMahon had 34 yards rushing and a touchdown.

“I like the fact that we are playing hard all the time. We’re working ourselves into good shape,” Bonar added. “We’ve got a lot of kids that are stepping up this year that haven’t been a factor in the past because they want to play football. It’s been a pleasant surprise.”

However, Bonar also knows his team is far from perfect thus far.

“We still have a lot to work on, but when you have a player like Kwon it opens things up for other players,” Bonar stressed. “We want to make sure that we give him as many touches as we can during the course of a game, but, at the same time, not get in his way. Sometimes coaches can try to do too much to get one player the ball. We just want him to be himself, and when he does, that helps everyone else run the ball, throw the ball and catch the ball.”

He knows that Barnesville is no slouch.

“This is a good game for us. It’s a competitive game and it’s a game that should be played,” he continued. “There’s a lot of teams around where that won’t play games that should be played. We’ll play games against teams that we feel we should be playing.

“Barnesville is a really big team. Heck, they’ve been big since I played,” he added. “They’ve always had good-sized kids and now they have some athletic kids to go with their size.”