Barnesville’s Toliver Continues Dominance Of Bellaire With Another Senior Night Win
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BARNESVILLE - Trey Toliver has had a career against Bellaire. Ever since he took his first carry against the Big Reds 97 yards to the house as a freshman, the senior has been unstoppable against the Big Reds. Friday night was no different.
Toliver, a 5-10, 205-pounder, ran for 171 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries as the Shamrocks (3-0) posted a 33-0 blanking of the visitors at jam-packed Shamrock Stadium. In his four seasons versus Bellaire, Toliver ran for 663 yards. His scoring runs came from 6, 8, 11 and 34 yards.
"I just work hard for these types of moments. I lean on my guys, teammates and especially my (offensive) linemen," Toliver graciously spread the wealth. "They make my job easier and I just do what I know what to do."
Barnesville head coach Blake Allen was all smiles when talking about his star tailback.
"He's a special player. I'll bet they will be glad to see him graduate for sure," Allen said. "That's what I just told (Raekwon) Pettigrew on the other side. He's a great player and we tried to keep the ball out of his hands."
Bellaire (1-2) won the opening coin toss, but deferred until the second half. That backfired on both ends.
Barnesville marched 65 yards on five snaps to take a 7-0 lead as Toliver followed 6-4, 320-pound Kaiden Berry into the end zone. German foreign exchange student Linas Graef made the first of his three PATs.
Following a Bellaire punt, the Shamrocks went 52 yards on nine plays as Toliver carried seven times, the final time resulting in an 8-yard TD scamper. Graef made it 14-0.
The Big Reds drove to the Shamrocks' 18 but quarterback Michael Dippel was picked off at the goal line by Phoenix Graham.
Toliver went over the 100-yard mark in the second quarter. That was followed by a 22-yard scramble by quarterback Evan Wells. Toliver busted through the center of the line for a 11-yard scoring burst. The PAT, however, was no good as Barnesville led 20-0.
"Offensively, I thought we played really well," Allen said. "The only time we didn't score is when we got behind the sticks. Other than that, I thought we did a good job."
Bellaire put together another offensive drive that reached the Barnesville 1 late in the half, but Dippel was sacked on fourth down by Berry as the shutout remained intact.
"Our defense came up big right before the half with that goalline stand," Allen continued. "That was huge and could have given Bellaire momentum heading into the second half."
Missed opportunities is what Bellaire head coach Mark Bonar lamented afterwards.
"We had a couple of chances to put the ball in the end zone, but we didn't," he said. "Going into this week I told my assistant coaches that we didn't get to spend enough time on our goalline offense, short yardage offense, and it came back to hurt us," Bonar said.
Barnesville's squib kick to start the second half was executed to a tee as Skyler Werts recovered the ball at the Bellaire 47. On the third snap, Toliver took the handoff and rumbled 34 yards down the middle of the field as the margin ballooned to 27-0 after Graef's third placement.
"That is something that Linas has been working on. He had a good game tonight," Allen said of Graef's squib kick. "We need to shore up the extra points but as far as the kickoffs go, he has a lot of tools."
That was very disheartening to Bonar.
"They kick off and we act like we've never seen a squib kick," he noted. "That put us behind the 8-ball. That was planned on their part. They did a good job of executing and we did a terrible job."
The Shamrocks defense rose to the occasion on Bellaire's next possession, holding the Big Reds on downs.
The offense proceeded to march 51 yards on nine plays as Evan Carpenter bulled in from 5 yards out.
Barnesville racked up 316 yards of total offense to just 134 for Bellaire, of which 81 came on 32 rushes.
Wells finished with 80 yards on eight carries and was also 5-of-6 for 52 yards through the air, with Graham hauling in a 25-yard strike on the game's second play from scrimmage.
Making it rather easy for the Barnesville backs to run was the yeoman's work of the offensive line of Jaxten Swallie, Braxton Byers, Austin Armstrong, Hannahs, Kevin Phillips and Talon Anderson.
"Barnesville has a great team. They have big players and are well-coached," Bonar said.
The Barnesville seniors raised their career record to 34-5.
"This group means a lot to us," Allen said of the 13 seniors. "They've done a lot for the program and put in a ton of time. They are great leaders, so it's nice to get them another win on Senior Night."
The Shamrocks will travel to Yorkville next Friday to face Buckeye Local inside World War II Memorial Stadium, while Bellaire returns home to entertain John Marshall at Nelson Field.
Barnesville 33, Bellaire 0
Bell 0 0 0 0 - 0
Barn 14 6 13 0 - 33
Bar-Toiliver 6 run (Graef kick)
Bar-Toliver 8 run (Graef kick)
Bar-Toliver 11 run (kick failed)
Bar-Toliver 34 run (Graef kick)
Bar-E. Carpenter 5 run (kick blocked)
RUSHING: Bellaire 32-81 (Dowery 12-35, Dippel 7-32, Hibbitts 2-22, Masciarelli 7-21, Rae. Pettigrew 1-6, M. Padgett 2-4, team 1-(-19). Barnesville 24-264-5tds (Toliver 19-171-4tds, Wells 8-80, Boroski 3-12, E. Carpenter 2-10-td, Mankin 1-(-6)
PASSING: Bellaire 5-17-53-int (Dippel 5-16-53-int, Hibbitts 0-1). Barnesville 5-8-52 (Wells 5-6-52, Stephen 0-2)
RECEIVING: Bellaire 5-53 (A. Padgett 2-28, Dowry 2-8, Rae. Pettigrew 1-17). Barnesville 5-62 (Mankin 2-6, Graham 1-25, Toliver 1-11, E. Carpenter 1-10)
FIRST DOWNS: Bellaire 9. Barnesville 15
FUMBLES: Bellaire 2-1. Barnesville 0-0
PENALTIES: Bellaire 6-50. Barnesville 5-30