BARNESVILLE — Unbeaten Barnesville delivered a lesson in Astronomy on a successful Homecoming Night at Shamrock Stadium, resulting in a hard-fought 28-14 victory over Shenandoah.

Offensively, it was junior back Taison Starr who shined brighter than Sirius, rushing for 124 yards on 16 carries and accounting for four Shamrock touchdowns – two rushing, one receiving and one passing.

Defensively, the ‘Rocks played more like a galaxy of stars, teaming up to force four turnovers, record seven quarterback sacks and post a couple of key fourth-down stops against the Zeps.

“That was a really hard-fought win and a great high school football game,” said Barnesville coach Blake Allen. “Give Shenandoah credit — they were very physical.

“We jumped out 14-0 and I think our kids kinda let their guard down for a quarter and a half,” the BHS coach continued, “but I was proud of how we came together and shut them out in the second half.”

Coach Allen was quick to praise both Starr and the “D” after win No. 9.

“Taison is a real workhorse,” he said. “Usually, we’re able to get a lot of people involved offensively, but tonight the yards were hard to come by and we leaned on him and he did a great job.

“Defensively, they had one nice drive and one big play, but other than that our defense was outstanding,” Allen noted. “They were averaging 34 points a game with a good passing attack, but it was an outstanding effort by our entire defense.”

The teams exchanged fumbles at the outset, and then a pass interception by Barnesville junior Luke Detling followed to set the ‘Rocks up at the Zeps’ 44-yard line.

Barnesville went into its bag of tricks immediately, with Starr connecting on a halfback pass to junior Jason Castello for a 44-yard touchdown, with the first of four successful point-after kicks by sophomore Evan Lough giving the hosts a 7-0 lead at the 7:00 mark of the opening quarter.

The Shamrock “D” forced the Zeps to punt on their next series, but a bad snap from the Shenandoah 15 proved disastrous, with Barnesville eventually taking over at the Zeps’ three-yard line.

From there, Starr went up the middle into the end zone and Lough’s PAT boot made it 14-0 with 4:38 left in the first period.

Shenandoah responded with an 11-play, 65-yard drive to its first score of the night, with freshman QB Braxton Barnett completing four passes and running twice for 21 yards along the way.

A Barnett-to-junior wideout Hunter Yates slant pass on a fourth-and-goal from the seven accounted for the TD, but the extra-point was blocked and Barnesville’s lead was 14-6 with 1:02 left in round one.

The Zeps evened the score late in the second quarter when Barnett and Yates teamed up again, this time on a 70-yard catch-and-run which saw Yates break a tackle at the Barnesville 30 and sprint to the end zone.

A two-point pass from Barnett to junior Weston Miley tied the game at 14-14 with 1:59 left in the first half.

After Barnesville sophomore Bradey McIntire came up with a “pick” on Shenandoah’s first series of the second half, the Rocks quickly got the go-ahead points.

Starr burst up the middle for a 67-yard gainer and then, on a fourth-and-six from the Zeps’ 18, he took a screen pass from senior quarterback C.J. Hannahs to the “house”.

Another Lough PAT kick had the ‘Rocks on top, 21-14, with 9:03 left in the third chapter.

Several big defensive plays kept the Zeps at bay, and then Barnesville iced the victory with a five-minute, 66-yard fourth quarter drive featuring runs of 12 and 18 yards by Hannahs and the clincher on an 18-yard TD run by Starr.

Lough’s fourth point-after kick closed the scoring with 4:19 to go and a late Shenandoah drive, which advanced to the Barnesville 12, ended on back-to-back sacks and an interception by sophomore Casey Carpenter.

Barnesville closed with 302 yards offensively, including 182 rushing and 120 passing. Hannahs completed 9-of-21 passes for 76 yards and a TD while Starr had the one completion for 44 yards and a TD. Castello caught seven balls for 78 yards and a score while Hannahs backed Smith with 16 carries for 57 yards.

Shenandoah (6-3) had 239 yards through the air and a net of 63 on the ground for 302 total yards. Barnett hit 17-of-33 aerials with two TDs and three INTs as Yates caught five passes for 130 yards and two TDs and Portman landed four passes for 32 stripes. Barnett also led the running attack with a 19 carries for a net of 42 yards (after the sacks) while Feldner had 32 yards on 14 attempts.

Barnesville — which has already clinched a first round home game in the OHSAA Division VI, Region 19 playoffs – will try to complete a perfect regular Friday at home against Union Local in the annual “Milk Bucket” contest.

“We’re excited about being undefeated at this point and knowing we’re going to the playoffs,” said Coach Allen, “but first and foremost we get to play our main rival and they have a very good team, so we’re looking forward to that.”

At halftime, Halle Markovich drew the white rose to be crowned Barnesville’s 2022 Homecoming Queen.