photo by: Kim North

Linsly’s Justin Heckman (6) returns a kickoff as Barnesville’s Jack Anderson (16) and Skyler Werts (27) converge during Friday night’s game at Shamrock Stadium. Barnesville prevailed, 34-7.

BARNESVILLE – Well aware of Barnesville’s ground-and-pound rushing attack, Linsly tried stacking the box on defense to try and shut down the high-powered Shamrocks. That strategy worked to an extent.

However, Barnesville (7-1) unleashed its passing game as junior Cole Francis passed for career-high 219 yards and a touchdown as the Shamrocks rallied past the Cadets (1-5) by a 34-7 count on Homecoming inside Shamrock Stadium.

“I said coming into the game that I have all the respect in the world for (Linsly head) Coach Depew and his staff. They do a great job,” Barnesville head coach Blake Allen said. “I was excited about (playing) this game because Linsly has been one of the premier programs in the Ohio Valley.

“I told the kids all week that you can’t pay attention to their schedule,” Allen continued. “Hats off to them because they gave us everything we could handle, but for the second week in a row, I’m very pleased with how our kids responded in the second half.”

Linsly held the Shamrocks to 160 yards on the ground, but couldn’t stop the aerial attack as Francis hit on 10 of 15, with five of the completions going for at least 23 yards, including a 71-yard strike to Jack Anderson that set up the first touchdown. He also found Phoenix Graham from 24 yards out in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

“We’ve been telling the kids that sooner or later, teams are going to start stacking defenders in the box and dare us to throw. That’s what Linsly did tonight,” Allen said.

“It’s a credit to our coaches for making those adjustments; to Cole Francis and our receivers; and to our offensive line for giving him time to throw.”

The Cadets took advantage of a fumble recovery by Lucca Troullos at the Barnesville 29 on the first play of the game. Six plays later, Linsly was in the end zone as quarterback Braden Wade found Troullos in the left flat and he dashed in to complete a 9-yard scoring strike. Joaquin Zarur booted the PAT as Linsly led 7-0 with 9:47 on the clock.

It was all Barnesville from that point as Trey Toliver had a pair of 1-yard TD runs and Koby Jones also scored from a yard out. Backup quarterback Evan Wells got in the scoring act for the second straight week as he swept around left end from 21 yards with Francis supplying the key block that allowed the speedster to turn the corner.

“Our kids are so unselfish,” Allen stressed. “We’ve been using Evan in the Wildcat and he was able to get to the corner because of Cole. That’s why I love our kids.”

Luis Garcia kicked four extra-points. There was a bad snap on the fifth try.

Allen also credited his defensive coaches for adjusting to what Linsly did on its first drive.

“They were doing stuff that we weren’t used to. We saw some things, without getting into the Xs and Os, that we should;ve been doing, but that kid (Wade) is a heck of a quarterback.”

Leading 14-7 at the half, Barnesville’s defense – which bent several times but didn’t break – came up with a key turnover early in the third quarter when all-Ohio linebacker Hines Ford stepped in front of a pass near midfield and returned it 20 yards to the Cadets’ 29.

Five Toliver carries later and the margin increased to 21-7.

“We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, especially the turnover at the start of the second half,” Depew said. “That kind of sucked the life out of us and they took advantage of it like good teams do. Barnesville is a tough, physical football team, but I thought we matched them in that physical play for the majority of the first half.

“We bogged down a little when the momentum started to turn in their favor,” Depew added. “I just told the kids that I’m really pleased with how hard they played. We played a tough, physical game tonight, but in the biggest moments, we failed to do what we needed to do and they capitalized

A bad snap that resulted in a loss of 26 yards forced Linsly to punt and Barnesville scored again on the run by Wells for a 28-7 advantage.

Christien Hannahs’ fumble recovery led to the final touchdown.

Toliver finished with more yards receiving (73) than he had rushing (61) as Barnesville ran 33 times for 160 yards and four touchdowns. The Shamrocks finished with 404 yards of offense.

Wade went 21 of 31 for 183 yards, a touchdown and an interception. His favorite targets were Justin Heckman (8-90) and Troullas (7-53-td). The Cadets only mustered up 49 yards on 26 carries.

Barnesville completes its four-game streak against West Virginia teams next Friday as the Shamrocks travel to Marietta College’s Don Drumm Stadium to meet West Virginia-ranked Independence, which defeated Westside, 49-6, Friday night to run its record to 6-0. It is the top-ranked team in Class AA. That game has a 7:45 p.m. kickoff. Linsly, meanwhile, hosts Dover next Friday at West Liberty University’s West Family Stadium.

GAME NOTES

– AJ Empeno selected the white rose at halftime and was crowned Homecoming Queen.

– The Barnesville Goaliners officially completed their $100,000 pledge toward the turf and lighting projects at Shamrock Stadium with a $40,000 contribution.

– Barnesville now leads the all-time series 2-1-1.