Will Barnesville-Martins Ferry II Live Up To The Hype Once Again?
Trending
BARNESVILLE - Three weeks ago Barnesville and Martins Ferry hooked up in an instant classic, with the Shamrocks holding off the Purple Riders twice inside their own 5-yard line for a 25-21 victory.
Will the sequel be anything like the first meeting?
That will be determined Friday night at what is expected to be a standing-room-only crowd at Shamrock Stadium when No. 2 Barnesville (10-0) hosts No. 7 Martins Ferry (10-1) in an OhIo Division V, Region 17 quarterfinal playoff game.
Both head coaches are expecting another dogfight.
"We're very similar teams. We, basically, run the same schemes on both sides of the ball," Barnesville head coach Blake Allen said. "We have to be in position to make plays on both sides. They've got some athletes that if you let them get out in space, they can hurt you.
"It will be different in a way. I don't think I've ever had to game plan for an opponent twice in the same season," Allen said. "With the first meeting being just a couple weeks ago, you kind of look back at the film and see what you can tweak here and there, but it's going to come down to execution, field position, penalties, turnovers ... all the little things."
Kropka agreed.
"I'd like to play somebody out of the area. I feel like we're playing a Belmont County round-robin," he said. "It's tough playing a team like Barnesville twice because we run, basically, the same schemes. Blake knows what we do inside and out and now they've got another film on us (against Bellaire) to see what we've changed, if anything, and they've had two weeks to prepare for us.
"It'll be interesting to see what type of adjustments Barnesville makes, and we're going to have to make some adjustments, as well," Kropka added. "Playing Bellaire in back-to-back weeks was tough emotionally on the kids. We've got to slowly get them back up emotionally again.
"I think this game is going to play out like the last one did," Kropka admitted. "We didn't take care of the ball in the last meeting and they took advantage of that. Whoever takes care of the ball and makes the least amount of mental mistakes is going to win the game."
Barnesville is coming off a bye last week after receiving one of the four top seeds.
"We finished the regular season playing four really good teams in a row. We needed the bye last week," Allen noted. "The main thing was to rest and recover. A lot of guys were moving a lot better today (Monday) than they were last week."
Martins Ferry, meanwhile, dominated rivals Bellaire for the second week in a row, 35-0.
This will be the first game played in Ohio Valley history that features a pair of 2,000-yard rushers - Barnesville senior Trey Toliver (5-10, 205) has run for 2,102 and 37 touchdowns; Martins Ferry junior Walkquem Cox (5-11, 205) has 2,148 and 32 TDs.
"Both teams are going to want to run the ball so it could come down to whichever team throws the ball better," Allen said. "When you do go to the air, both teams have a good chance at breaking a big play. Against Wheeling Central it was a rainy night and we didn't throw the ball much but against Union Local it was a big part of our win. We had some big pass plays."
Barnesville senior Colt Carpenter (6-1, 165) has excelled as a first-year starter. He has 70 percent of his passes (47-67) for 832 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions. Martins Ferry senior Colby Kropka is 74 of 111 (67 percent) for 1,423 yards, 16 TDs and just two picks.
The Shamrocks receiving corps took a hit the week after the first meeting with the Purple Riders when senior Evan Carpenter suffered a broken foot in practice. Senior Phoenix Graham (6-1, 185) leads the team with 16 catches for 227 yards and a touchdown. Juniors Evan Wells (6-1, 165) and Jaxton Swallie (6-3, 220) both have nine receptions for 101 and 151 yards, respectively. Both also have one TD.
Martins Ferry has two standout receivers of its own in junior Elijah Roby (6-3, 180) and sophomore Jakori Cox (6-0, 150). Roby has caught 29 passes for 601 yards and seven touchdowns, while Cox has 20 catches for 376 yards and five scores. Senior Christian Shutler (5-7, 165) is also a threat with eight receptions for 144 yards and a TD.
Defensively, both teams are stout in all three layers - line, linebackers and secondary.
Barnesville's two tackles - seniors Kaiden Berry (6-4, 320) and Braxton Byers (6-3, 290) - clog up the middle, freeing up the linebackers - senior Christien Hannahs (5-11, 215) and junior Ridge Holiday (5-10, 185) to make the tackles. The ends are sophomore Roman Deroam (5-11, 210) and junior Jaxton Swallie (6-3, 220). Senior Talon Anderson (6-2, 270) and junior Cole Atkinson (6-3, 220) have also excelled in extended time.
Hannahs is by far the leading tackler with 90 stops, of which 21 were solo. He has seven tackles for lost yardage. Graham, an outside backer, has logged 60 total tackles and has two interceptions.
The winner will meet the winner of the No. 6 Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (8-3)-No. 3 Girard (10-0) quarterfinal. If Barnesville wins, it will host. If Martins Ferry wins, it will hit the road.