Breaking News
Local Sports

Fort Frye falls in showdown with Barnesville

By Kerry Patrick 5 min read

BEVERLY - Fort Frye has a pedigree for winning at home. Didn't matter.

In a battle of unbeaten 6-0 teams, Barnesville made a statement after defeating the Cadets 34-7 Friday night at Fort Frye High School.

Barnesville scored touchdowns on its first four possessions of the first half and pitched a 27-0 shutout going into halftime.

Had it not been for the clock expiring in the second quarter, the Shamrocks were a perfect 5-for-5 on converting offensive possessions into six points as running back Trey Toliver applied the exclamation mark on his 238-yard rushing performance with his fourth TD at the 5:58 mark of the third quarter.

"If you are not locked in, if you are not disciplined and don't know the gameplan Fort Frye can get ahead very quickly," Barnesville coach Blake Allen said after posting his third straight win over the Cadets. "Our kids were just outstanding in preparation all week and it showed tonight."

Fort Frye prepared for Tolliver throughout the week of practice. Simulating his ability was another story.

"Basically, they were running the same play over and over again," Fort Frye coach Eric Huck said. "We ran that play 1,000 times this week in practice. They are just really good at executing it. We were making mistakes. (Toliver) is really good and he is going to find that little sliver and make plays happen."

The tone was set in the first eight minutes of the game. Two plays into the opening drive, Barnesville faced third-and-10 from its own 32. Quarterback Colt Carpenter connected with Max Graham for a 14-yard completion for the first down.

The Shamrocks maintained possession for another seven plays to set up Tolliver's 1-yard TD dive. After eating up nearly half of the first-quarter clock, Barnesville led 6-0.

Fort Frye attempted to catch Barnesville off-guard on the very first play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive. A deep ball from quarterback Grady Hesson intended for Tytan Waller was batted away by Barnesville defensive back Evan Wells.

The next play - a handoff to Gavin Rauch - resulted in a 9-yard loss. One incompletion later and Fort Frye was forced to punt.

Then in a blink of an eye, Barnesville scored a second TD as Tolliver covered 48 yards to paydirt on the second play of the Shamrocks' next drive.

Fort Frye's offense was held in check in the first half to a tune of 33 total yards. The Cadets never cross midfield.

"On that first play of the game, we felt like it was there - a big play to start the game and get things going," Huck said. "That first drive of the game, we had Barnesville at third and long and didn't get off the field. We needed to play pretty close to the perfect game and we were pretty far from it."

Meanwhile, Barnesville tacked on a pair of second-quarter TDs - first on Carpenter's 1-yard dive to complete a 12-play, 88-yard drive with 5:38 still showing in the first half then on yet another breakaway from Toliver, who broke free for a 36-yard score at the 1:24 mark.

Tolliver, who was subbed out after only three second-half carries, rushed for 178 yards by halftime.

"(Toliver) is special," coach Allen said. "But he has worked really hard for it. He had God-given ability, but he has also worked his butt off. He is one of the hardest workers I have ever coached.

"He has had three great years, but he wasn't resting on his past. He was hungry to get even better, and I think he has."

Trailing 34-0, Fort Frye had several drives go deep into Barnesville territory. With a running clock in play early in the fourth quarter, the Cadets were stopped short on a fourth-and-6 from the Shamrock 20.

The Cadets broke on their final possession of the game. After a lengthy punt return left the ball sitting at the Barnesville 21, Fort Frye needed only seven plays to find the end zone thanks to Hesson. On fourth-and-goal from the 8, Hesson had to reverse field and dive across the goal line for the score with 3:14 remaining in regulation.

Fort Frye will put homecoming night behind and prepare for senior night Friday at home against Marietta.

"We're still a really good football team - we just ran into an even better team," Huck said. "They are good. They are really big up front. Everybody up on the line is 260 to 300 pounds. We're not that.

"We could have played better. We did some good things and we'll keep working."

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

At Fort Frye High School

Barnesville 34, Fort Frye 7

B (7-0) 14 13 7 0 - 34

FF (6-1) 0 0 0 7 - 7

First Quarter

B: Trey Tolliver 1 run (kick failed), 6:15

B: Tolliver 48 run (Jaxten Swallie pass from Colt Carpenter), 4:24

Second Quarter

B: Carpenter 1 run (pass failed), 5:38

B: Tolliver 36 run (kick good), 1:24

Third Quarter

B: Tolliver 48 run (kick good), 5:59

Fourth Quarter

FF: Grady Hesson 8 run (Tytan Waller kick), 3:14

Team Stats

Barnesville. First down: 17. Rushes-yards: 37-299. Passing yards: 85. Total yards: 384. Passing: 8-10-0. Penalties: 3-20. Fumbles lost: 0.

Fort Frye. First downs: 7. Rushes-yards: 27-78. Passing yards: 24. Total yards: 102. Passing: 4-12-1. Penalties: 2-10. Fumbles lost: 0.

Individual Leaders

Barnesville. Rushing: Trey Tolliver 22-238, Colt Carpenter 10-43, Evan Carpenter 3-10, Max Boroski 1-6, Jaxten Swallie 2-26, Evan Wells 1-2. Passing: Colt Carpenter 8-10-0, 85 yards. Receiving: Joel Detling 2-22, Max Graham 1-14, Evan Wells 2-6, Evan Carpenter 1-6.

Fort Frye. Rushing: Tytan Waller 6-26, Gavin Rauch 8-22, Wyatt Erb 4-14, Sam Bricker 5-11, Grady Hesson 4-5. Passing: Grady Hesson 4-12-1, 24 yards. Receiving: Wyatt Erb 1-21, Luke Phillis 2-18, Clayton Tullius 1-4.

Next game: Marietta at Fort Frye, 7 p.m. Friday; Barnesville at Martins Ferry, 7 p.m. Friday.

Starting at /week.