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Photo by Kim North Members of the Barnesville Shamrocks gather around the Milk Bucket Trophy they won for the seventh straight time with a 55-14 win Friday night at Shamrock Stadium.

BARNESVILLE — In the late 1970s, Cincinnati had the “Big Red Machine.” In the 1920s, Barnesville had the “Big Green Machine.”

The well-oiled Shamrocks capped off their third consecutive perfect 10-0 season with an impressive wire-to-wire, 55-14, defeat of visiting rival Union Local in western Belmont County Friday evening in front of an all-only crowd but was in Shamrock Stadium.

With the lopsided win, Barnesville extended its regular season winning streak to 36 games and the senior class posted an astonishing record of 39-1 during the regular season and 43-4 thus far in their careers.

“Excellent. I’m very proud of these guys,” said a happy Barnesville head coach Blake Allen. “Our kids get up for this competition every year. It means a lot to us… this rivalry. I don’t need to say much to get these guys ready for this game.

“We know how much this game means. The Milk Bucket means a lot to us,” Allen emphasized. “The boys showed that tonight. We had a very good week of practice. We were on a mission and came ready to play, firing on all cylinders.

“I have lost the words to describe them,” Allen said of his 13-member senior class that has stayed together since they were in eighth grade. “I appreciate them, but I try not to take it for granted because they are a special group. But like I just told them, we don’t want this to end anytime soon. We’re going to celebrate tonight and as soon as we know who we’re playing in the play-offs, we’re going to prepare for that.”

The Shamrocks will find out Sunday afternoon who their first-round opponent will be Friday at Shamrock Stadium in the Division V, Region 19 postseason when the official matchups are released by the OHSAA.

They came in rated No. 5 but had, unofficially, moved up to No. 3 late Friday night after the win was calculated.

The loss unofficially dropped Union Local to 11th place and will have to go on the road.

Barnesville won the opening coin toss and took the ball. It never slowed down.

Junior tailback Trey Toliver set the tone for the game on the fourth play.

Toliver took a throw to the right of quarterback Casey Carpenter and weaved his way down the sideline, dodging tackler after tackler and getting an excellent downfield block from right tackle Luke Taylor before completing the 64-yard dash. Evan Lough’s PAT made it 7-0 with just 2 minutes, 15 seconds left on the clock.

“That play just gives me chills. I watched it on our tablet. That is the embodiment of our team,” Allen said. “You have all the (offensive) linemen running 60 yards down the field and Trey doesn’t give up and fights the whole way. That’s the temperament of this team.”

A three-and-out by the Jets (8-2) gave the ball right back to the Shamrocks. Four plays later, Toliver crashed from a yard out and Lough made it 14-0. A pair of Casey Carpenter and Cam Carpenter (no relation) collected 44 yards on the 57-yard drive.

Eli Messenger picked off the first of his two passes in the next photo from Union Local and gave it back to the Jets’ 2 after a facemask penalty. Toliver lined up behind Taylor and right guard Dillon Lucas, filling in for the injured Braden Butler, and a 20-0 lead after the two-point pass failed with 6:39 left on the first quarter clock.

“I don’t think we could have started better, on either side of the ball,” Allen said of the early outburst. “The children were locked up. The coaches were stuck. My hat is off to them.”

Cole Francis netted a Colby Carpenter pass on Union Local’s first play of the second quarter, putting the Shamrocks ahead again. After a 17-yard completion from Casey Carpenter to Bradey McIntire, Carpenter found fullback Koby Jones in the left flat. The 5-8, 195-pound junior turned the corner and then turned on the jets as he outsmarted everyone to pay dirt to complete the 54-yard scoring connection. Lough’s PAT increased the margin to 27-0.

After a Union Local punt traveled negative 1 yards, Barnesville needed just three plays to reach 39 yards as Toliver had his fourth touchdown of the half, this time from 2 yards out. A 54-yard pass from Carpenter to McIntire preceded Toliver’s TD run with 1:42 left in the first half. Lough made it 34-0.

Barnesville wasn’t done yet.

Union Local finally generated some offense when it moved to the Barnesville 9 on a 29-yard completion from Carpenter to Billy Schumacher, but on second-and-4 Francis Carpenter picked up the second time (fourth overall) to move him back to second-and- fourth place. Shamrocks’ 22. Toliver had back-to-back runs of 10 yards and Casey Carpenter found his younger brother, Colt, for 13 at the Jets’ 46 with a tenth of a second on the clock.

After a timeout, Casey Carpenter rolled to his right before throwing the ball toward the goal line, where McIntire jumped out of a group of players and caught the “Hail Mary” before falling backwards into the end zone. Lough’s placement made it 41-0.

“Give Barnesville credit. They are a great team. They jumped on us quickly, they are a great ball club and we were quickly in a big hole. Union Local head coach Bernie Thompson said. “We didn’t play at our best everywhere. We have to regroup. We now have the play-offs ahead of us, so we have to try to win a play-off game.”

A pair of huge runs from the Jets’ Brody Perzanowski gave the visitors some life in the third quarter. The sophomore broke off a 65-yard scoring sprint on the first play of the second half, and after Barnesville answered with a 5-yard run by Jones, Perzanowski went to 53 to set up a 6-yard scoring pass from Carpenter to Logan Hess. Jeff Bolon was good on both placements.

Barnesville closed out the scoring when Hines Ford drove in from the 2 standing. Lough added the extra point for the 55-14 final.

The Shamrocks racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense and finished with 493. Of those, 256 came through the air as Casey Carpenter completed 11 of 14 and two TDs. The ground game yielded 239, while Toliver went for 137 on 14 carries and the four TDs. Jones added 66 on five buckets. McIntire caught five passes for 125.

“I think so,” Allen said when asked if the Shamrocks peaked at the right time. I thought we were a little slow coming out of defense in the second half and they (Union Local) broke some big plays. I told the kids we’re going to have a four-quarter fight in the near future, so we have to be ready for that.”

Perzanowski finished with 213 yards rushing on 21 carries. Timmerman was 4 of 12 for 41 yards.

Barnesville also captured the OVAC Class 3A championship for the second straight season. The 55 points marked the fifth time the Shamrocks have scored 50-plus. They are also coming off a 60-point performance and have scored at least 44 in all 10 games, all of which had running clocks.

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