"In sitting and reflecting on the game from Friday I feel we played a solid game defensively, not perfect but good," said Barnesville Head Coach Bryan Strand.  "Offensively, we are replacing a couple pretty key people from last year, and it was good but does need to improve.  Had missed blocking assignments, our backs need to block better - we are very strong across the board and we need to use that strength to our advantage.  With our numbers we are able to play many people, at times only 3-4 guys going both ways and we are able to sub most of them out periodically on D to give them a breather - that is huge as WCA had 9-10 guys at times going both ways.  We have good quality kids going out on our special teams, overall, I am very pleased with where we are at going into week 2.  That is the advantage of having 45 juniors and seniors on the team plus we have quality in our 9/10 grade as well - we had some of them getting good quality time the other night on specials and even on O and D."

Barnesville converted a fourth down and short yardage into a 43-yard touchdown run by Ethan Larson in the first quarter.  After Larson ran in the two-point conversion the Trojans had an 8-0 lead.  With 3:04 left in the opening quarter Zachary Bredman scored on a 1-yard run and Tate Inniger carried the ball over the goal line for the two-point conversion for a 16-0 Barnesville advantage.

"Defensively, we came out in a few different sets to hopefully take away some of their passing game and for the most part it worked," stated Coach Strand.  "We held on their first series after three plays forcing a punt and were able to march down the field and score again." 

West Central Area/Ashby got on the board early in the second quarter when Anthony Sykora hit Cole Anderson with an 8-yard TD pass, cutting the Barnesville lead to 16-6.

The Trojans got their sixteen point lead back on a 51 yard run by Braeden Bredman, taking a 22-6 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The second half saw a real defensive battle between the two teams until Barnesville tacked on the final TD of the night with 6:04 left in the game when Inniger scored on a one yard run.  Isaac Maneval booted the extra point through the uprights for the final point.

The Trojans had 276 rushing yards and 278 total yards in the game.  They were led by Braeden Bredman with 105 yards on 10 carries and Zachary Bredman with 44 yards on 16 attempts.  Ethan Larson finished with 50 yards on 4 carries.  In all, the Trojans had nine different players run the ball.  Braeden Bredman also had a big night on the defensive side of the ball with two interceptions.  Gannon Bolgrean also had a pick.  Leading tacklers were Brodee Gray, Connor Loeks and Jonny Robideau with 6 each.

West Central Area/Ashby had 79 rushing yards and 56 passing yards for 135 yards of offense.  Anthony Sykora ran for 60 yards on 12 attempts and Brady Lindquist completed 9-of-15 passes for 48 yards.  Leading receivers were Cole Anderson (5 catches, 29 yards) and Tyler Stone (3 catches, 17 yards).

Barnesville goes to Crookston next week, while West Central Area/Ashby has their home opener against Staples-Motley.

"We have Crookston this next week and then two very tough games back to back in Pelican Rapids, rematch of section 8AA title game last year, as well as Osakis," noted Strand.  "Both quality programs with fantastic teams this year.  Our schedule is tough and will show us week in and week out where we need to improve.   We need to stay healthy and to keep improving."