skip navigation

Barnesville Falls Short in Bid for Back-to-Back State AA Titles

By Craig Olson, 11/24/23, 10:15PM CST

Share

The Barnesville Trojans saw their 26 game winning streak come to an end in the Class AA State Championship game on Friday at US Bank Stadium, falling to Eden Valley-Watkins, 24-6.  The Eagles led 6-0 at halftime and completed their undefeated season by outscoring the Trojans 18-6 in the second half.  Noah Geislinger threw for three scores and ran for another to lead the Eagles.

Eden Valley-Watkins had the only touchdown of the first half as Wyatt Moehrle hauled in a 7 yard TD pass from Geislinger at 7:52 of the first quarter.

Barnesville tied the game at 6:32 of the third quarter when Gannon Bolgrean ran the ball in from the 8 yard line, capping a 10 play, 64 yard drive.

Geislinger countered with a 36 yard TD run at 4:36 of the third, giving the Eagles a 12-16 advantage.  They increased their lead to 18-6 when Geislinger connected with Moehrle again, this time on a 55 yard scoring toss with just 2:06 left in the quarter.

Moehrle’s third TD reception, this one covering 22 yards, came at 4:56 of the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Geislinger completed 7-of-13 passes for 111 yards and Moehrle hauled in 5 of the passes for 92 yards and 3 scores.  Geislinger was the leading rusher with 82 yards on 17 carries.  Eden Valley-Watkins had 278 total yards (167 rushing, 111 passing).  Nolan Haag had 3 interceptions and Landon Nieman picked off a pass for the Eagles.  Sonnie DeHeer recovered a fumble.  Leading tacklers were Moehrle (8 solo tackles, 3 assisted tackles), Parker Schultz (6 solo tackles, 5 assisted tackles) and Anthony Fink (3 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles).

Bolgrean had 145 rushing yards on 20 carries and caught 3 passes for 16 yards to lead Barnesville.  Zachary Bredman was 8-for-18 throwing the ball for 68 yards.  The Trojans had a total of 245 yards (177 rushing, 68 passing).  Defensive leaders were Bolgrean (6 solo tackles, 1 interception), Collin Morey (5 solo tackles, 1 assisted tackle), Levi Eickenbrock (3 solo tackles, 3 assisted tackles) and Peyton Amundson (3 solo tackles, 3 assisted tackles).