CCHS drops opener to Knights
STEUEBNVILLE — After the lightning struck, Wheeling Central brought the thunder.
In a delayed game, and one that wasn’t completed until 12:05 a.m. today, the Maroon Knights got up early and ran away with a 33-6 decision over Steubenville Central at Harding Stadium.
“We made a lot of mistakes but did a lot of good things too,” said Wheeling Central head coach Mike Young. “We knew (Steubenville Central) was physical, but so were we. We were just a little bit more physical.”
The Maroon Knights (1-0) racked up 213 rushing yards and quarterback Isaac Rine tossed for 124 yards on 9 for 15 passing. The leading rusher was Bray Price, who dashed for 121 yards, with 115 coming in the second half.
Wheeling Central utilized its depth in the backfield as Dom Stevenson added 31 yards on seven carries and Rine came away with 44 on 11 carries.
“We knew what they had coming in,” said Steubenville Central head coach Steve Daley. “We weren’t going to win this game if we gave up big plays. It was going to be real hard for us to win playing from behind and that showed.”
In the first half, the Crusaders only gave up two plays that went for more than 15 yards, and they were both through the air. In the second half, though, Wheeling Central converted five plays of more than 15 yards, two of which were scoring runs.
The Crusaders and Maroon Knights played an even first quarter, then Wheeling Central struck first on a one-yard touchdown run by Stevenson. That score was set up by a 41-yard pass-and-catch from Rine to John Burkhalter.
Right before halftime, Burkhalter caught another long pass, this time finding the end zone, on a 31-yard toss from Rine.
Two plays before that, the tide was truly turned in this season-opening contest.
Steubenville Central was threatening to score in Wheeling Central territory as time ticked away in the first half. The Crusaders methodically moved the ball forward on nine plays in a drive that started on their own 7 yard line. After just completing a 19-yard pass, Steubenville Central quarterback Justin Hartzell went to the air again. Instead of a Crusader on the receiving end, Wheeling Central’s Luke Lawrence intercepted the pass and returned it into Steubenville Central territory to set up that two-score cushion.
“That was a situation where you’re bringing a young quarterback along,” Daley said. “He has to trust in me to go with what we call. We just want him to take care of the ball.”
In his first varsity start at quarterback, Hartzell tossed for 43 yards on 3 of 11 passing, with three interceptions.
“He’s going to get better,” Daley said. “We’re proud of what he was able to do out there. I thought we did some good things and there were some bright spots. We just got to eliminate some mistakes and stop giving up the big play. We have to do the little things a little better. We had too many procedure penalties, and those type of things.
“If we can’t use motion in our offense, it doesn’t work.”
The Crusaders were flagged 11 times for 60 yards, while the Maroon Knights had four infractions for 30 yards.
Steubenville Central tallied more rushing yards than Wheeling Central, 337-213, thanks in part to a workhorse performance from Levi Thompson. The junior running back carried 21 times for 186 yards and a touchdown.
Thompson and the Crusaders struck first in the second half as his 55-yard scamper early in the third quarter set up his one-yard touchdown run on the next play.
However, Wheeling Central scored the next 19 points to secure the victory.
“If people want to criticize me, that’s fine, I’m going to be 44 on Saturday and I have big, strong shoulders, I can take it,” Daley said. “But these are young kids out here playing a game. We have some young kids in spots. Some of the comments I heard coming from the stands, to be quite honest, have no place in high school sports. If that’s what people want to do, then don’t come. Get behind our kids. They’re not professionals.
“They’re playing their hearts out and they’re going to make mistakes, that happens. We’re going to go back and work on things going into next week.”
In all, 11 players carried the ball for the Crusaders. Kutch Clark added 64 on just one carry, Hartzell finished with 41 yards on 12 carries, Gino DiBiase had 28 yards on three carries and Brody Mihalyo carried three times for 21 yards.
Steubenville Central will take on another West Virginia opponent in Week 2 with a trip to Oak Glen.
“There are some veteran kids who have to step up,” Daley said.
Wheeling Central has its first home game next Friday, hosting Bellaire.
Wheeling Central 33, Steubenville Central 6
Wheeling 0 14 12 7 — 33
Steubenville 0 0 6 0 — 6
WC: Stevenson 1 run (kick good)
WC: Burkhalter 31 pass from Rine (kick good)
CCHS: Thompson 1 run (kick failed)
WC: Fahey 30 from Rine (conversion failed)
WC: Rine 31 run (kick failed)
WC: Price 66 run (kick good)
RUSHING: Wheeling 32-213-3 (Price 9-121-1; Rine 11-44-1; Stevenson 7-31-1; Wear 3-12; Jackson 2-5). Steubenville 47-337-1 (Thompson 21-186-1; Clark 1-64; Hartzell 12-41; DiBiase 3-28; Mihalyo 3-21; Lefever 1-3; Fallon 1-1; Fayak 2-0; Leluika 1-0; Simmons 1-0; Martin 1-(-7).
PASSING: Wheeling 9-15-124-2-0 (all by Rine). Steubenville 3-11-43-0-3 (all by Hartzell).
RECEIVING: Wheeling 9-124-2 (Burkhalter 4-80; Fahey 2-33; Stevenson 1-15; Jackson 1-5; Price 1-(-9)). Steubenville 3-43 Thompson 1-19; DiBiase 1-15; Kilonsky 1-9).
FIRST DOWNS: Wheeling 11; Steubenville 15.
PENALTIES-YARDS: Wheeling 4-30; Steubenville 11-60.
FUMBLES-LOST: Wheeling 1-0; Steubenville 3-2.
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