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High school football Week 1 in the books

BUSTING OUT — Weir High Cody Enrietti runs for positive yards in the first half of Friday’s game at Jimmy Carey Stadium between the Red Riders and rival Oak Glen. Weir defeated the Golden Bears, 41-0. Attempting to make the tackle is Oak Glen’s Jake McCoy. (Michael D. McElwain)

Run, Forrest (well it could be Tyler, Cody or Seth), run!

The coverage area’s Week 1 winners all relied on the running game to start their seasons with a bang.

In a weekend filled with big rushing numbers, Harrison Central’s Tyler West led the way.

The lighting quick sophomore racked up 247 rushing yards as the Huskies outscored Claymont, 52-41. The game featured more than 800 yards of offense.

West rambled 89 yards on Harrison Central’s first offensive play for a touchdown. As a team, the Huskies compiled 437 offensive yards, 304 coming on the ground.

“West has that sprinter’s speed that you just can’t teach,” said Harrison Central coach Justin Kropka. “I don’t think he hit the holes like we wanted him to, but he saw the homes and ran to it.”

Mission

accomplished

Veteran Weir High coach Tony Filberto wanted his Red Riders “to come on and run the football straight ahead” in Friday’s opener against Hancock County rival Oak Glen.

The Riders shredded the Golden Bear defense for 406 yards on the ground in earning a 41-0 win.

Senior Cody Enrietti displayed his blend of power and speed, gaining 165 yards on 20 trips.

In the preseason, Filberto predicted Weir High fans would see plenty of Enrietti, a converted tight end who stands 6-3 and weighs around 215. While he did the grunt stuff up the middle most of the time, he showed pretty good speed when one crash past the line of scrimmage opened up for a 70-yard scoring jaunt.

A two-way player, Enrietti also was one of Weir’s defenders who harassed Oak Glen quarterback Lance Collins all evening. Collins was nailed in the backfield for losses eight times.

A workhorse

Seth Cade was the workhorse in Edison’s 29-14 home triumph over East Liverpool.

The junior toted the pigskin 38 times, gaining 160 yards and scoring twice. The Wildcats ran the football 61 times, collecting 273 yards.

“We knew coming into the game that Seth was going to be our main focus offensively” Edison coach Derrick Stickles pointed out. “I did not expect him to get 38 carries. He did a phenomenal job.”

Ground attacks

Big Red and Toronto both compiled more than 200 rushing yards in their wins (Steubenville topped Washington Woodrow Wilson 49-33 and the Red Knights clipped rival Wellsville 36-16).

Reno Saccoccia went the “tailback by committee” route in the Thursday night victory.

Junior Jacob Bernard had 66 yards on 13 carries while junior Jamaal Petteway added 53 with his 13 totes. Before leaving the game with an injury, senior Jalen McGhee collected 40 yards on 10 tries. Add those numbers up, and Big Red’s tailbacks collected 159 via the ground.

“Our depth at tailback really paid off,” Saccoccia stated.

Toronto also spread the ball-carrying wealth in its road win. Senior Max Tice paced the Red Knights with 56 yards on just six tries. Fellow senior Danny Zdinak managed 55 on eight carries.

“We’re fortunate to have a good group of guys back there,” coach Eric Meek said of his ball-carrying crew. “I’ve coached small-school football for a lot of years now, and you’re not always that lucky.”

Big numbers, but …

Three area gridders put up some impressive numbers in Week 1 defeats.

Catholic Central’s Levi Thompson delivered 186 yards on 21 carries in his club’s loss to Wheeling Central. The junior scored the line Crusader touchdown.

Indian Creek’s Greg Wade showed he has plenty of speed, running for 167 yards and two scores. Wade broke loose for scoring jaunts of 75 and 61 yards. He also hit Austin Rawson for a 78 yard pass on Creek’s first play from scrimmage.

Madonna sophomore Donavan Kirby ripped off 167 yards on 23 totes in Saturday’s tough 29-27 loss at Bishop Donahue. He also found the end zone three times.

“He’s got a tremendous mix of power and speed,” first-year Madonna coach Darin Hicks said about Kirby. “He’s a tremendous football player.”

Hot ‘n nasty

It was as the lyrics from a song by Humble Pie proclaimed “hot ‘n nasty” during the extended opening weekend.

Dozens of players were forced to take breaks due to cramping.

As Joe Dunlevy, Indian Creek athletic director, pointed out “this certainly isn’t football weather.”

Toronto’s Meek seemed to agree.

“Maybe we need to start looking, statewide, and thinking about moving these games back,” the Red Knight boss told The Herald-Star’s Matt Peaslee. “We’re playing earlier in the summer and a lot of schools end up having those cramping problems. From a safety standpoint, there’s definitely something to look at.”

Flying flags

Washington Woodrow Wilson drew 29 penalty flags, good for 205 yards in its Thursday night loss to Big Red. The bulk of those penalties were for pre-snap motion.

The large number prompted The Herald-Star to check with the Ohio High School Athletic Association to determine if the 29 miscues were anywhere near a state record.

Unfortunately, as the OHSAA’s Tim Stried pointed out, the state does not keep that statistic in its record book.

Helping out

Prior to kickoff Thursday, Big Red’s Saccoccia was involved in a check presentation to the Primetime Office on Aging. He was joined on the field by Judy Ownings, Primetime director, Primetime volunteer Michael Bozelli and Tim McCoy, general manager of WTOV-TV.

The check was presented in memory of coach Saccoccia’s father, Rinaldo Saccoccia, who died on July 7. The elder Saccoccia was 91 and was a regular fixture at Big Red games, both home and away.

The presentation was designed to show support and appreciation for the service provided in the community by Primetime.

Alumni night

Graduates from Indian Creek, Mingo, Wayne and Wintersville high schools are invited to attend Alumni Night, set for Friday at Indian Creek.

The event will run from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and free hot dogs, burgers, chips and drinks will be provided. There also will be a DJ present to provide music. In addition, an all school museum will be featured on the stage inside the Indian Creek gymnasium.

Creek’s football team will entertain East Liverpool at Kettlewell Stadium Friday.

Back to Toronto

Thanks to its 36-16 victory at Wellsville, Toronto kept possession of the Joe Scarabino-Corky Heaton Traveling Trophy.

The Route 7 Rivalry hardware is named for two men who both had a huge influence on the youth of their communities.

Scarabino was the longtime police chief in Wellsville. Heaton served as Toronto’s equipment coach for a lengthy period time. He served in the same capacity for the Toronto Titans.

Prior to the win, the Red Knights had not won in Wellsville since the 2003 season. That year, Toronto earned a 36-7 Week 7 victory.

In 2015, Meek’s club broke a five-year losing streak against the Tigers.

“We had some trouble moving the ball in spots, but we were able to get the offensive going later on,” he said following the road triumph. “We started strong and finished strong, and that’s a good way to get your first win. We got in the end zone and got a big early lead.”

Which is it?

Is Weir High that good? Is Oak Glen not as formidable as many expected?

Those were the main questions being posed after the Red Riders’ 41-0 stomping of its county rival. Perhaps the answers will be known after this week’s battles with Edison and Catholic Central respectively.

The Weir High defense completely shut down the Oak Glen offense, which features Dakota Price, who was captain of the all West Virginia Class AA second team last season. Price rushed for more than 1,700 yards in 2015.

He could manage just 12 yards against Weir. All told, the Red Rider defense smothered the Golden Bear offense for 15 negative plays. Oak Glen finished with negative four yards on the ground and just 35 through the air.

“The Weir High defensive line is very athletic and they have a good defensive game plan,” said Oak Glen’s Ted Arneault, who was in his first game as a varsity head coach. “We had trouble stopping the back side blitz and it hurt us.

“There is a lot we can do out of our offense, but we have to keep the back side penetration out of the backfield, which is something we’re going to have to work on next week.”

USO opener

Pittsburgh USO, also known as University Prep, will be opening its 2016 season when it visits Harding Stadium Friday night to test Big Red.

The Wildcats, who compete in the Pittsburgh City League, features players from three different schools, University Prep, Sci-Tech and Obama Academy. USO came to town in 2014 and left on the short end of a 49-20 score.

Coach Lou Berry’s club was 5-5 in 2015. The trip to Ohio won’t be the last of the season for the Wildcats. They’ll visit Westerville Central on Sept. 9 and Cincinnati Elder on Sept. 23.

The top gun

Things didn’t go well for the Brooke Bruins in Week 1. Coach Mac McLean’s club suffered a 49-6 loss to Huntington.

The Highlanders scored on their opening drive but Brooke did rebound, Koty Hudson firing a seven-yard touchdown strike to Chris Yachini. Huntington then put 22 points on the board during the second quarter to pull away.

Hudson was the top Week 1 passer in the coverage area, however. The senior completed seven of 11 tosses for 141 yards.

Ethan Secrist was on the receiving end of four Hudson aerials.

Meanwhile, Dan Callarik and John Marelli were bright spots in Buckeye Local’s season-opening loss to Martins Ferry.

They both snared four passes. Callarik’s grabs were good for 54 yards.

Top stats

Running wild

≤ 247, Tyler West, Harrison Central, touchdown

≤ 186, Levi Thompson, Catholic Central, touchdown

≤ 167, Greg Wade, Indian Creek, 2 touchdowns

≤ 167, Donavan Kirby, Madonna, 3 touchdowns

≤ 165, Cody Enrietti, Weir High, touchdown

≤ 160, Seth Cade, Edison, 2 touchdowns

≤ 121, Dustin Brown, Madonna, touchdown

Gunslingers

≤ 141, Koty Hudson, Brooke, 7 of 11, score

≤ 133, Wyatt Elias, Harrison Central, 6 of 18, score

≤ 106, Wade, Indian Creek, 3 of 10, score

Hands team

≤ 4, Ethan Secrist, Brooke, 77

≤ 4, Dan Callarik, Buckeye Local, 54

≤ 4, John Marelli, Buckeye Local, 21

≤ 3, Kyle Roberts, Harrison Central, 100, touchdown

≤ 3, Nicky Zorne, Big Red, 12

(Sports correspondent Ralph Cox contributed to this report.)

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