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Red Riders top Trinity

UP, OVER AND GOOD — Weir’s Michael Gresko looks back to watch his header slip into the net over Trinity Christian gioalie Fletcher Harstock for the first goal in Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Warriors in the West Virginia Class AA-A sectional semifinal at Jimmy Carey Stadium. The Red Riders will next play Saturday at 5 p.m. at Brooke. (Mike Mathison)

WEIRTON — The finishing was not good, but the end result was for the Weir boys’ soccer team.

Weir scored multiple goals in each half en route to a 5-1 victory over Trinity Christian in a West Virginia Class AA/A Region 1 Section 1 semifinal on a rainy Thursday night at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

The Red Riders did a good job of controlling the ball throughout, but had a hard time getting the ball into the back of the net.

“Absolutely,” Weir (14-4) head coach Jim Luevano said. “We struggled to finish. We were not playing touch soccer. At halftime, we were not where we wanted to be goal-wise, and we were not where we wanted to be score-wise. We talked with them at halftime. We wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. We wanted to play quick soccer. We wanted to play one-touch soccer. We wanted to have good throw-ins. We wanted to control the ball. We did a good job in the second half.”

Weir will play Tyler Consolidated in the sectional final at 5 p.m. Saturday inside Brooke Memorial Stadium as part of a tripleheader. Tyler advanced to the sectional final by defeating Oak Glen Thursday night at Magnolia.

“Anything can happen,” Luevano said. “We are just taking it one game at a time. You don’t know what the conditions are going to be. Hopefully, we are able to control the game and are able to come away with the win.”

Michael Gresko and Zach Hannah each collected two goals for Weir, while Andrew LeMasters delivered one. Chayton Luevano tallied two assists, while Ryan Bodrog and Gresko each recorded one. Brett Hinchee and Cody Miller were in goal and neither made a save.

Bo Giullani scored for the visitors. It was their lone shot of the game. Fletcher Hartstock finished with 12 saves in goal for the Warriors (6-8-4).

Weir outshot Trinity Christian, 26-1, with 17 shots on goal.

Gresko opened the scoring off of an assist by Bodrog just 5:04 into the match. The Red and Black extended its advantage on a goal by Hannah with 26:34 remaining before halftime. Gresko assisted on the goal.

The Warriors’ Guliani answered with a goal less than a minute.

LeMasters capped the scoring in the first half 2:50 before halftime.

Weir outshot Trinity, 13-1, in the first half. The Warriors took 13 goal kicks in the first 40 minutes, while the Red Riders took one.

The winners scored two goals less than six minutes into the second half to gain complete control of the game. Hannah scored off of an assist by Chayton Luevano 2:44 into the second half, and Gresko finished the scoring from Luevano with a little less than 35 minutes left to play.

“It was really nice for the seniors to win in their last game here,” Coach Luevano said. “That is why I had them in the game in the last 10 minutes. They weren’t in there to score. They were in there to set other people up to score.”

The Weir girls will play Wheeling Central in a sectional final at 3 p.m. to start the day, and the Brooke boys will play Wheeling Park in the Class AAA Region 1 Final at 7 p.m. The game between the Bruins and the Patriots was originally scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Brooke, but it was postponed due to inclement weather.

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