Red Riders return home
Trending
WEIRTON -- Bouncing back from its lone loss, Weir High's 25-15 win at Petersburg on Saturday could be the impetus the Red Riders need to have a successful second half of the season.
The Riders (4-1) embark on that second half with the annual homecoming game at Jimmy Carey Stadium Friday night against Union Local.
The Jets defeated the Red Riders last year at home, 13-7, and that loss may have cost Weir High home field advantage in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the win boosted the Jets to the OVAC Class 3A championship along with a game in the Ohio postseason.
However, things are a lot different for the Jets this year. They lost head coach Bruce Stiles to retirement and said goodbye to 14 seniors, two of whom were Ohio all-staters.
The new head coach is 25-year-old Bernie Thompson, who is a former Union Local wide receiver and was on Stiles' staff last year. Thompson inherited a young team but has won three of its first five games.
"We hope to keep the momentum we gained last week," said Weir High coach Tony Filberto, whose club is ranked eighth in this week's WVSSAC Class AA standings. "The team we have to worry about most now is our team. You can't control what your opponent does, but you can control what you do. So, we're going to work real hard on us getting better this week.
"We're pleased with the way we played last week, especially on defense, but we have room for improvement. We forced seven turnovers last week, and the name of this game is getting the ball back for the offense and keeping it away from the opponent. The defense was just terrific and the offense came out hot."
Filberto was impressed how the Red Riders started and finished. Senior Donavan Kirby's first two carries went for 20 and 29 yards. Plus, they ended the contest with a 90-yard scoring drive.
Filberto said doing things right this week will mean stopping veteran Union Local quarterback Cal Kildow, who guides a spread offense.
Kildow isn't big at 5-7, 135 pounds, but he entered 2018 after a solid junior season where he passed for 1,212 yards and ran for another 305.
"Everything goes through Kildow," Filberto said. "He runs the ball as much as he passes, and everything goes through him. That's the key to their offense. Even though they are a spread team, they are going to run the football."
Filberto added that his Red Riders are bigger than the front line of the Jets. The Union Local linemen range in size from 170 to 190 pounds, but the Jets' roster also lists juniors Zayne Cheatem and Hayden Hilt at 320 and 245 pounds, respectively.
"Defensively, Union Local plays the standard 4-3 defense, moving players around depending upon the offensive formations we are in," Filberto said. "Their intentions are to get to our quarterback before things happen. We hope for us that we can get the ball out of our quarterback's hands quick with the short pass to our athletes out in space.."
Junior Sebastian Spencer will be behind center for the third straight week as senior Tyler Komorowski continues to recover from a knee injury sustained in the win against James Monroe. The athletes he's talking about are primarily Reed Reitter, who he said is about as healthy now as he has been all season, and Jake McCoy.
Senior running back Chad Custer also will be out of action and has been out since the second game of the season with a broken bone in his hand. However, senior inside linebacker Chris Helms, who missed the game at Petersburg last week, will return to the lineup Friday.
Spencer has completed 20 of 37 aerials for 211 yards since taking over for the injured Komorowski. Reitter, who has been nursing a sore knee, has caught only five passes for 51 yards after being the leading receiver a year ago with 33 receptions. McCoy leads the Riders with 15 catches for 193 yards and a touchdown.
There will be a lot of excitement this week at Weir High because of the homecoming celebration.
"I always liked homecoming," Filberto said. "A lot of coaches don't because they think it is a distraction. I think it adds something special to the school life. I always say the homecoming dance is a lot more fun after a victory. We've been pretty good about getting homecoming victories around here, and we want to continue doing that. I want the kids to enjoy the festivities, but the important thing is the football game."
Going 4-1 through the first half of the season is pretty good, but when asked what he'd like the record to be at the end of the second half of the season, he responded, "5-0. That would make us 9-1."
"We're not happy at 4-1," he said. "Our goal was to be undefeated at this point, but our concern right now is to be 5-1 after this week."