Weir High’s time to shine
Red Riders travel to face best team in Class AA standings
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WEIRTON -- It should not be a secret to anyone who follows Weir High football that this Week 7 is what the Red Riders have been waiting for since practice began in early August.
It should be for Fairmont Senior, a team that was runner up to Bluefield last year and currently is unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the Class AA ranks.
The Polar Bears became a perennial, top-of-the-charts team that has crushed all six of its opponents thus far. The closest any team has come to them is 26 points when they downed Robert C. Byrd, 46-20, in the season opener.
"They are pretty good," said Weir High coach Tony Filberto, whose Red Riders set up the clash last week with a 38-13 homecoming win over Union Local. "This will be the premier game in West Virginia this week, or at least the headliner in Class AA. People need to understand that this is the fourth team that was ranked among the top teams in the state.
"Keyser is seventh, Petersburg is ninth and, while James Monroe is ranked 22nd this week, they have won three straight since we beat them in Week 2. This type of schedule only makes us better, so we're excited and happy to play Fairmont Senior."
Despite the win last week, Filberto's Red Riders (5-1) are ranked eighth this week, the same as a week ago.
One of the reasons the Polar Bears are ranked on top is their high-scoring offense. They have scored 273 points, while allowing just 67. Only Poca (6-0) with 280 points has scored more than Fairmont Senior. There are five undefeated teams left in Class AA -- Fairmont Senior, Bluefield, Nicholas County, Poca and Point Pleasant.
The engineer of that high-scoring offense is senior quarterback Connor Neal. He was behind center when the Polar Bears ripped the Red Riders, 49-20, last year. He completed 10 of 15 passes for 221 yards and one touchdown in that game at Jimmy Carey Stadium. The Polar Bears also return senior Breeden Gilbert, who got only seven touches but scored four of them last year. He finished with 123 yards on the ground.
If those aren't enough, Fairmont Senior goes into the game with perhaps the biggest defensive front the Red Riders will face this year. They use a three-man front with junior Zachery Frazier, who already is being recruited by Division I colleges, junior Dominick Owens and senior Rhett Heston.
"Fairmont Senior is very efficient on offense," Filberto said. "They get points on almost all of their possessions, and they play great defense. They are by far the best football team we've seen this year.
"They are a spread offense with everything going through the quarterback. He has been throwing three, four, five touchdown passes per game. Neal threw four touchdown passes last week in the Polar Bears' 36-7 win over Elkins.
"They spread the ball around because of a couple of injuries to some backs, but someone tells me those kids will be back. It's hard to get to Neal because those big linemen pass block very well. When you give that kind of kid the time, he'll pick you apart."
Filberto said his offense will have to spend some extra time preparing for Fairmont Senior's 3-4 defense because it hasn't seen that formation much this season.
The Red Riders will counter with an amped up ground game built around senior Donavan Kirby, who has been rushing for 150 yards or more in the past three games. Kirby has gained 829 yards to lead all of the running backs in the Herald-Star/Daily Times coverage are in rushing. He also leads the area in points scored by a large margin with 102 points. The next closest is Justin Hartzell, Steubenville Catholic Central's quarterback, with 60.
Kirby was ticketed to share the rushing load with senior Chad Custer, but Custer broke a bone in his hand in the season- opener and has not played since. Filberto said he won't be back Friday either, but there is a chance that senior quarterback and defensive end Tyler Komorowski, who injured a knee against James Monroe, could play. He said it could be a game-time decision.
Senior inside linebacker Chris Helms, who got injured two weeks ago, was dressed last week. Filberto said playing him was a risk that it would aggravate his injury, but he should be going full tilt this week.
"They (Fairmont) are a pretty good football team, and we are a pretty good football team," Filberto said. "They haven't been challenged yet, so we hope we can challenge them. We'll know Friday. We want to put them in stressful situations and see how they respond. That hasn't happened to them yet. Let's hope we are capable of that.
"We have to pressure the quarterback. We can't give him time to throw the football. I think that when we are on offense, we have to be consistent and have to make some big plays on defense. I like our chances in the kicking game. That's our formula and, if all those things work, we'll be OK."