Football Xtra

Riders look for homecoming bounceback

WEIRTON -- Weir High has a prime opportunity to bounce back from its second loss of the season on Friday night when Richard Wright comes to town from the Washington, D.C area.

"We have a little bit of game film on them," Weir High head coach Frank Sisinni said. "They're a team that's coming in looking for some positive things to happen.

"When you're playing a team that's looking for a positive start, you have to come out on top of your game.

"They're winless, they're going to be trying to get things going in a positive direction. We don't know a lot about them, there's not a lot of infortmation, but we do know they're going to be coming here hungry for a win."

The Red Riders, now 3-2, fell to unbeaten Union Local last week, a measuring stick type game for the resurgent program.

The good news is Weir rattled off back-to-back wins following its first loss, so it has shown the ability to bounce back.

"When you get into these kind of weeks you always want to figure out the why -- why things happened the way they did," Sisinni said. "The message this week to the team is to get better. The kids are playing hard, we're working on a gameplan for Richard Wright now.

"Union Local is a great team and came in with a great game plan. We tried to limit their run game, which was difficult. We kept them in check for most of the first two quarters, we had a chance to score before the half and didn't punch it in and that was something we needed."

One thing he can't fault for the loss is effort, which has been good all season long.

"The kids are giving us everything they have, we can't fault effort," Sisinni said. "We're trying to get better across the board in all aspects. We're working on the why, why things happened the way they did. We wanted a good test agaisnt a good team and now we have to work on some things from it."

The Red Riders now sit in the 16th and final playoff spot in Class AA at the midpoint, and will look to make their push for a post season return during the final five weeks.

"It' time to start making a push for playoff position and that's a conversation that hasn't been had around here in a few years," Sisinni said. "Being at the midway point and understanding where we're at when you're looking at the whole breakdown of the season.

"There's five more left and they're all big, obviously, but you know the cliche, the next one is the most important one and the next one is coming.

"We also know to get us moving in the right direction again this is a win we need to get our momemtum back and get some poistives things happening again.

"We're looking forward to the back half of the season and it all starts with this one on Friday night."

Adding to the excitement for the team and fans is homecoming festivities this weekend -- which also can be a challenge for the staff.

"The challenge is keeping the boys focused," Sisinni said. "They're teenagers and they can get sidetracked, so we have to keep them focused on the game plan and help them juggle all of the extra things going on.

"That's what we're trying to do as a coaching staff, help them keep their mindsets where they need to be so we can be successful on Friday night."