BACK AT HOME — The Weir High football team is back at home on Friday night hosting Albert Gallatin out of Pennsylvania looking to get back in the win column. - Michael D. McElwain

WEIRTON — Weir High’s youthful group ran into a more experienced East Liverpool team last week that was battling for a playoff spot, and the result was a sixth-straight defeat for the Red Riders.

This week, they’ll look to end that streak back at home as Albert Gallatin, out of Uniotown, Pennsylvania comes to Jimmy Carey Stadium on Friday night.

The Colonials are 5-3, and a Class AAAA team in Pennsylvania. That would make them the equivalent of a AAA team in West Virginia.

They have wins over Pittsburgh Carrick, Connellsville (Pa.), Uniontown (Pa.), Clear Spring (Maryland) and Brownsville (Pa.) and have won back-to-back games.

Their losses have come to Greensburg-Salem (Pa.), Nothern (Md.) and Allegany (Md.).

This will be the third-straight year the team will meet and the fourth time the game has been scheduled. The Red Riders won last year’s meeting 34-0 on the road and won the last meeting in Weriton, 41-19, in 2022. The teams were scheduled to play in 2021 but the game was called off due to Covid problems.

This year’s Colonials are a run-heavy football team as they have ran the ball 303 times and thrown it just 20. They average 341.8 rushing yards per game and have scored all 33 of their offensive touchdowns on the ground.

Leading that charge are Caleb DeHaven with 818 yards and eight scores on 48 carries averaging 17 yards per carry and Adam Pegg with 624 yards and nine scores on 49 carries, an average of 12.7 yards per carry and 78 yards per game.

Tee Guesman leads the team with 52 carries for 347 yards, an average of 6.7 yards per carry and three touchdowns. Xavier Rice has ran the ball just five times and scored touchdowns on three of those carries averaging 14.2 yards per.

Roman Smith is second on the team in carries with 50 and has 289 yards with three scores, averaging 5.8 yards per carry, while Bronx Jamison has four touchdowns and averages seven yards per carry. Nasir Moore averages 8.5 per carry with 315 yards and two end zone trips.

All told, the Colonials have rushed for more than 2,700 yards as a team. They average nine yards per carry and eight different players have scored a rushing touchdown.

Albert Gallatin averages just under 30 points per game and allows an average of just under 21.