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Late surge powers unbeaten Red Riders by rival Brooke

BATTLING — Brooke’s Juan Gotor Blanes and Weir High’s Jericho Givens battle for possession Tuesday. -Joe Catullo

WEIRTON — The Weir and Brooke boys soccer teams renewed their longstanding rivalry Tuesday night at Jimmy Carey Stadium. The game was scoreless for roughly 60 minutes, before Weir senior Joe Iafrate tallied a goal and an assist roughly 13 minutes apart to lead the Red Riders to a 2-0 victory against the Bruins in the latest chapter of the storied rivalry.

“It always is a tough game,” Weir (9-0-1) head coach Matt Kopp said. “I think we had some jitters in the first half. It is a rivalry game. As good of a season as we have had at this point, I think it got into their heads, and they did not play their game. They struggled with their touches early on in the game. In the second half, we were a different team.”

After Weir scored to take the lead, Brooke pushed forward in an attempt to net the equalizer. However, the Red Riders took advantage on a counterattack, resulting in their second goal with less than seven minutes left to play.

“It was not one-sided,” Brooke (3-7-1) head coach Joe Pepe said. “Our kids played their hearts out. We had many shots. I think we dominated the first half. Other people may say something different, but I think we dominated the first half. We moved the ball well.”

Ayden Munoz netted the first goal for Weir with 19:48 showing on the scoreboard clock, but the referee reset the clock to 20:05 following the goal.

“One thing about coach Pepe is he is a great motivator,” Kopp said, who played for Pepe when he was the head coach at Weir. “He is a great coach. It is always a battle when you play his team. We knew it was not going to be easy. He is a legend. His kids always play hard. It was nice to recognize him.”

Iafrate collected his goal with 6:50 remaining to be played off of an assist by Jacob Morgan.

“We did not get back quick enough,” Pepe said. “Our bench is not very deep right now but, once we develop that depth, we will be fine. I am proud of the boys. We always play a rough schedule. We just got through playing Wheeling Park, University and Capital. Those are big teams, and Catholic Central is no slouch. I think they have only lost one game. I thought we did extremely well. We battled. It is not easy. We have got Buckhannon-Upshur coming to town Saturday. We play a rough, rough schedule.”

Both teams goalies came up with some big saves throughout the match. Jonathan Howard made eight saves for the Red Riders.

“He made some saves on some shots I expected to go in,” Kopp said. “I am very proud of Jonathan Howard. He kept us in the game with a couple of the saves he made.

Andrew Coursin made seven saves for the Bruins.

“Andrew Coursin stepped up tonight at keeper,” Pepe said. “He did an excellent job. Our defense played extremely well.”

The Red Riders have won seven-straight games after earning a 3-3 tie Aug. 29 at Indian Creek. They are scheduled to play Linsly at 6 p.m. Thursday at home.

“I hope by now the kids believe in themselves,” Kopp said. “They should believe in themselves by now. We have a chance to go undefeated before the cutoff for the OVAC tournament. It will be our last game before the cutoff. I think we have the chance to do it.”

Brooke is scheduled to play Buckhannon-Upshur at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at home.

Prior to the start of the game, a moment of silence of was held in memory of Roane County senior football player Alex Miller, who was 17. He collapsed and died on the field just prior to the start of the second quarter of his team’s game Friday night at Clay County.

The players on both teams wore silver headbands (Roane County’s school colors are maroon and silver) in memory of Miller. The teams also wore bands on their wrists. Brooke wore maroon, while Weir wore silver.

“We had ordered the head bands,” Pepe said. “Mrs. Pepe and I had the ribbons made. We wore them to honor a fallen athlete. Yes, we battled on the field, but we came together for this. It is tough any time you have an athlete fall on a field. These athletes are young. They are not supposed to suffer cardiac arrest. It happens far too often. Matt and I talked, and we ordered the bands on Sunday. We wanted to do our part. They got the bands, and we got the ribbons. We worked together on that.”

Kopp wanted to honor Miller in some way.

“I am glad we were able to get together and honor him,” Kopp said. “We recognize this goes beyond soccer today.”

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