STEUBENVILLE — The Weir boys soccer team won on the stat sheet, however, Catholic Central came out on top on the scoreboard.

The Crusaders recorded two goals in the first half and held off a charge by the Red Riders in the second half to pull out a 3-1 victory Thursday evening at the Tony Recinella Soccer Field.

“It was definitely the start we were looking for,” Catholic Central (1-1) head coach Steve Kopcha said. “It is easier to play with the lead. We wanted to score first, and we were able to do that today.

“I was confident that they would come hard at us at the whole game, and they came hard at us. They put a lot of pressure on us.”

The Red Riders scored midway through the second half to pull within a goal, however, the hosts tallied their third goal with about three minutes left to play to seal the deal.

“The guys brought the effort in the second half,” first-year Weir (0-1) head coach Adam Welsh said. “We just made a couple of mistakes and had a couple miscommunications.

“Our first mistake came on their first goal. We had a breakdown. We did not learn from making the mistake at the Soccer Rama. We mishandle the ball on their second goal. We just had some small breakdowns.

“We really stepped up in the second half.”

Brendan Kuebler, Isaac Stoutz and Nico Gonzalez all tallied a goal for the boys from Jefferson County. Gonzalez scored on a penalty kick.

Joseph Vranish made seven saves in goal for the victors.

Noah Lamasters collected the lone goal for the visitors from Hancock County off an assist by Micah Hvizdak.

Aiden Mills made four saves in goal for the boys in white.

The Red Riders outshot the Crusaders, 11-9. The visitors tallied eight shots on goal, while Catholic Central collected seven. Weir’s offensive pressure forced the Crusaders into taking 13 goal kicks, while the Red Riders were forced to take 10. Both teams took three corner kicks.

Weir nearly scored a goal early on in the second half, however, the long-range shot bounced off the crossbar and back onto the pitch keeping Catholic Central’s two-goal advantage in place.

“That was one of the better shots I have seen from long distance,” Welsh said. “We did a better job in the second half. We just could not capitalize on our opportunities.

“It’s our first game. We are definitely going to get better.”

The Red Riders stepped up their level of play in the second half, and it paid off as Weir was able to score midway through the half to pull within, 2-1. The goal by Lamasters energized the team, however, Weir was unable to find the back of the net for the second time.

“Without a doubt,” Kopcha said about Weir stepping up in the second half. “They had a lot of possession. They had the ball on our end of the field a lot. That’s characteristic of them. They push hard. They work hard. They kept coming at us.”

Weir was forced to play a man down for the last few minutes after a player received his second yellow card of the match. Gonzalez scored on a penalty kick a minute or so later to regain a two-goal lead for his team.

Kuebler opened the scoring by finding the back of the net three minutes into the match. He was able to gather in a loose ball and knock it into the net to give Catholic Central a 1-0 advantage. Stotuz added the Crusaders’ second goal about 13 minutes later to increase their lead to 2-0.

“It’s all new to me on the boys’ side,” said Welsh, who was the head coach of the Madonna girls’ team last season. “We did well in the second half. We possessed the ball in the second half. We played well in the second half. We just could not capitalize on our opportunities. We had some good shots, but we could just not capitalize on our opportunities. We just could not finish.”

It was the type of match Kopcha expected going into it.

“I know he is an excellent coach,” Kopcha said about Welsh. “He has coaching experience. They worked hard. They were organized. They came at us hard. They hustled to the ball. They challenged every ball. They looked how I expected them to look.”

Weir is scheduled to play Saturday afternoon at Fairmont Senior as part of a boys’ and girls’ doubleheader.

Catholic Central is slated to play Monday evening down at Trinity Christian before playing Brooke Tuesday at home.