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KEYSER -- The Weir High football team may not have gotten the elusive first win last week, but they certainly showed signs of getting closer to it.
After falling in a big hole early, the Red Riders battled back and had their biggest offensive output of the season in a 49-35 loss to Tyler Consolidated last Friday at home.
This week, the Red Riders will look to build on what was by far their most successful offensive performance and clean up some things on defense when they make the trip south for a big test at Keyser.
"It carried over into practice (Monday), the kids were excited," Weir head coach Chris Hill said. "We started installing a little bit more passing game this week since we had some success with it.
"The key now is we have to just play a full game offensively. We have spurts where we're able to move the ball … now it's just a matter of if we can play 48 minutes the way we did for a quarter and a half Friday night. If we can do that, I think we're going to be okay.
"We're getting closer and closer, now it's a matter of getting everything to link up at the same time for a full game."
The Golden Tornadoes provide quite the challenge for the youthful, but improving, Red Riders. Keyser enters the game with a 4-1 record and ranked No. 9 in West Virginia Class AAA.
The Golden Tornadoes have won back-to-back games, both at home, topping Petersburg (58-21) and Hampshire (44-12) convincingly the last two weeks.
Their lone loss on the season came to Robert C. Byrd, 42-14, on the road a couple weeks back. They started the season with road wins at Beckley (55-12) and Lewis County (28-0).
"They're traditional Keyser team," Hill said. "They're going to be in their 3-4 defense. They're going to be physical on offense. They're going to run their Wing-T at you. They're going to hit you with power sweep, buck sweep, belly trap, and, a lot of motion to get your eyes everywhere except where they should be.
"It's going to be a challenge defensively for us because we kind of struggle with eye discipline, and that's going to be a big key for us this week."
Keyser averages 39.8 points per game and allows an average of 17.4. They won last year's meeting, 34-6, at Jimmy Carey Stadium.
For the Red Riders, who enter the second half of their schedule 0-5, there has been clear signs of improvement from the start of the season until now. They're hoping they can put those pieces together and put some wins on the board in the second half of their slate.
After this trip, the Red Riders have three in a row at home and end the season with a short trip to Brooke.
"This is our last long travel game of the season," Hill said. "We're going to take it in, leave midday and stop and eat together as a team, then go down there and give it our best shot."