Week 4 is here

September 19, 2013

Week 4 of the fastest 10 weeks of the year is upon us.Ten of the 11 teams in our coverage area are between the lines Friday or Saturday. Madonna with that pathetic bye week, is the only team not in action. The Blue Dons have the week off after the 42-7 dismantling of Wheeling Central.Teams have formed identities by now. Although questions still remain with every program, a lot of them have been answered. Brooke (1-2) entertains Steubenville Big Red (3-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.The Bruins are coming off a 44-21 loss to University, No. 6 in the West Virginia Class AAA ranks and have their ...

Streak is over

September 23, 2013

I've heard it.And, really, those of you who have uttered the words bashing the Weir High football coaching staff should just go sit in a corner somewhere.You are wrong.Pathetically wrong.This is a really good coaching staff.They know their stuff.And, they proved it Friday night as the Red Riders won a football game for the first time since Nov. 4, 2011, an 18-13 triumph over Tyler Consolidated in the last game of that season.Grafton had scored for a 21-6 lead with about five minutes left in the third quarter.To a man, every member of the Weir coaching staff was nothing but positive as ...

A playoff experience to remember

October 3, 2013

I couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 when my father took me by the hand and apologized.We left Three Rivers Stadium after a Pirates loss to the San Diego Padres. One of many losses to (insert Major League Baseball team name here) that we've witnessed over the years. But on that summer evening in the mid-1990s, Rick Peaslee was especially somber."I'm sorry," he said.He apologized, not only for dragging me to another failing defeat, but for bringing me in to the torture and impending doom of being a Pirates fan.I never accepted that apology. This was something I signed up for and nearly ...

After 91-0 win, unsportsmanlike conduct … on the dad

October 24, 2013

91-0.Bullying.Really?There is a whiff of unsportsmanlike conduct here and it's not on the coach whose team won.It's not on the coach whose team lost.It's on the father who filed bullying charges because his son plays on the team that lost 91-0 in a Texas high school football game.Aledo defeated Western Hills 91-0 last week.Aleda is 7-0 and has outscored its opponents 485-47.Western Hills is 0-7 and has been outscored 370-61, with a 49-30 loss in the fold.From the Texas Education Agency: tea.state.tx.us/CSH-Bullying.html"Bullying occurs when a person is exposed, repeatedly and over time, ...

Two really good football teams got after it Saturday

October 28, 2013

How often does hype meet reality?Rarely.Super Bowls are usually mediocre because for every game that comes down to the final moments, you have a 45-10 whooping.World Series and NBA championships are best-of-7 and not all good games are good.Boxing and MMA events are do not always meet the hype of the fights.Saturday night at Jimmy Carey Stadium, hype squarely met reality.And, it was a pleasure to watch.A perfect game?Nope.But, does that really take away from two teams beating the snot out of each other?Nope.There is not any player or coach associated with that game who doesn't wish their ...

Harrison Central gets its kicks, now, and for years to come

October 30, 2013

Eric Sheets played soccer, briefly, as a Bethany College student.At the intramural level.He's coached softball.At a "little kid" level.Now, he's leading the jumpstart Harrison Central boys soccer team.At a competitive level."I've coached some junior varsity girls basketball and helped out with the varsity softball team," Sheets said after the Huskies 2-0 win over Cambridge in a Division II sectional game. "But up until this year I never coached soccer."A first-year head coach and a first-year varsity program were the perfect combination for a history-making win on Oct. 14."It's been a ...