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Red Riders held Tyler Consolidated in check throughout, advance to AA/A sectional finals

BOXING OUT — Weir’s Cody Miller plays the ball in front of Tyler Consolidated’s Evan Maxwell during a Class AA/A Region 1 Section 1 matchup on Wednesday. (Photo by Joe Catullo)

WEIRTON — The Weir boys’ soccer team controlled the ball and the match against Tyler Consolidated on Wednesday.

The No. 1 Red Riders recorded three goals in each half en route to a 6-0 victory over the No. 4 Silver Knights in a West Virginia Class AA/A Region 1 Section 1 semifinal at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

“We have been working on trying to better our touch and better our finishing,” Weir (13-6-1) head coach Jim Luevano said. “We are still struggling to finish. We have struggled to finish all season. Some games we are able to build from the back. We want to play a good game of soccer with good movement, good passing and good awareness.”

Tyler Consolidated was forced to play defense for most of the night.

“They are a well-coached team,” Tyler Consolidated (8-11-2) head coach Scott Wall said. “They possess the ball well. They play patient. They work well together. They have a real solid program. They have had a good program for years. Going into these games, we always expect to play a good Weir team, and we did again tonight.”

With the win, Weir advances to the sectional final against Wheeling Central at 2 p.m. Saturday at home. Wheeling Central advanced to the title game by blanking Oak Glen, 2-0, in Wednesday’s other semifinal in Wheeling.

“Every game now you give everything you have because if you lose, your season is over,” Luevano said. “We take every game seriously. We don’t look past any team. We know these games are not going to be easy.”

William Rice recorded a hat trick and an assist to lead the way offensively for the Red Riders. Luke Tenaglio and Ashton Knuutila each tallied a goal and an assist, and Evan Gilbert collected a goal. Joseph Iafrate finished with an assist.

Weir used two goalies in the game. Brett Hinchee started and was replaced during the second half by Jonathan Howard. Neither one had to make a save.

On the other end of the field, Tyler Consolidated goalie Luke Daugherty was quite busy from start to finish. The senior ended the night with 18 saves.

Knuutila opened the scoring when he scored on a penalty kick with 33:17 left to play in the first half. Later on, Rice scored off of an assist by Tengalio on a free kick to give Weir a 2-0 lead with 4:26 remaining before halftime.

Tenaglio capped the scoring in the first half with his goal off of an assist by Iafrate with 1:04 still showing to increase the Red Riders’ advantage to 3-0.

Gilbert opened the scoring in the second half off of an assist by Rice to make the score 4-0 with 24:44 left. Rice recorded his second goal — this one coming off of an assist by Knuutila — to make the score 5-0 with 23:08 remaining.

Rice completed his hat trick when he found the back of the net with 3:21 left to play.

“We moved the ball well,” Luevano said. “We knew going into the game what we wanted to do. We won 50-50 balls. We moved the ball from the back. We play small ball instead of just kicking the ball over the top or down the side.”

The Red Riders also defeated the Silver Knights, 1-0, on Aug. 29 on the road.

“We did not do anything differently,” Wall said. “I think we were able to play behind the ball better at our place. We got a little frantic here. We paid for our mistakes. Weir did a better job of capitalizing on them here than down at our place.”

Wednesday’s game was the final one for the Silver Knights’ 11 seniors.

“We had a pretty good year,” Wall said. “We have never had that many (seniors) before. They are great guys. While the results were not always what we wanted, I cannot question these guys’ effort and heart. They are all going to be fine gentlemen when they leave school.”

The winner of Saturdays’ game will advance to the Region 1 final Thursday at Weir. The boys’ game is slated to start 20 minutes after the end of the girls’ game that begins at 5 p.m.

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