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Riders survive Potters

Jimmy Joe Savage FINDING DAYLIGHT — Weir High quarterback Donavan Spencer looks for running room during the first half of Friday’s game with East Liverpool at Patterson Field. The Red Riders rallied from a 7-0 deficit to capture an 11-7 victory. Weir High is 7-2 and closes the regular season next week at Brooke.

EAST LIVERPOOL — East Liverpool’s offense struggled against Weir’s powerful defense on Friday night

The Red Riders sacked quarterback Austin Mayfield seven times, twice for a safety, and stuffed the run in their 11-7 victory. East Liverpool falls to 3-6 this season, while Weir improves to 7-2.

“The defense did a great job,” said Weir head coach Tony Filberto. “They showed up from the start and did what they had to do. We were playing in about five inches of mud all night, so it took a while to really get things rolling.

On top of the two safeties, the Red Riders scored on a two-yard run by Domenick Murphy in the fourth quarter to lift the visitors to victory.

“We were able to march down an score,” Filberto said. “The offense kind of took over in the fourth quarter.”

For East Liverpool, Mayfield threw for 107 passing yards and a touchdown to break the Potters’ single season passing record.

Mayfield’s touchdown was a 33-yarder to Noah Shaw to give East Liverpool an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Weir tallied its safeties in the second and third quarters on tackles by Cody Enrietti and Murphy. The Red Riders trailed 7-4 heading into the final quarter.

Despite a strong rushing attack from Weir, the Potters stopped seven times in the red zone.

“I felt my defense did a pretty good job containing them,” East Liverpool head coach Josh Ludwig said. “We put them in a good spot a lot of times. We had a few red zone stops and turnovers. We did what we definitely wanted to do tonight. We shut down the run and kept them from passing the football. We made them earn everything they had.”

East Liverpool had a chance with 1:10 left in the game after David Locke recovered a fumble, but Mayfield threw four straight incompletions. Weir took over and ran out the clock.

East Liverpool only recorded 19 rushing yards on four carries. The Red Riders had 207 yards on 54 rushes.

“We weren’t able to get a lot of protection or time, and we couldn’t get the run game going,” Ludwig said. “It was tough footing out there. We give Weir all the credit in the world. They swarmed us, but we knew they would.”

Weir  improved to 7-2 on the year. The team was 12th in the state of West Virginia Class AA computer ratings this past week. The top 16 teams in each class make the playoffs.

“We gained a lot of confidence coming out of this,” Filberto said. “It was not a pretty win by any means, but a win is a win. We’re feeling pretty good heading into our final game of the regular season against Brooke. Hopefully, we’re able to go even further after that.”

East Liverpool travels to St. Clairsville on Friday.

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