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Golden Tornado strikes Riders

SHAKING OFF — Weir High’s Reed Reitter shakes off a couple of Keyser defenders on Friday. (Photo by Michael D. McElwain)

WEIRTON — In athletics, sometimes the games can be all about momentum. That seemed to be the case in Weir High’s disheartening 41-40 loss to Keyser Friday night at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

The Red Riders, now 3-1, had the momentum throughout the first half, perhaps a carryover from the dramatic goal line stop to preserve the win over James Monroe a week earlier.

Weir High was scoring almost at will through the first half and even kept it going through the first three minutes of the second half, building up a 26-point lead at 40-14.

After all, they stopped the Golden Tornado with a three-and-out on the first possession of the third period and then went 53 yards in five plays. The drive was featured by a 48-yard sideline pass from Sebastian Spencer, who played the entire game at quarterback as a replacement for senior Tyler Komorowski, who was out with a sprained knee, to Jake McCoy. That set up Donavan Kirby’s 7-yard power run into the end zone with less than three minutes gone in the second half.

All of a sudden, the momentum shifted to the direction of the Golden Tornado (2-1), and they took advantage of it for the rest of the game.

Reitter’s kickoff was put in play by Keyser at their own 39, and it covered the 61 yards with a long 11-play drive then ended when Caden Biser, the coach’s son, pranced into the end zone from 5 yards out. Quarterback Ryan Shoemaker hit Brady Clay for the two-point conversion to close the 26-point gap a little at 40-22 with 5:39 left in the third period.

That was the beginning of the momentum shift, and it really got in high gear for the Golden Tornado when Ste’von Semedo fumbled at the Red Rider 32. Phillip Biser, who is not a son of the Keyser coach, grabbed the loose football, and it took Keyser just four plays to score again. Clay did it on a 24-yard sweep to the left, a play that the Red Rider defense just couldn’t defend all night.

With the score now 40-28, the momentum popped it’s head immediately as the Red Rider kickoff return team muffed the squib kick by Earnest, with Sam Perry pouncing on the ball at the Red Rider 47. On the first play, Clay took it to the house, but the apparent score was called back to Keyser territory by a 10-yard holding call near the line of scrimmage. Undaunted, the Golden Tornado finished the possession with another Caden Biser 5-yard sweep to the end zone. When the Earnest boot split the uprights, Keyser was knocking on the door trailing by six at 40-34.

Neither team was able to do much in the early going of the fourth quarter but, with 6:34 left in the game, Shoemaker intercepted a Spencer pass at his own 40 and returned it to the Red Rider 35. This short drive took just six plays. When Caden Biser went through the middle, this time from the 10, Keyser tied it at 40. Earnest’s kick was true, and the Golden Tornado began celebrating the one-point lead with 4:48 left in the game.

“We came out and spotted them points right off the bat,” Keyser coach Sean Biser said. “I just felt we couldn’t get our feet on the ground until the second half. The kids just didn’t give up. I’ve been telling the kids to worry about this play, not the last one or the next one. They decided to do that, and that’s what they did. We didn’t make many adjustments at halftime at all.”

The next Weir High possession ended in four plays, with Spencer getting hauled down at his own 42 on fourth down just three yards shy of the first-down marker.

The Red Riders finally were able to stop a Golden Tornado drive with time running out, but two plays into the attempted comeback, a Spencer pass was intercepted by Shoemaker at the Keyser 39.

Weir High, which went entered the game ranked sixth among all Class AA teams in the state, had that same sort of momentum going for them in the first half.

They got the ball first to open the game and went on a long nine-play drive that consumed almost four minutes. It covered 60 yards and ended with Kirby plowing into the end zone from a yard out. The Reed Reitter kick made it 7-0.

They got the ball back on the kickoff when Reitter’s kick was misplayed by the Golden Tornado return man. It bounced around for awhile before Reitter raced down the field to recover the loose ball at the Keyser 8. On the first play, Kirby smashed into the end zone. Reitter’s kick missed this time, but the Red Riders were in command, 13-0, just four minutes into the game.

Keyser answered that score quickly with Clay sweeping left for a 3-yard touchdown. The Earnest kick made it 13-7, but the Golden Tornado were assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty and Earnest had to kickoff from his 25-yard line instead of the 40.

It was a short kickoff downed by Reese Wills at the Keyser 43 to set up a Spencer 22-yard score after a neat fake to Semedo. Reitter’s kick made it 20-7.

The Golden Tornado answered again with a 25-yard sweep by Clay that culminated an 80-yard drive to make the score 20-14.

Later in the second period, Keyser was forced to punt on fourth down, and the center snap sailed over Regie Redman’s head to put the Red Riders in position for another score. Kirby started a run through the right side of the line on the first play, veered to his right and picked up a nifty block down the sideline from Jake McCoy that freed him for a 37-yard touchdown. Another Reitter kick made it 27-14.

On the ensuing kickoff, Reitter’s boot was fielded by Perry at his own 2 where he slipped. The Rider defense forced a three-and-out and got the ball back at the Keyser 41.

The drive from there ended when Kirby blasted up the middle from the Keyser 16. Reitter’s kick missed this time, but the hosts carried that momentum into the locker room at halftime with the 33-14 lead.

Red Rider coach Tony Filberto was not happy with his defense in the second half.

“I’ve said often it doesn’t matter how you play the game, it is how you finish,” he said. “We just didn’t finish. They came out and played better than us in the second half, and they deserved to win.

“They were running that jet sweep, and we just didn’t respond to it at all. We didn’t have the opportunities to pass the ball like we did in the first half, and they just played better than us in the second half.”

After playing it’s first four games at home, the Red Riders will attempt to rebound on the road at Petersburg on Saturday.

Keyser 41, Weir High 40

Keyser 7 7 20 7 41

Weir High 20 13 7 0 40

W: Kirby 1 run (Reitter kick)

W: Kirby 8 (kick failed)

K: Clay 3 run (Earnest kick)

W: Spencer 22 run (Reitter kick)

K: Clay 14 run (Earnest kick)

W: Kirby 37 (Reitter kick)

W: Kirby 16 run (kick failed)

W: Kirby 7 run (Reitter kick)

K: Biser 5 run (Clay pass from Shoemaker)

K: Clay 28 (pass failed)

K: Biser 5 run (kick failed)

K: Biser 10 run (Earnest kick)

RUSHING: Keyser 65-374-6 (Clay 13-91-4, Biser 12-63-2, Allen 14-84, Perry 9-62, Shoemaker 6-22, Moreland 5-34, Redman 1-(-8), Lyons 5-18). Weir High 25-136-6 (Kirby 15-90-5, Semedo 4-7, Spencer 6-39-1).

PASSING: Keyser 1-4-12-0-0 (all by Shoemaker); Weir High 14-23-151-0-2 (all by Spencer).

RECEIVING: Keyser (Redman 1-12); Weir High (Reitter 4-42, Gillette 3-31, Kirby 2-9, McCoy 4-58, Trupiano 1-12).

FIRST DOWNS: Keyser 17; Weir High 8.

FUMBLES-LOST: Keyser 3-0; Weir High 3-2.

PENALTIES: Keyser 9-90; Weir 6-40.

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