WEIRTON -- The Madonna football team has reached its bye week during Week 4 of the West Virginia season with a 2-1 mark thus far.
The Blue Dons, guided by first-year coach Troy Fetty, took care of Wellsville 32-0 on the road and Hancock, Md. 49-8 at home before falling to a tough Toronto team on the road last week, 47-13.
"Being 2-1 at this point is very good, of course we'd like to be 3-0, but we ran into a very good Toronto team," Fetty said. "We didn't play our best game this past week .. it was a learning experience, we played very hard the whole game, which is a credit to our kids.
"The early bye week is good for us. We're dealing with one injury and our 21st player will become eligible for the Catholic Central game, so hopefully we are finally going to be able to dress everyone after the bye.
"We're using this week to keep working to get better, really stessing our fundementals and working on the little things. We just want to keep getting better at what we do.
"This sets us up to play the next seven weeks in a row."
The Blue Dons are sitting No. 17 in the Class A rankings, accoring to WV Tailgate Central, just on the outside of the playoff picture with seven games left to get there.
The Dons have shown a lot of offensive prowess thus far, led by quarterback Chase Littleton, who has 425 passing yards and seven TDs with just one interception and has ruhed for another 174 yards and four TDs.
Luca Muzzi is the second leading rusher with 139 yards and four trips to the endzone. He is averaging 6.6 yards per carry.
Koleton Grishkevich has been the leading target for Littleton, hauling in 11 passes for 178 yards and three scores.
There is plenty of big play ability, too, as Littleton has an 83-yard touchdown pass and a 50-yard run, Andre Crossland has an 83-yard TD catch, while Matt Geer (50-yard TD catch) and Grishkevich (40-yard TD catch) each have been on the receiving end of a long score.
The Dons have shown balance, too, with 424 passing yards and 384 rushing yards nearly evenly dividing the offensive output.
Though its been a few years, the bye week is not new to Fetty.
He experienced it as an assistant at Weir High and Brooke in previous coaching stops.
Ohio, of course, does not have a bye week, which he experienced the past few seasons on the staff at Buckeye Local.
Given the choice, he prefers having the extra week to rally the troops.
"I like the bye week, I personally think it's the way to go," Fetty said. "If you're a successful team, you're going to play 14 weeks in a row (without a bye), even longer in Ohio,. The way it's done in West Virginia, I think is perfect.
"A lot of teams try to do it in the middle of the season or near the end to be rested for the playoffs, it worked out for us being early.
"It's a good week to go scout other teams, it's a good week to heal up injuries and regroup. Playing 10 games in 11 weeks is a nice pace."
The Dons come out of the bye with their second home game hosting rival Catholic Central on Sept. 23.