Weir High’s memorable 100th season ends
North Marion pulls away from the Red Riders in Class AA semifinal
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FARMINGTON -- Weir High was able to match North Marion's high-powered offense early, but ultimately it was the top-seeded Huskies defense that proved to be able to step up and make the difference.
After the No. 5 Red Riders racked up 176 first-half yards and took a pair of one-point leads, North Marion scored the last 35 points to pull away for a 48-14 win in the Class AA semifinals Saturday night at Roy Michael Field.
The defeat concludes Weir's 100th season of football with an 11-2 mark.
"It's not the ending we wanted, everyone wants to end it walking off Wheeling Island with the trophy, but only one team gets to do that," Weir High head coach Frank Sisinni said. "Being one of the last four teams playing is something to be proud of.
"A lot of people around the state didn't even have us in the playoff conversation before the season. We did some great things this year. I told the kids to keep their heads high.
"A lot of credit to North Marion, they've got a nice program."
After the Red Riders matched the first two North Marion (12-1) scores to hold leads of 7-6 and 14-13 due to a missed extra point, the Huskies scored again to go up 20-14.
The Red Riders looked poised to answer again midway through the second quarter, marching eight plays into Husky territory, but the drive ended with the first big defensive play of the game - an interception by North Marion's Landon Frey.
The Huskies scored on the ensuing drive and did not look back on their way to earning a trip to Wheeling Island Stadium to battle Fairmont Senior for the title on Friday night.
"We were neck-and-neck with them," Sisinni said. "We had a turnover, and it was one of things where it was a situation we couldn't really give them the ball back because we just couldn't get (a stop). They had caught us in some issues up front and in the back end on defense, and that's what great teams do.
"They have a great team, and they'll have a great shot at winning the whole thing. We were right there with them for a while, they just pulled away from us."
The Red Riders got the ball to start the second half trailing 27-14, and looked poised to get back within a score when Corey Lyons busted free on a pair of runs that covered 36 yards to the North Marion 16, but he was then stopped for no gain on three-straight plays resulting in a turnover on downs.
From there, Weir's offense did not threaten again.
The defense made its first and only stop, forcing a three-and-out to give the offense a short field, but the Red Riders went three-and-out on the ensuing series and the Huskies scored on their next three possessions to put the game out of reach.
"We needed a big score there like we had done at Scott (in the quarterfinals), we needed to come out of the locker room and put a big drive together to start the second half," Sisinni said. "We drove all the way down there and it just fizzled out."
North Marion opened the scoring with a 55-yard Casey Minor to Brock Martin passing connection on the game's first drive, the kick sailing wide.
The Red Riders answered with a 10-play drive capped by a Malachi Stromile pass hauled in by Daniel Howland for a 6-yard score as Howland jumped up and made a one-handed grab to give Weir the lead.
Stromile racked up 86 of his 117 rushing yards and 43 of his 56 passing yards in the first half to match the big plays the other way.
Minor, though, gave the hosts back the lead with a 5-yard scoring run on the next drive to make it 13-7, which was the score after one quarter.
The Red Riders answered again, engineering an 11-play drive that was extended by a pair of fourth down conversions and capped by a Corey Lyons (86 yards on 21 carries) 1-yard plunge across the goal line to make it 14-13 Weir early in the second quarter.
After the Huskies re-took the lead with a 55-yard Minor run to go up 20-13, the interception set up an 18-yard Minor to Landon Cowger scoring connection for the first multi-score lead of the game at 27-13.
That pivotal drive was extended by a key third down pass ruled to be a completion by the officials, though it appeared the ball bounced off the turf before reaching a diving Frey.
That turn of events seemed to take the wind out of the Red Riders' sails.
After the Red Riders came up empty on the two early third quarter drives, North Marion got a 48-yard Minor scoring run in the third quarter and tacked on scoring runs of 81 and 13 yards from Frey in the fourth.
With the score out of reach, on the final Red Rider possession Sisinni used his last time out to send all 15 seniors, including a couple who were unable to play due to injury, onto the field together for one last huddle. They then walked off the field together arm in arm to applause from the large Weir High contingent that made the two-plus hour trip in a similar move to the Red Riders senior night tradition.
"I can't say enough about these seniors and what they helped bring back to this school," Sisinni said. "There's 100 years of football history, pride and tradition and they helped instill that into this program in their time here. I'm forever going to be attached to these guys because I had them when I came in here and took over in 2020.
"This one hurts, it really hurts, but we're going to keep our heads held up high because of what this group did. They brought the standard back up and raised the bar for the classes to come after them.
"They're a group of true leaders, and that's why they've had the success they've had. They leave a legacy of winning and making deep playoff runs, and that's the standard of Weir High football."