WORKING — Wheeling Central’s Loni Kusic tries to work the ball past Weir’s Kaelyn Engle. - Mike Hughes

WHEELING — Wheeling Central didn’t need any extra motivation entering Thursday’s home match with visiting Weir.

The Red Riders always sport a solid team so the Maroon Knights were prepared. The fact Weir eliminated Central from the postseason last fall, however, didn’t hurt in the motivation department.

The Knights came out of the halftime break with a 3-1 lead and quickly went to work putting away any thought of a comeback, quickly scoring three goals en route to an impressive 8-1 victory.

“It was a huge confidence boost,” Wheeling Central head coach Ashley Winters noted. “We told them at halftime, we know how you play and you are better than that 40 minutes you showed. They turned it around and came out like the team we know they would be.

“This is kind of a semi rivalry now when it comes to the (postseason), so we had a little chip on our shoulder from the sectional final last season.”

Weir actually struck first, when a pass hit the middle and Kylie Dunmyer placed a perfect header to the left side of the net, past the outstretched hands of Bella Fitzsimmons.

One shot. One goal. But that’s basically where it ended. Weir only recorded one more shot attempt in the half and only four total for the match.

The majority of the game was spent trying to prevent the Knights from rifling shots at new goalkeeper Bella Webber.

Webber performed admirably, but the unrelenting onslaught took its toll. She finished with 21 saves.

“Defense is a state of mind,” Weir head coach Jeremy Angelo said. “You can’t let people dictate the game and we stood and let them do what they wanted.

“Once they got those goals in the second half, it snowballed. They are a good team. We told them, we knew what was coming and we didn’t’ perform the way we should.

“It’s aprt of the learning process. We have six new starters and our subs haven’t played before.”

Central, meanwhile, is loaded with talent, experience, and skill. Those attributes started to flex as the team switched up its strategy somewhat after some early sputtering.

Senior Seneca Heller knotted the score a few minutes later and then Gianna Konkle put Central when she took a pass in the middle and booted it hard to the right. Webber got a hand on it, but the force of the kick ricocheted off the keeper’s hand and into the net.

Loni Kusic then weaved her way through the defense and fired left past a diving Webber. Central was in command, but at 3-1, hope still lingered on the visiting bench.

Then the second half happened. It only took a few minutes before sophomore Rylee Knight found the back of the net twice, followed by another goal from Konkle.

Just like that, the hosts were up 6-1.

“That first 40, we dominated, but we came out flat footed and were slow,” Winters admitted. “We talked about playing your game, playing how you know how and they were a completely different team in the second half.”

Later in the second half, Kusic and Maddie Kirchner tacked on goals to complete the scoring.

Central next heads to Charleston to face a difficult Charleston Catholic team as part of a tough upcoming stretch. Weir, meanwhile, will face North Marion at home Saturday at 12:30 p.m., a slight shift in start time.