CADIZ — This Friday night at Wagner Field two teams that have not gotten off to the starts they hoped for will look to reverse their fortunes.

Weir High, which sits 0-3 and is coming off a needed bye week to regroup, will travel out Route 22 to take on the 1-4 Harrison Central Huskies, who are looking to build off their first victory.

The Red Riders, while suffering three tough losses to start the season, did so against teams with a combined record of 11-1.

“We were banged up, we played three really good opponents and we took it in our lumps,” Red Riders first-year head coach Quincy Wilson said. “So as they say, there’s always a good time for a bye, it was a good time bye for us.

“We went back to the camp fundamentals, it was fundamentals, just getting back to what we know, trying to just build confidence in the guys. Obviously, when you’re losing, losing creates division. So I made a cut up showing all the good we’ve done. Just trying to do the reverse psychology and just showing them when we execute, everything we do works, whenever we have fundamentals and execute the play, we have success.”

He has seen improvement in those three games.

“The first game, I think we were a little shell-shocked and really didn’t play well,” Wilson said. “I think the second game, we played well against the run, we just didn’t guard the pass. And then last week, we didn’t give up any special teams plays, we only had five penalties, the offense looked a little better. So again, it’s 0-3, but we’ve made steady improvement each week.”

The Huskies, meanwhile, also showed steady improvement week-to-week and it culminated in getting into the win column last week against Akron North.

“It was good, I was happy for the kids, happy for my coaches,” Huskies head coach Anthony Hayes said of getting in the win column. “We continue to get better throughout the season each and every week.

“We started off 0-4 there and there’s no other way to put that, but I felt like we were close and three of those four games I felt like it could have went either way. It was either we self-destructed or couldn’t pull off the score when we were inside the red zone or had third and longs and had a hard time getting off the field. It was like we just couldn’t finish the job. To be able to get out to a fast start on Friday and then finish really strong, that was really important to us.”

Getting that first victory resulted in a jolt of energy to the program, one Hayes and company hope propels a big second half.

“We came in (Monday) and you know winning cures everything. People are more excited when things are going the right way,” Hayes said. “Honestly, all year long, even though we started off 0-4, our mentality at practice was always upbeat. I thought we were getting closer every week. You just hope it comes sooner rather than later for you, but the kids never wavered on it. The coaches never wavered. My coaching staff is incredible. They were positive throughout everything each and every week. I think the kids fed off of that as well.

“When you have everybody speaking the same language, it makes things a little bit easier, which I think enabled us to play the way we did Friday.”

Both teams start a lot of youth, and both teams have had the growing pains that come with it. Wilson, for his part, sees a lot of similarities between the teams.

“They’re a lot like us, a young team,” Wilson said of the Huskies. “I think they returned all their guys from offense last year, they lost a running back (Mykel Quito) who put up a bunch of touchdowns for them. So they’re kind of in the boat where we are.

“They play some good teams as well, and they have played well against them. This is our first road game, so we’re traveling and have make sure we do that well.

“They do a bunch of stuff on offense, so our guys have to have good eye discipline and have to maintain our gaps, do what we gotta do. And then offensively, just execute. We told the guys, when we execute, we have success. So we have a simple game plan, I just wanna start fast. That’s one thing we have not done in the first three games, start fast.

“That’s kind of the theme of the week, start fast, start fast. And then when we get out there, let’s try to make it a four-quarter game.”

Despite some new faces on the Weir side and a new coaching staff, Hayes expects the Red Riders to be every bit the challenge they have been before.

“They’re the typical Red Riders, physical, good team speed,” Hayes said of Weir High. “On defense, they get active, they bring a lot of pressure. The defensive linemen are very explosive for them. On offense, I think the quarterback is a good player. I think he can present a lot of problems. I think they have a committee as far as wide receiver goes.

“It feels like they can spread the ball around either to the back out of the backfield or to any receiver they line up out there. I think their kids are excited. I know they may not be off to the start in which they want, but their kids are playing hard, which tells me that they must be buying into what Coach Wilson is telling them.

“We’re looking forward to a really, really tough football game come Friday.”

The opening kick on Friday night in Cadiz is set for 7 p.m.