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WEIRTON -- The youthful Red Riders football team had made some strides before their bye week last week. First-year coach Chris Hill sees the week to regroup and as having come at a good time for Weir High to heal up and refine some things as they look to finish their season strong.
They get back on the field Friday night when they host Moorefield at Jimmy Carey Stadium for a 7 p.m. kick.
"Absolutely the bye week was good for us," Hill said. "We were able to take some of the things that we started finding success with and added a few different wrinkles in them. We've been finding our run game as of late. We started adding a few different wrinkles in there with motion and maybe some different kids carrying it to add a little bit of more deception with our run game.
"Defensively too, we're taking what we've been doing, getting a couple new kids acclimated to some different positions. It came in a good week for us to give some opportunities to some younger kids to prepare them for next year."
The Red Riders have thus far been most successful on the ground, racking up 1,247 of their 1,765 yards of offense this season and eight of their 11 scores on the ground.
Senior Izaigha George leads that department with 616 of those yards and a team-high three touchdowns, averaging 5.6 yards per carry and 77 yards per game.
Zach Howland and Gavin McAllister, a freshmenm have two rushing scores each.
Landon Haught, the track and field standout, leads the receiving game with 14 catches for 132 yards and two scores.
Moorefield comes to Weirton with a 4-4 record and clinging to one of the final Class AA playoff spots, sitting at No. 15 in this week's rankings.
"Moorfield's a good team. Similar to us, they're young," Hill said. "They've been able to string some things together where we haven't been able to.
"They play a good schedule. They've played Frankfort, they've played Keyser, Elkins, so quite a few different teams that have been very, very good and competitive for them.
"They have some really good players that we're going to have to be aware of on offense and defense."
The Red Riders, after taking on the Yellow Jackets, end the regular season with their annual county-line rivalry clash with Brooke, another team that will be fighting for a playoff spot.
The opening kick at Jimmy Carey Stadium Friday night is set for 7 p.m.