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WEIRTON -- Suffice it to say, neither Indian Creek nor Weir High are where they planned on being at this point in the season.
Neither team has been able to get into the win column yet, and neither has played at its home field.
The Red Riders (0-2) will finally get to play on the newly installed turf inside Jimmy Carey Stadium Friday night, hosting Indian Creek (0-3) as both teams look for win No. 1.
"Both teams are going to be very hungry for a win," Weir High head coach Frank Sisinni said. "This will be Indian Creek's fourth-straight game on the road and it will be our first game at home after going on the road for our scrimmages, a neutral site game with Oak Glen and going down to John Marshall. Both teams kind of parallel each other. Both teams are going to be trying to play their best football to get that first W.
"It's a higher quality turf than we had last year, we've been practicing on it. We're ready to go. The exciting part is being at home and not having to do all the traveling."
Last week, the Red Riders had a tough trip down state Route 2, falling 36-0 at Class AAA John Marshall.
Sisinni's offense will look to get back on track this week after not scoring in its last six quarters (the Riders were shut out in the second half of their opener against Oak Glen, a 35-20 loss).
Meanwhile, the Redskins will play their fourth-straight away from Kettlewell Memorial Stadium with the trip across the river. Last week, the Redskins dropped a tough, 28-13 decision to currently unbeaten Brooke.
"There are some similarities," Indian Creek head coach Andrew Connor said. "Both teams are kind of in the same boat, working on the things you've seen on film that haven't gone your way. We're working on our technique, our assignments and the things we have not been consistent enough on this week."
Sisinni knows two things for sure about Creek -- his defense will have to stop Eli Powell, who is fourth in the Herald-Star/Daily Times coverage area with 232 rushing yards and four touchdowns, and the Redskins will play hard for 48 minutes regardless of the score.
"Their whole offense runs through the quarterback and he's a talented athlete," Sisinni said. "We have to stop plays off tackle and on the perimeter. They have a tempo offense they go in and out of. We have to neutralize that and try to get them in long down and distance, passing situations.
"They play hard to the end. That is coach Connor and his staff, that is Wintersville football, that is Mingo Junction football. As a kid, I played against Wintersville and they are hard-nosed kids that play hard whistle to whistle for four quarters."
Meanwhile, Connor knows his team will have to clean up a lot of the self-inflicted wounds and mistakes that have plagued the first three games of the still-young season.
"We just have to eliminate some of the mistakes we've made and be more consistent," he said. "We've played well for two, three, four plays and then we don't do things well. That's just not going to be enough to put together a win, so we have to work on being more consistent."
He also knows his players will give it everything they have on Friday night.
"It's effort, that's the one intangible you can control," he said. "All of the others things going on in football right now you may not be able to control. Your effort and how hard you play you can control and in all three games I think my kids have given a good effort and played hard to the end."
In addition to Powell, the Indian Creek attack is led by Jayden Irizarry with 138 yards and a score on 30 totes, and Sam Coleman's six grabs for 51 yards.
Weir High's attack is led by sophomore quarterback Malachi Stromile, who has 185 passing yards in two games without a TD or a pick and has added another 87 yards with his feet.
Sisinni is hoping the ground game picks it up this week, as Stromile also is the team's leading rusher.
"We need to get our run game established," he said. "Our passing game will feed off of that. We have been stressing that this week.
"We have to be better at the fundamentals, clean things up, up front, offensively and defensively and fix the communication."
Both coaches are happy to have the game back on the schedule for the first time since the 2013 season opener.
"We're glad the old rivalry is back on the schedule," Sisinni said. "We're excited to play them. The proximity of the schools is ideal, you get the communities and fan bases involved. Being a AA school in the Northern Panhandle, there's only so many school you can play without going on a road trip for three or four hours. To have a school right across the river with the same enrollment, we're happy to have them on the schedule."
"It's great to play them again, we used to play them for a long time," Connor said. "Coach Sisinni does a good job with his kids. It's one of those games you get excited for. The kids know each other, they're on travel teams together and stuff like that.
"I think it will make for a good game and a good rivalry."