Weir high goes from one Class A power to another

Red Riders set to host Williamstown for homecoming at Jimmy Carey Stadium

WEIRTON -- Coming off facing a perennial favorite to win the Class A title in Wheeling Central last week, Weir High faces another of the top Class A programs in the state when Williamstown comes to Jimmy Carey Stadium on Friday night.

"We know with Williamstown football, it's a program that is well-respected across the state in Class A," Weir High head coach Frank Sisinni said. "We know we're going to get a well-coached team that is disciplined.

"We know they are going to hang their hat on certain things and that is what our weekend meeting was about to get those things established. Williamstown is going to be a challenge for us being they are 4-1 and state-ranked in Class A.

"We always want to challenge our kids regardless of what age group we have, we have got to keep playing up. It's another quality Class A opponent, like we saw last week."

In the Red Riders loss to Wheeling Central, despite a large halftime deficit, Sisinni wanted the Red Riders to play hard in the second half, and they did, scoring 20 of their 27 points after halftime.

"There were some positive things. We challenged the kids at halftime to keep playing hard and keep stacking some positive plays together and not necessarily focus on the scoreboard, but stay positive and get some quality reps," Sisinni said. "It was a really big challenge for us having been quarantined all week as a group and isolated from each other, then to play a tough team like Wheeling Central, so that was what we asked of them was to keep getting quality reps regardless of the score."

In the loss, Corey Lyons ran for 98 yards and two scores, while Malachi Stromile passed for 132 yards and a score. Lyons had 85 receiving yards and another score, while Carson Yobaggy hauled in four passes for 47 yards.

On the season, Lyons has 284 yards and four rushing TDs, while Stromile has thrown for 454 and two scores for the Red Rider offense averaging 14.6 points and about 220 yards per outing.

Williamstown, on the other hand, is ranked seventh in the latest Class A rankings and sits 4-1, with its only loss coming 18-16 in double overtime in its opener against Waterford.

Since then, the Yellowjackets have knocked off Vincent Warren, Ravenswood, Buffalo and St. Mary's.

They average 29.4 points, while allowing just 12.8.

After having its last scheduled home game canceled and traveling last week, Sisinni's group is excited to be home for the first time since its win over Indian Creek.

"It's exciting to be back at home because we missed out on our Marietta game due to quarantine. We had a top heavy schedule where we started on the road load, so we finish with three of our next four at home," Sisinni said. "This is a big one for many reasons, we have homecoming this week, we haven't been home since the Indian Creek game and our kids are excited to play some football at home."

As the coach mentioned, the Red Riders will be celebrating homecoming.

"It's homecoming so the kids are excited," he said. "It's a fine balance because we know outside distractions can always happen when it comes to homecoming week, you have a larger crowd coming in for those games, so the kids are excited for those reasons, but it's not different than any other homecoming.

"We are going to make sure we stay focused and have a solid night for our seniors and stay even keel throughout the process.

"It's never easy for us, we go to Albert Gallatin next week then have East Liverpool and Brooke at home."