Andrew Grimm AIRING IT OUT — Weir High QB Nick DiMatteis releases a pass against Harrison Central on Friday night.

CADIZ — A little bit of confidence can go a long way with a young football team.

Harrison Central gained some of it last week in getting into the win column for the first time, and it showed on the turf at Wagner Field Friday night as the Huskies made it back-to-back victories with a 30-14 triumph over visiting Weir High.

The Huskies scored the first 30 points of the game before the subs came in with a running clock in the fourth quarter.

“We got the win, it wasn’t our cleanest game, we still have some to clean up, but I’m happy for the kids to get another win,” Huskies head coach Anthony Hayes said. “Our defense played better again this week, we’ve strung a couple good defensive games together now and that’s encouraging.”

The victory, which came in front of a packed house on homecoming night, improves Harrison Central to 2-4.

“It’s nice to win on homecoming in front of a big crowd,” Hayes said. “Hopefully the kids enjoy themselves and we’ll get back to work on Monday.”

On the flip side, the Red Riders are still trying to find some confidence as they fell to 0-4. Twelve penalties for 105 yards, including one that called back an 82-yard touchdown that would have put them on the board first early in the game, as well as some other costly mistakes made it hard for Weir to keep up.

“We wanted to start fast, and we had a 70-plus yard touchdown, but it was called back on a hold, and we didn’t make plays after that,” Weir head coach Quincy Wilson said. “I think they scored on multiple third downs, we were in position to make plays, we have to make those plays. We’re a young team, but that can only be an excuse for so long, eventually we have to start making plays.

“We’ve got the guys that can do it, we just have to do it. It’s the same stuff that’s beat us from Week 1 to Week 5, and that can’t happen. That starts with me as a coach, I have to do a better job of making adjustments, making sure we have our best 11 out there and those 11 guys have to step up and make the plays. We’re going to get back to work on Monday, I promise you that.

“Hats off to Harrison, they’re a good team, they’re going to win more games. Coach Hayes does a great job.”

The Huskies had a big night in the passing game. They racked up 303 of their 408 yards of offense through the air. Brady Hyre went 20 of 31 for 247 and a pair of TDs, also rushing for another 62 yards for a 300-yard night.

He fired scoring strikes of 17 and 11 yards to Colson Crothers (six catches for 69 yards) in the first half.

“We had a nice night in the pass game, we got the ball to multiple guys and (Hyre) is making good reads,” Hayes said. “Our O-line did a good job protecting.”

Huskies backup QB Kingston Smith saw some time in both halves, going 7 of 9 passing for 57 yards and a score and rushing for an additional TD. He had a 1-yard plunge just before halftime that made it 21-0 Huskies, then fired a 9-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter to Chaz Culbertson.

The Huskies’ other points came on a safety in the third quarter.

The Red Riders got both of their scores in the final four minutes of action as Matt Geer, who took over at QB late in the game, rushed for a 1-yard score and a two-point try to stop the running clock, then, after an interception, freshman Aiden Cunningham busted a 55-yard run to the seven and went the rest of the way to score on the next snap for the final points.

Nick DiMatteis finished 5 of 11 for 34 yards. Cunningham was the leading rusher with 62 on his two carries, while Thomas Davidson had 31 yards on nine totes.

The Weir defense did have two goal line stands in the second half to keep the score from getting lopsided.

“Our guys play hard, our defense played hard, but we have to be able to do it for four quarters,” Wilson said.

UP NEXT

Weir High: Returns home to host Keyser next Friday.

Harrison Central: Has a tough task in search of a third-straight win as undefeated Indian Creek comes to Wagner Field next Friday.

Harrison Central 30, Weir High 14

WH 0-0-0-14 — 14

HC 7-14-2-7 — 30

SCORING

First Quarter

HC: Crothers 17 pass from Hyre (Thaxton kick) 3:16

Second Quarter

HC: Crothers 11 pass from Hyre (Thaxton kick) 8:14

HC: K. Smith 1 run (Thaxton kick) :06

Third Quarter

HC: Safety 7:21

Fourth Quarter

HC: Culbertson 9 pass from K. Smith (Thaxton kick) 9:49

WH: Geer 1 run (Geer run) 3:53

WH: Cunningham 7 run (run failed) :22

RUSHING: Weir High 22-104-2TD (DiMatteis 2-(-16); Howland 4-7; Davidson 9-31; Geer 4-15-TD; Petteway 1-5; Cunningham 2-62-TD); Harrison Central 33-105-TD (Quito 1-(-4); Hyre 12-62; Rinkes 5-7; K. Smith 4-14-TD; Wurschum 5-13; Wade 2-4; McAfee 4-11)

PASSING: Weir High 5-11-34 (all by DiMatteis); Harrison Central 27-42-303-3TD-INT (Hyre 20-31-247-2TD; K. Smith 7-9-57-TD; M. Smith 0-2-INT)

RECEIVING: Weir High 5-34 (Davidson 2-16; Masters 2-16; McShan 1-2); Harrison Central 27-303-3TD (Quito 3-21; Dunkle 8-157; Crothers 6-69-2TD; Stock 4-18; Culbertson 4-28-TD; Engstrom 1-4; L. Smith 2-6)

FIRST DOWNS: Weir High 5; Harrison Central 22

PENALTIES-YARDS: Weir High 12-110; Harrison Central 10-73

FUMBLES-LOST: Weir High 3-0; Harrison Central 2-0

PUNTS: Weir High 5-37; Harrison Central 1-56