Weir Tops Indian Creek
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WINTERSVILLE -- The start may not have went Weir High’s way, but most everything after it certainly did.
After Indian Creek surprised the Red Riders with an onside kick to start the game and got on the board first, the Weir ground game got rolling to carry the Riders to a 35-9 victory at Kettlewell Stadium Friday night.
"As the game progressed, we got into our game," Weir High head coach Frank Sisinni said. "We’re not really elaborate, we just try to get the ball in space to our kids, hit the boundary and get some downhill football going.
"It’s the old cliché, we take what you give us, and that’s what happened (Friday)."
Weir High’s ground attack, led by Corey Lyons with 138 yards and three scores, totaled 281 of the Riders’ 364 yards of offense and accounted for all five touchdowns.
"Corey Lyons had a great night," Sisinni said. "Jamari Hubbard-Bass had a good night. I credit that to the offensive line. We had a lot of yards and scoring on the ground, and that is a credit to the hard work those guys have put in."
And, while Lyons and Jamari Hubbard-Bass (80 yards, TD) were powering the ground attack, the Weir (2-1) defense pitched a second half shutout to allow the Riders to pull away after leading by five at halftime.
"Coming out of halftime we had a big stop on fourth down and that put us in the right momentum and frame of mind that we wanted to start pounding the rock in the third quarter," Sisinni said. "We asked (the defense) to respond in the second half and they did. They played the kind of football we have been seeing all summer and through the first couple weeks.
"We had a big fourth down stop that got us rolling in the second half."
For Indian Creek (1-3), who held a 3-0 lead early and scored with less than a minute to go in the first half to keep the game tight through 24 minutes, the wind just seemed to leave the sails in the second half.
"We just didn’t execute in the second half and that falls on me," Indian Creek head coach Andrew Connor said. "I don’t know what the disconnect was after halftime, but I take the blame for it. It just didn’t seem like we had the same energy we had in the first half. We couldn’t make the big play, and we gave up a lot of big plays.
"Give credit to Weir, they came out and they executed well."
After Creek’s Gavin Gross nailed a 23-yard field goal set up by the onside recovery and an eight-play march inside the five, Weir High needed just three plays to answer.
After Bass rattled off a 9-yard run and Malachi Stromile connected with Gage Hawkins for a big gain, Lyons started his big night off with a 46-yard scoring run on his first carry.
Stromile, who had a solid night throwing for 83 yards and rushing for another 54, needed just one play to score and make it 14-3 with a 32-yard run.
Creek’s Paul Mazar, however, had an answer with a 30-yard pass to Cam McAfee down the sideline to make it a 14-9 game at the break.
That, however, would be the final time points were added to the Creek side of the board as the final 24 minutes was all Weir High.
Lyons capped a six-play drive on Weir’s first possession of the third quarter with a 2-yard run, then, early in the fourth, Bass powered his way through defenders for a 30-yard scoring run.
Creek fumbled on the ensuing possession, and four plays later Lyons put the icing on the cake with a 3-yard scoring run for the final points.
ROYALTY
Indian Creek’s Megan Gampolo was crowned 2022 homecoming queen during a halftime ceremony.
UP NEXT
Weir High:Returns to Jimmy Carey Stadium to host 2-2 Martins Ferry next Friday night.
Indian Creek: Makes a two-hour trip to 1-3 Utica next Friday night.
Weir High 35, Indian Creek 9
Weir High 7-7-7-14 - 35
Indian Creek 3-6-0-0 - 9
IC: Gross 23-yard field goal 7:54
WH: Lyons 46-yard run (Howard kick) 6:52
WH: Stromile 32-yard run (Howard kick) 3:51
IC: McAfee 30-yard pass from Mazar (pass failed) :34
WH: Lyons 2-yard run (Howard kick) 3:45
WH: Hubbard-Bass 30-yard run (Schiebel kick) 9:29
WH: Lyons 3-yard run (Howard kick) 7:39
RUSHING: Weir High 38-281-5TD (Hubbard-Bass 10-80; Lyons 15-138; Stromile 9-54; Young 3-8; Shuble 1-1); Indian Creek 48-162 (McGee 19-93; Robinson 5-16; McAfee 5-5; Mazar 7-(-4); Stabile 4-2; Garlitz 1-1; Harris 2-11; Starkey 1-16; Christian 4-22).
PASSING: Weir High 4-7-83-INT (all by Stromile); Indian Creek 6-9-90-TD (all by Mazar).
RECEIVING: Weir High 4-83 (Hawkins 2-25; Mowder 1-14; Lyons 1-44); Indian Creek 6-90 (McAfee 3-51; Shultz 2-24; McGee 1-15).
FIRST DOWNS: Weir High 18; Indian Creek 14.
FUMBLES-LOST: Weir High 3-1; Indian Creek 4-2.
PENALTIES-YARDS: Weir High 5-35; Indian Creek 6-37.