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Photo of Scott McCloskey’s Cody Martos of Wheeling Central stiff arm a Weir defender in Friday’s win.
WHEELING – Wheeling Central’s departure from Weir wasn’t exactly a manual. However, after getting off to a slow start, the Maroon Knights returned to playing Wheeling Central football. After missing his first offensive play in scrum, Michael Toepfer scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to lead the Maroon Knights to a 54-27 victory over the Red Riders on Friday night at Bishop Schmitt Field on the University of Wheeling campus. .
“We started off a little shaky,” said Wheeling Central coach Mike Young. “But that’s how they played everyone this year. (Weir) Coach (Frank) Sisinni got them ready to play. But we have a lot of different kids who can take it there. Thank you to our kids, our line and our coaches for getting us out of this second trimester and exploding. ”
And this explosion occurred 61 seconds in the second frame. After a 60-yard punt return from Cody Martos, Toepfer threw his first touchdown of the night on the next play. He found Braxton Anderson 23 yards away to bring the score to 21-7 with 10:59 left in the first half. The duo connected again 20 yards away on the next Maroon Knights ride.
Toepfer also landed a touchdown pass to Caleb Ratcliffe and Jayvon Miller in the second quarter when the score was 40-7 at halftime. The appellant finished with 113 yards for four touchdowns going 10 of 16 in the process.
“He continues to gain confidence and continues to feel better with his arms and feet,” Young said of Toepfer. “He started to shake because he wants to do well and I think he’s rushing a bit. But, once he’s settled in, he’s the athlete we know he can be and he’ll give us the leadership we need.
Martos extended Wheeling Central’s lead with a 30-yard run on first possession in the second half to make it 47-7.
Weir then went through a 13-game practice to get his second score of the night. Corey Lyons finished the run on a nine-yard run. His second score of the match. His first came in the first quarter as he picked up a 64-yard touchdown pass from Malachi Stromile after Central’s first score.
“We started off, we got a great pass there,” said Weir Sisinni. “We saw that we could get them with the man. But typical Wheeling Central. They adapted and they played Wheeling Central football. Anytime you have a team like this in your schedule, it always challenges you to be the best. To me, they’re the best Single A team in West Virginia. I applaud Coach Young and his team for the way his kids played. But the kids played hard in the second half. We told them, ‘Don’t look at the dashboard. Just keep playing football. Keep improving with each rep. We are proud of our children and their efforts.
After a 44-yard run from Lorenzo Ferrera to bring the score to 54-13, the Red Riders were able to find the end zone two more times.
Lyon scored their third touchdown of the night followed by a 32-yard rush from Josh Boffman. Lyons had 183 total yards for Weir (98 rushing, 85 receiving) while Stromile scored 132.
“The majority of this team is made up of sophomores and freshmen,” Sisinni said. “When you have 35 kids and 25 of them are in the underclass, you know you’re going to make the Friday night mistakes. We tell them to learn from them and move on. We’re going to be overwhelmed at times, but there’s a lot of projection for us. We know we’re going to take our songs and we took one (Friday). It’s part of the learning process and our young children will come to a point and see things more slowly. We’re going to turn a corner here. Our children fought all night.
Riley Watkins and Cole O’Neil both had rushed first-quarter touchdowns for the Maroon Knights. Martos led the way on the ground with 76 yards while Watkins had 74. Anderson had 49 receiving yards.
“We’re thrilled to be able to score points because we lost two tough games against Shadyside and Bellaire,” said Young. “But they are behind us. We must move forward. We have Martins Ferry next week. We hope to continue to get points from our opponents and get victories to qualify for the playoffs. We feel good if we get to the playoffs, we can make some noise. ”
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