Weir and Bluefield go at it again
Monday, November 28, 2005
The Steubenville Herald-Star

WEIRTON - Here we go again.

The history is recent when Weir High meets Bluefield High in the West Virginia Class AA playoffs.

And, the outcomes have not been kind to the Red Riders.

Bluefield shocked Weir in last year's semifinals and won, 37-30, in the quarterfinals in 2003. Both losses came in overtime.

For the third straight game, Weir shut down its opponents. After blanking Logan, the Red Riders shutout both Scott and Wayne in the second halves.

"I think we just wear people down in the second half," Weir coach Eric Meek said after Saturday's 22-7 victory over top-seeded Wayne. "We've been doing it all year. No one has outscored us in the second half.

"We are in great condition because it's part of our daily practice schedule. This is the third time this year we've been behind at halftime and then dominated in the second half."

The Red Riders did a number on Wayne's all-everything star Garry Roland, who finished far below his season averages in rushing yards, receiving yards and scoring.

Bluefield will go to its second straight state title game. The Beavers whipped Wayne, 69-24, last year to finish its perfect 14-0 year.

Bluefield enters this game 8-4 after totaling 370 yards of offense in the semifinal win over James Monroe, which was held to 250 yards.

Weir is 12-1.

The Red Riders are led on offense by Brandon Sperlazza, Corey Lyons, Josh Smith and Jason Gatto. Weir finished with 395 yards of total offense against Wayne, which only had 202.

After whipping Logal 66-0, Weir has played two tough, grind-it-out football games in victories over Scott and Wayne. The Red Riders have shown they can score a lot of points or rely on their defense to win.

Bluefield 's march to the island has been through No. 6 seed Liberty Harrison (24-8), No. 11 Grafton (35-0) and No. 2 James Monroe (24-14). The Beavers had lost, 17-14, earlier in the season against James Monroe.

"We've been a second half team all year," said Sperlazza, who is in his third season at quarterback, after the game. "We rely on our coaching staff to make adjustments at the half. Each guy has responsibilities they must carry out.

"We also rely on our team speed and conditioning."

With one game left, the Red Riders will have a lot of positive 2005 playoff memories to rely on also.

Community pep rally

A community pep rally for the football team will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Weir High gym.