Photo by Nick Henthorn St. Clairsville’s Ollie Muhly applies a stiff arm during a rush attempt in the second quarter Friday against Wheeling Park inside Wheeling Island Stadium. Muhly finished with 149 rushing yards and a touchdown Friday.

WHEELING — There was plenty of red, white and blue between the St. Clairsville Red Devils and Wheeling Park Patriots during their Friday night football clash on Wheeling Island Stadium– and plenty of yellow too.

Penalties were front and center as the Patriots moved to 4-1 on the season, defeating St. Clairsville (4-2) 24-7 on a day where both teams had double-digit penalties and piled up penalty yardage.

St. Clairsville was the harder-hit team, sustaining 11 penalties totaling 101 yards, while Wheeling Park was penalized 10 times for 79 yards.

While both teams found themselves in long-yardage situations early and often– the first quarter saw the most laundry, with 10 penalties between the two teams– Wheeling Park was able to pull out big plays to erase backwards movement, while the Patriots mostly kept a lid on the Red Devils’ own offense.

Park finished Friday with 14 10+ yard plays, including five 20+ yard plays. St. C. had eight 10+ yard plays and zero 20+ yard plays.

Amidst the hail of penalty flags in the first quarter, Wheeling Park managed to strike first and find the end zone. Junior quarterback Jay Bordas rolled out and found Isaac Sands in the flats, who made a tackler miss and scampered up the sideline for a 16-yard touchdown with 1:15 in the quarter.

St. Clairsville tied the game in the second quarter, senior weapon Ollie Muhly rushing 16 yards down to Wheeling Park’s two yard-line, and then breaking the plane on the next play with 6:51 to play until halftime.

Park senior Brennan Wack answered back on the Patriots’ very next drive. The tailback broke through the line and shot upfield, rushing 64 yards to the house.

Wack left the game in the third quarter with a lower body injury and did not return. The all-stater ran 15 times for 152 yards and a touchdown vs. the Red Devils.

St. Clairsville had a chance to tie the game going into the locker rooms, finding themselves at the Wheeling Park one yard-line with 11 seconds in the second quarter, and no timeouts. However, St. C. quarterback Sam McLean was hit as he threw, the play was ruled a fumble, and Wheeling Park’s Reuben Rouse scooped up the ball and nearly returned it to the house, being chased down by McLean with no time left in the half.

Owen Dobryzinski-Hines next found the end zone for Park, the senior receiver catching a curl right in front of the goalline, and diving in for six. After Anthony Mealy’s extra point, Park led 21-7 early in the third quarter.

Mealy went 4-4 on kicks Friday, putting through a 25-yard field goal with 4:08 left in the game to get Wheeling Park to 24 points.

After Wack departed with an injury, Wheeling Park’s offense was able to keep the ball moving with Isaac Sands in the back field. The senior rushed 11 times for 92 yards, ripping off runs of 20 and 35 yards against the Red Devil defense. Sands also had three catches for 41 yards and a touchdown.

Bordas finished with 144 passing yards and two touchdown, completing 62.5% of his passes.

Dobrzynski-Hines was the game’s leading receiver with five catches for 84 yards, including his touchdown.

Muhly was a workhorse for St. Clairsville, taking the rock 27 times for 149 yards and a score.

Wheeling Park, after three straight home games, will travel to play Morgantown next week in a crucial Class AAAA game– Morgantown entered Friday as the No. 1 team in the Class AAAA rankings, Wheeling Park at No. 3.

St. Clairsville will look to rebound on the road, due to face Bellaire in a Saturday noon game inside Big Reds Stadium.