Wheeling Park, St. Clairsville Both Searching For A Spark Entering Friday’s Meeting
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Last week didn't go as either the Wheeling Park Patriots or St. Clairsville Red Devils would have liked, but a new week means a new opportunity for both programs to right the ship midseason as the Patriots travel to face St. C. inside Red Devil Stadium on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
St. Clairsville is coming off a 41-21 loss to East Liverpool in a game where the Red Devils led 14-12 at halftime. St. C. has faced a rugged schedule— their opponents’ combined record is 18-5— and the Red Devils are now 0-5 on the season, and looking for a spark to turn around their fortunes.
While the results haven't been to head coach Brett McLean's liking, he feels like his team is making progress.
"I think we’ve grown exponentially," McLean said. "We just haven’t put it all together. The kids' effort is there every week. We’re having a good practice week right now. Positive minds have got to win out over the negativity that can surround. Getting beat and losing, no one likes it, no one wants to ever accept that. I think our seniors, you know, that’s tough right now. They see their whole senior year flying by and they want to be successful and they’re giving the coaches all they got."
"It’s that time of the year where, we’re in week six, right? So, nobody’s young anymore, everybody’s got to step up. Everybody’s got to be a veteran player at this point in the season, and we’re going to need that for the second half. We got to have better execution everywhere, from coaches to players to support staff. We’ve got to get our act together and get moving."
Wheeling Park, meanwhile, is 2-2 and ranked eighth in the latest WVSSAC Computer Ratings to determine the 16-team Class AAAA playoff field. The Patriots, though, are coming off a 66-0 defeat against top-rated University, and looking for a quick bounceback.
"I’ve been really happy with the response," Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty said of his team's preparation coming off the loss to the Hawks. "That doesn’t happen to us very often.
It hasn’t happened to us very often. So it’s a place that we’re not familiar with. But at the same time, when you’re there, how are you going to deal with it? Well, you get back to the basics, you get back to work, you stand up on your own two feet and you get after it again. I was really happy with how we responded in practice.
"But, we have to get better if we want a different outcome, and when I say we, I mean the football team from the head coach to the youngest player on the team. We all got to get a little bit better. If everybody has that mindset, we’ll be fine."
St. Clairsville has turned to multiple quarterbacks this season. Luke Schafer started the year under center but suffered an injury in week one. Brody Clifford had held down the quarterback job since, but junior Owen Williams was pressed into action in the second half last week against East Liverpool. McLean has confidence in whoever ends up taking snaps Friday.
"We have depth at all positions and they’re practicing every day and every one of them has got to be ready to step up and go at any time," McLean said.
On the ground, junior Hunter Orum has led the way with 207 yards at a 4.9 YPC average and a pair of touchdown runs. Sophomore Jackson Mercer is the team's leading receiver with 14 grabs for 208 yards and four scores.
"I know that, currently they’re not where they normally are," Daugherty said of St. Clairsville. "But Brett does such a good job, it’s one of the stronger programs in our area. You just know that they’re being told the right things, they’re being coached, they’re going to get it right. And you know at some point in time they’re going to get a win. They’re coached too well. They have too much talent, they’re doing everything they can to get a win.
"You know, we’re not necessarily liking what happened to us last week, right? So we’ve got to get better and improve. I think when you look at St. Clairsville, they’re young in some areas. So are we. I think it’s two good programs that are going against each other, and both staffs are probably in very similar situations in how they’re preparing and how they’re speaking to their teams."
Wheeling Park's own offense has been headed by senior quarterback Jay Bordas, who through four games has completed over 71% of his passes for 836 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. Liam Wetzel (22 catches, 244 yards, one touchdown), Preston Heatherington (17/239/2) and Michael Neider (14/239/3) have all put forward productive years as pass-catchers.
On the ground, senior Hunter Miller has rushed for 385 yards and three touchdowns, taking the lion's share of the carries.
"It’s a big game, always," McLean said of Wheeling Park. "It’s local, we’re next-door neighbors and there’s a lot of excitement around this game every year for both teams. Very familiar with each other. We’ve been playing for, I don’t know, eight years or so now, and in previous years to that even. We have a lot of respect for their coaches and their staff. Coach Doc has done another fantastic job.
"Offensively, they are very good because of a very veteran and very good quarterback in Bordas. They're getting lot of work from multiple backs and spread the ball around to a pretty talented receiving core. They’re very athletic. For us, it’s a big challenge every year to be ready to play with them. They’re a big physical opponent on our schedule, always. We totally understand going into this that we have to perform."
Friday will be the 11th meeting between the two programs in a series dating back to 2004. The two teams are 5-5 against one another; Friday will be a tiebreaker. Wheeling Park has won the last four meetings including last year's 24-7 victory in Wheeling Island Stadium.