WEIRTON — With a large group of returning players, a strong off season in the books and the schedule back to normal, the goal for Weir High this season is simple — get back to the playoffs.

“We need it at this school,” Frank Sisinni, entering his third season at the helm of the Red Riders, said. “It’s the expectation around, this is Weir High football. We’re supposed to be in the playoffs.

“I know that, I understand that and it’s my job to lead this group where it needs to be to get back there.”

The Red Riders, who have had each of the last two seasons be affected negatively by COVID-19, finished last season 2-7 with two of those losses coming by way of forfeit due to the virus.

With the altered off season schedules and protocols in place the last two seasons, this summer has been the first for Sisinni and his staff to be normal — and it shows in the progression of the team.

“It was so nice to be able to have a normal June and that has flowed right into August,” he said. “I was hired in the peak of COVID and interviewed on Zoom, had to talk to the players on Zoom and then last year it was still different. It was a challenge, I’m sure, for coaches that were established and had their systems in place, yet alone one trying to implement his schemes and get everyone on the same page.

“In a lot of way the last two years have felt like 10.”

The way Weir High ended last season, though, has helped propel the program forward, as the Red Riders turned in their best performance of the season to top rival Brooke, 29-6, at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

The boost that performance, which included a lot of young players who were finding their way into the lineup after injuries and the grind of the season, gave the group headed into the off season was immeasurable and evident almost instantly.

“We started lifting as soon as we could and attendance was phenomenal,” Sisinni said. “We were lifting before we had out banquet and pretty much anyone who wasn’t playing another sport was in the weight room. We had a great off season, and the enthusiasm and motivation all goes back to winning that game.

“That has carried over. The summer has gone really well, with things being back to normal we were able to have a real mini camp after school ended and practice has gone well.”

From that group, the Red Riders did lose six seniors in Sean Baker, Jayson Nokso, Myles Rice, Carson Yobaggy, Josh Boffman and Jacob Morgan.

This year’s group is once again a small class, consisting of five, but they are followed by 15 juniors to make about half of the roster upperclassmen.

“Those 15 juniors were the freshmen I had my first year and they have come a long way, a lot of them have gotten a lot of time for us,” Sisinni said. “We have more upperclassmen than underclassmen this year which is big for us, its something different than the last two years.

“They’ve heard all the coach-speak and they know the system now, they’ve got experience on Friday night, now they’ve got to put it together.”

One of those key returning juniors is quarterback Malachi Stromile, who had a solid sophomore campaign in the quarterback role capped by a big performance in the aforementioned finale against the Bruins.

He threw for 889 yards and six scores while throwing just one interception a season ago.

“He made a lot of progress last year,” Sisinni said of his quarterback. “Coming in as a starting quarterback as a sophomore is tough, and he went through the growing pains, but he got better and better and was firing on all cylinders during the Brooke game. He got better learning the progressions and making reads and really showed what he can do.

“That confidence has carried over, he’s had a really good off season and we’re really excited to see what he can do this year.”

While Yobaggy, who Sisinni called “Mr. Do-it-all” for the Red Riders last season and was Stromile’s top target and is now at Washington and Jefferson College, is gone, one of his classmates, Devan Colson, looks to be a prominent factor hauling in passes.

Both of them will be key pieces of the defensive backfield, too, Colson having a big night with multiple interceptions in the Brooke game a year ago.

He finished with 20 tackles, five assists, three passes broken up and four interceptions.

Back in the mix after being limited to just one game last season is senior Jamari Bass at running back.

“We lost him to injuries the last two years, he got hurt in a special teams drill after the Oak Glen game (in Week 1) last year and we lost him for the season,” Sisinni said. “We haven’t gotten to see what he can do yet and we’re really excited to see that this year. We look for this to be his breakout.”

In his absence, returning junior Corey Lyons ran for 510 yards and five trips to the endzone in the Red Riders eight games last year.

Bass is also a linebacker on the defensive side.

Up front, leading the way is a Division I recruit in senior Cam Jones, who is committed to play collegiality at James Madison University when his time as a Red Rider is up.

He will be the leader of the O-line at left tackle and D-line as a defensive tackle.

“It all begins with Cam,” Sisinni said of Jones. “He’s a fantastic talent and had multiple Division I offers. He’s a true left tackle, just a fantastic player.”

He had 22 tackles, seven assists, two sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery a season ago on defense.

Also on the defensive side of the ball, two more key returning players are All-Area selections Gage Hawkins and Mo Prentice at linebacker. Prentice racked up 58 tackles, 18 assists, three tackles for loss, one sack and three fumble recoveries.

All-in-all, the Red Riders’ numbers are up over last year, hovering around the 40 mark, another sign of the added enthusiasm.

“That’s a good number for AA and they are all working very hard,” Sisinni said. “Our coaching staff has done a good job working with our young guys and our twos and threes this summer so they are ready, because depth is important, you have to have it.

“There is a next man up mentality and we want the next guy in line to be ready to go.”

With all that is back in the mix, Sisinni knows the time is now for the Red Riders to take the next step.

“We’re in win now mode, we have to be,” he said. “It’s been a couple of tough years and Weir High football needs to get back to winning.

“There are 99 years of history here, championships and playoff appearances, it’s our job to get back to that. There have been players to make it to the NFL, the Quincy Wilsons and Bob Jeters etc. Some of these kids are related to those guys or have connections to them, they know the history, they know the tradition. Now it’s their turn to take the next steps and write their part of the story at Weir High.”

That starts with perhaps the biggest game of the regular season, when the Red Riders take on rival Oak Glen for the Carl Hammil Trophy.

“It’s cliche to say it but Week 1 is really big, especially for us with it being a game against a rival with all the history,” Sisinni said. “They’ve got us each of the last three years and that stings. These kids are itching for that game, they have a bad taste in their mouth from losing to them and they want to get the trophy back.”

New on the schedule this year are Union Local, Richard Wright, a public charter school from the Washington D.C. area, and Pennsylvania school Albert Gallatin, who the Red Riders were supposed to play last season but were unable to due to COVID and agreed to re-sign to play this season.

While the majority of Sisinni’s staff is the same, one new key addition to it is Chris Hill, who comes to the Red Riders after spending the last several seasons at Oak Glen.

He will work with the wide receivers and the defense.

“We’re very, very excited to have him on our staff,” Sisinni said. “He is one of the best defensive minds in the valley and is going to make a big impact on our defense. He was a big part of the success Oak Glen has had for the last several years.”

Veteran coaches Tom Taylor and John Leary are back as the offensive and defensive coordinators, each bringing decades of experience.

“The two of them bring so much experience to our staff, they’ve been around coaching football for probably 30 years and both are head coaches in other sports,” Sisinni said. “We’re very fortunate to have them.”