High School Sports

Central Hosts Undefeated Shadyside

WHEELING -- Every year Shadyside and Wheeling Central provide one of the marquee matchups of the high school football season.

This year is no different.

The Tigers and Maroon Knights will do battle under the lights of Bishop Schmitt Field on Friday night and one team will walk away with a valuable victory.

"Shadyside is always in the postseason and they are always contenders," Central coach Mike Young said. "They have a solid program with a staff that is well-versed and they have consistency in the program. Both schools are similar in different ways in terms of success in the program. We've been fortunate to win the last few times we've played them but it will come down to the last few minutes and I'm sure it will be a good high school football game. We can use this game to gauge where we sit for the rest of the season."

Shadyside enters the game with a spotless 4-0 record, while Central (2-1) is coming off a nail-biting 14-7 loss to undefeated Bellaire.

"Both teams played hard last week and we saw some improvements," Young said. "We just have to block and tackle better and I believe we will. We're still green in some areas but our kids want to learn and they are going to keep working."

Both Shadyside and Central have seen injuries to their starting quarterbacks but have received solid play from the next man up.

In a 35-14 Tigers' win over Barnesville last week, Ben Wach completed 6 of 11 passes for 148 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in place of Rhys Francis who is out for the season.

"I see an athlete playing quarterback who is wet behind the ears but he is doing a nice job and he stepped up," Shadyside coach Mark Holenka said. "He is handling it like you want him to and he is growing up fast, so our future looks bright."

Young is also impressed with what he sees from Wach.

"They have a young quarterback who throws the ball really well," Young said. "We have to put pressure on him."

As for the Knights, Payton Hildebrand connected on 15 of 29 passes for 189 yards, a TD and three picks against a stingy Bellaire defense but led the Knights to two straight wins to start the season.

"I see a QB who knows that offense pretty well," Holenka said of Hildebrand.

Along with quarterback play, Shadyside running back Wyatt Reiman will be a crucial factor in the outcome of the game.

The all-state back ran for 90 yards and five touchdowns last week for the Tigers.

"We have to try to slow down Reiman," Young said. "He is a heck of a runner, so offensively, we have to take advantage of every possession we have."

Bellaire was able to keep the Knights under 300 yards of offense last week but Caleb Ratcliffe got loose for a touchdown to match his 61 yards receiving. The Tigers will be looking to keep him in check and limit the big plays.

"We can't have the big explosive plays," Holenka said. "Those things are going to come into play. There are a lot of battles in the war but you have to be able to win most of the battles to win the war."

Friday night is also Homecoming Night for the Maroon Knights.