Photo by Andrew Grimm John Marshall quarterback Jacob Coffield throws a pass during the Monarchs’ 13-6 win over Weir Friday night.

WEIRTON — When two stout defenses are locked in a battle, a big play on special teams can make all the difference.

That is exactly what happened for John Marshall in a 13-6 victory over Weir High in a defensive slugfest Friday night at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

With his team clinging to a 6-0 halftime lead, Ashton Collett took the opening kick of the second half 90 yards to score when ended up being the difference-making points to lift the Monarchs to their first win of the Mark Cisar era.

“This was a physical game,” Cisar said. “We couldn’t hardly do anything offensively … but my gosh did we step up and make plays when we needed to make plays. Thank goodness for that kickoff return. (Collett) blasted up the seam, he had a chance to do that last week but he just missed the seam. He got the seam (Friday).

“What a battle this was. My gosh were they a physical team.

“We talk about being 1-0 each week and this is 1-0. We don’t care if it’s pretty, we don’t care how. We just want to get a W and we did what we came here to do.”

The Monarchs (1-1) other score came after a long interception return by Caleb Yates gave JM the ball inside the Red Riders’ 5, Jacob Coffield eventually punching the ball in from the 2 on fourth and goal late in the second quarter.

“It was a fight from start to finish,” Weir High head coach Frank Sisinni said. “It’s a tough one to swallow. There were a couple opportunistic plays that didn’t go our way. That’s the way it goes it sometimes. We had a misread on a screen (that caused the interception), we thought we had something there, credit to coach Cisar and his scheme … and obviously the special teams issue on the kickoff.

“Credit to them, that’s a good team.

“Our kids played their hearts out. A few years ago, even last year, it was a way different story when we played them. That is a very good football team we just went toe-to-toe with.”

That ended up being the lone blemish on the Red Riders (1-1) defense, which had a goal-line-stand and two takeaways to keep Weir High in the game until the end despite the JM defense also keeping Weir’s offense at bay.

“Our defense played physical,” Sisinni said. “They had to earn everything, even the score where they started inside the 5, they had to work hard for that, we got it to a fourth down. That was the mentality, make them earn everything.

“We saw that from our defense last week at Oak Glen and we saw flashes of it in our scrimmage against North Marion. Now, we saw it (against JM). Our front and our tackling has been really good this year. Coach (John) Leary has our defense ready.”

Both defenses finished with solid numbers, as the teams finished with just 213 and 208 yards of offense and both were held under 70 passing yards.

“We thought we would be able to run the ball a little and we just couldn’t,” Cisar said. “They did a good job with their blitzes and switching up their coverage. They played with a lot of intensity and fire, I’m just glad that we matched it.”

Weir High’s offense, after having a few promising drives stall out, finally got something going in the fourth quarter as junior QB Malachi Stromile made two big plays and then finished the job himself to get the Riders on the board.

Stromile scored the Red Riders’ lone points on a 5-yard run with 7:45 to go, after connecting with Damarr Turner on a 33-yard pass and rattling off a 35-yard run on the drive.

“We didn’t quit and that is a credit to our seniors,” Sisinni said. “Our kids never packed it in, they just kept fighting and never quit.

“We had to earn everything too, they kept us in check. The last drive is definitely something we can build on.”

That, however, was the last time Weir’s offense saw the field, as JM put together a 14-play, 7-plus minute drive that collected four first downs and ran out the clock.

“We had to get a couple first down at the end of the game and we matched their intensity,” Cisar said. “We grounded it out.

“I’m very happy for our kids, it was a great effort.”

Coffield led the Monarch attack with 79 rushing yards and 63 passing yards, while Klypson Wallace hauled in a 59 yard pass and had 52 rushing yards for Cisar’s club.

Stromile threw for 69 yards and ran for 67 and the score for Weir High, while Corey Lyons rushed for 39 and Jamari Bass-Hubbard added 25 on the ground.

Kayne Green had an interception for the Red Riders, while Kamar Bridges recovered a fumble.

John Marshall travels to Bridgeport (W.Va.) in Week 3.

Weir High travels across the river to take on Indian Creek on Friday.

John Marshall 13, Weir High 6

John Marshall 0-6-7-0 – 13

Weir High 0-0-0-6 – 6

JM: Coffield 2-yard run (kick failed) 4:39

JM: Collett 90-yard kick return (Fitzpatrick kick) 11:44

WH: Stromile 5-yard run (conversion failed) 7:45

RUSHING: John Marshall 39-150-TD (Wallace 18-52; Coffield 18-79-TD; Riding 2-10; Bre. Sobutka 1-9); Weir High 26-139-TD (Hubbard-Bass 10-25; Stromile 6-67-TD; Lyons 8-39; Haekins 1-5).

PASSING: John Marshall 3-6-63-INT (all by Coffield); Weir High 8-17-69-INT (all by Stromile).

RECEIVING: John Marshall 3-63 (Wallace 1-59; Collett 1-1; Bra. Sobotka 1-3); Weir High 8-69 (Mowder 3-16; Lyons 3-19; Turner 1-33).

FIRST DOWNS: John Marshall 12; Weir High 9.

PENALTIES-YARDS: John Marshall 4-35; Weir High 4-20.

FUMBLES-LOST: John Marshall 2-1; Weir High 0-0.