Wheeling Central Catholic Aims To Be Ready For Red Devils
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WHEELING - Wheeling Central Catholic head coach Mike Young is familiar with the St. Clairsville Red Devils (2-1), a team he was a coach at years ago, and the team he and his Maroon Knights (1-1) are tasked with finding a way to beat come this Friday at 7 p.m.
"A very big team, a very aggressive team," Young said. "Well-coached, coach McClean and his staff is a veteran staff. They're in the postseason year-in, year-out, it's a program that I coached at around 25 years ago for a number of years. I know the families and the people well, good tradition, good pride over there and we've got our work cut out for us.
"We're a young team but we're going to accept the challenge, go out there and play four quarters of Wheeling Central football."
Wheeling Central is coming off a 20-18 win against a team the Maroon Knights were not as familiar with, out-of-state Perry Traditional Academy.
In that game, Central got rushing contributions from a variety of players, including Issac Martin, who rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown, and JJ White who rushed for 35 yards, but the big performer on the ground was Braden McWreath who toted the rock 18 times for 182 yards and a touchdown.
The more impressive facet of their win, Young thought, was their defense, which got stops when it counted, including a pivotal two-point conversion defense late in the fourth against Perry Traditional which ultimately won the Maroon Knights the game.
"One of the keys was we didn't break," Young said. "We bent but we didn't break. For a young team to stay in it with that kind of pressure, win 20-18 against a good, physical, fast team from Pittsburgh, I was proud of our kids' resiliency. I was proud of their never-die attitude, they hung in there and they came out with the W. I'm proud of what we did last week, but now we've got to bring that same energy to this one."
St. Clairsville has flexed an explosive offense in their victories each of the past two weeks, dropping 54 points on Martins Ferry and 48 on Zanesville. Last week against Zanesville, the Red Devils worked both the ground game and the passing attack, getting 113 yards and touchdown from Ollie Muhly while St. Clairsville used three different quarterbacks to put together a near-flawless day, going 14-15 for 233 yards and three touchdowns, the scores going to Tyson Pastor, Cole Thoburn and Rowan Mellott. Going into Friday, the Maroon Knights hope that their offense can limit the Red Devils' by keeping them off the field.
"Being able to sustain a drive and make use of every possession is going to be huge," Young said. "They're a big-play team, they score on long runs, long passes, special team plays. We've got our work cut out for us, they're 2-1 for a reason, they've got a good program and a roster full of good players."
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Bishop-Schmitt field.