WEIRTON — Two men, who were once the top players in the state of West Virginia in their respective days, will be leading their teams onto the field at Jimmy Carey Stadium Friday night.

Those men are veteran John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar, a two-time winner of the Kennedy Award in the early 90s while a player at Magnolia, and first-year Weir High head coach Quincy Wilson, who won the Kennedy Award with the Red Riders in 1998.

Their Monarchs and Red Riders will do battle in Week 2 in a clash of OVAC foes. The opening kick is set for 7 p.m.

“The GOAT, two-time Kennedy Award winner and a long-time coach here in the Valley with Union Local and John Marshall,” Wilson said of Cisar. “He’s always been receptive to me. Obviously, I was in college coaching for years, and I’ve come back and recruited his guys. I’ve always had a great relationship with him and everybody there, so I just appreciate it and just look forward to going against them.

“I think this is the first time two Kennedy Award winners have ever coached against each other.”

Their teams had very different openers in Week 1.

Weir High hosted rival Oak Glen in the battle for the Carl Hamill Trophy and fell behind early on the way to a 32-14 defeat in Wilson’s debut guiding his alma mater.

“We have to answer the bell,” Wilson said. “We have to be able to hold momentum. We got in our own way a lot early in the game, we gave up a touchdown on the second play, we went three and out, and then fumbled a snap. So, we couldn’t get out of our own way, and we were just playing uphill the rest of the game.

“So, obviously, taking care of the football is number one, and let’s make sure, if we do give up the big play, that we respond.”

In that game, some early mistakes added up and made the hole too deep to climb out of. But, despite the miscues, as is typical from a young team that replaced a lot of starters, Wilson did see some positive things as the game went on, including two scoring drives in the fourth quarter.

QB Nick DiMatteis had 132 of his 152 yards in the second half as the Red Riders found their footing, momentum they’ll look to continue in Week 2.

“Yeah, we saw some good things, like I said after the game, when we blocked them up, when we actually caught the football, or we actually got the snap we were OK,” Wilson said. “We gashed them with a couple plays on the run game, a couple plays in the screen game, a couple plays in the pass game … The plays are there. But football is a four quarter game and you have to be able to do those things for four quarters of football, not just in spurts.”

Having seen Cisar’s teams while coaching and recruiting in the college ranks, Wilson knows the Monarchs will provide a challenge.

In their Week 1 game, JM won a thriller over visiting Marietta 23-21.

“Me and Coach Cisar go way back, man, that’s my guy,” Wilson said. “I know that they replaced eight starters on defense, they have some guys back on offense, but they lost guys on both sides. So they’re kind of in the same boat as we are, a young team, but a lot of those young guys played last year.

“It starts and ends with number 20 (Dalton Cooper). He is as advertised, he’s going to have a huge year, so we’ve got to make sure we don’t let him get rolling, make him stop and start and get hats to the football.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge and seeing which team limits the mistakes and plays football for four quarters.”

Cooper had 243 yards and a pair of scores in JM’s opener.

The Red Riders and Monarchs, Wilson said, is also a good match up for the Valley and one that goes back to the days when he was suiting up for the Red Riders himself.

“It’s a traditional rivalry,” Wilson said. “John Marshall, when I was in high school, they were state champions, so I’ve always had respect for their program and that’s always been a big game for us at Weir High and we always enjoy going down there and when they’re coming up here.

“It’s a traditional rival; we’ve always played great games. It’s a great game in the OVAC and for the Valley.”