photo by: Andrew Grimm

John Marshall’s Kayden Knapp throws a pass Friday against Weir at Jimmy Carey Stadium. Knapp threw four touchdowns as the Monarchs thumped the Red Riders, 42-12.

WEIRTON — Coming into Friday’s game, Weir High head coach Quincy Wilson was concerned about John Marshall’s run game and standout tailback Dalton Cooper.

While the Red Riders plan to bottle up the Monarchs main ball carrier worked for most of the game, John Marshall showed they can be multi-dimentional and hurt you with the pass, too.

JM quarterback Kayden Knapp fired four touchdown passes and threw for 237 yards as the Monarchs put up 257 through the air on the way to an impressive 42-12 victory at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

“Our kids played super hard, we executed on offense and did some very good things,” JM head coach Mark Cisar said. “We ran some good pass routes, threw some good balls and made plays. They shut our running game down, credit to them, they had a plan.

“Having balance and being able to adjust is important. Our line did a good job of pass blocking and we ran good routes. We were able to throw it and move the ball around and hopefully that will help us down the road. I’m proud of the kids.”

The Red Riders (0-2), similar to their Week 1 loss to Oak Glen, fell behind early and faced an uphill climb. They had a pass intercepted in the end zone and were dinged for 84 yards on 10 penalties, stunting a couple other promising drives.

“It was feast or famine, we loaded up the box for the run and they took advantage with the pass,” Wilson said. “Hat’s off to them, coach Cisar is a great coach and he was a quarterback, he has a passing mind and had his guys ready to take advantage. We were in position on those plays, we just have to be able to make the plays. Their guys made plays, they’re a good team.

“The first half I thought we had a good game plan and executed well, we had some stuff get in our way – holding calls and stuff like that, which happens in football – but I thought we played better on defense and on offense at times.”

JM (2-0) struck on its first possession with a big play. Cooper, who did finish over the century mark but got most of his yards in the second half, was bottled up twice and it appeared the Red Rider defense was going to get a quick three-and-out, but Knapp fired a bomb to Cain Martin (121 receiving yards) for a 62-yard score on third down, and from there, JM never trailed.

Knapp connected with Landen Snyder (107 receiving yards) for a 12-yard score early in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead. That was Snyder’s first of three TDs in the ball game.

He hauled in another on a fourth-down play with just under a minute to go in the first half, making it 21-0 visitors, but Weir High had an answer.

After Daniel Howland (118 rushing yards) busted a couple of big gains on handoffs, he hauled in a 12-yard TD toss from Nick DiMatteis with one second left before the break, making it a 21-6 game at the break.

The momentum from that was quickly snuffed to start the second half, though, as Martin returned the opening kick of the third quarter for a touchdown.

“That kickoff return really set the tone for the second half, they had scored right before halftime and we were in a ball game, but that return really changed things and kind of took the wind right out of their sails,” Cisar said. “That was a game-changer for us.”

Knapp and Snyder connected one more time, this time from 18-yards away, late in the third quarter and Cooper busted a 40-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. That run, and a 44-yarder in the third quarter, accounted for the majority of his 118 yards.

Weir had one more bright spot on the night as Thomas Davidson broke a 43-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

The Red Riders did finish with 189 rushing yards on the night and racked up 13 first downs, showing some positives for Wilson and company.

“There was some encouraging stuff,” Wilson said. “We just have to figure out what our secret sauce is, we have to figure out what our formula to success, who is our best 11, what are our best formations are and rep the heck out of it through the week and take it into Friday nights.

“The biggest thing for us is to stay together. It’s rough (to start 0-2), I get it, but I told them to hang in there and we’re going to be fine. There’s a lot of football left.”