photo by: Nick Henthorn

Wheeling Park’s Brennan Wack runs through a tackler last week at home against Musselman. Wack will look to continue his torrid senior season against rival University on Friday.

WHEELING — Three games into their season, Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty thinks his Patriots have already seen their fair share of ups and downs.

“A little bit of a roller coaster ride, right?” Daugherty said during an interview Wednesday inside Wheeling Island Stadium.

“We come off a big win at Spring Mills, they were number one or two in the state, then we come back and we lose one here, and we made enough mistakes that we didn’t deserve to win. So, we’ve seen that we can play good football, but we also have seen that we can play bad football if we don’t execute and eliminate mental mistakes.”

After losing against Musselman last week to move to 2-1 on the year, Wheeling Park, ranked No. 4 in the latest WVSSAC Class AAAA football ratings, remains at home this Friday to face undefeated University, themselves tied for the top spot in the WVSSAC’s rankings.

“The upside to football is now you’re on to a new opponent and a new week, University is 3-0 and they provide a challenge for us,” Daugherty said. “They’re very different from what we dealt with last week.”

After facing ground-bound Musselman, who rushed more than 40 times last week, University will be a sharp turn for the Patriots defense, who will now have to shift to suppressing a pass-centric offense.

Last week vs. Buckhannon-Upshur, University quarterback Harrison Helbig led the Hawks with 250 passing yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-21 passing. Talented receivers like Hayden George (six catches, 115 yards, one touchdown) and Kyle Weaver (three catches, 52 yards, two touchdowns) had big days as the Hawks rolled to a 62-12 victory. Against Musselman, Wheeling Park only had to defend 10 passes all game.

“That’s high school football,” Daugherty said. “Back in the day of tight ends and fullbacks, everybody kind of ran the same thing. Today it’s very different, so we’re kind of used to that. We like to think our defense is flexible enough to deal with a different offense on any given week. It is a drastic change and they’re very athletic, as usual. Eric [Snyder]’s done a great job.”

Wheeling Park and University have played each other every year since 2011, and the Patriots hold a slight edge in the all-time head-to-head record, 9-7.

“I think it’s a friendly rival,” Daugherty said. “You know, we have mutual respect for each other. We were friends with John Kelley, their former head coach, long, long-time head coach. And we became friends with Eric.

“We’re good friends with Jeff Bailey, their athletic director. We’ve always had a really good relationship with University. But, they’ve beaten us and we’ve beaten them, and it’s a good, healthy high school rivalry, in my opinion. It’s what it should be. Both schools and both teams and both coaching staffs understand this is always a big game for Wheeling Park and this is a big game for University. It’s always a fun matchup.”

Since their 2020 matchup, the two teams have traded wins, neither scoring consecutive victories. Wheeling Park won last year’s game, 35-22 on the road.

This year, senior Brennan Wack, who took home the Curt Warner Award as the best running back in the state last season, had the imposing task of trying to replicate a record-breaking season. Through three games at least, Wack hasn’t only replicated his junior stats– he’s improved them.

As a junior, Wack rushed for 2,258 yards in 12 games– 188 yards per game. This year Wack is averaging 234 yards per game, and has totaled more rushing yards every week– 226 vs. Parkersburg South, 233 vs. Spring Mills, and 244 against Musselman– in addition to scoring 10 touchdowns after breaking the plane 31 times on the ground as a junior.

“Well, I thought he was bigger and faster and stronger,” Daugherty said of Wack. “And usually that works to having an even better year. My worry was– everyone’s going to start with using their defense to stop Brennan. And they have, for the most part. And so, we’ve made some plays in the air, but Brennan has made a lot of plays with his feet already. There’s no doubt about it that we’re going to give Brennan the ball.

“We got to do a better job offensively of protecting our running game with different plays, however we decide, and kind of protect that. And I think we’re evolving right now. But Brennan’s had a, I don’t want to jinx him, he’s had a great first half. We’re not quite at the halfway mark, but I don’t know if you could have a better three game-start than what he’s done in three games.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. inside Wheeling Island Stadium.