Toronto is strong start to finish at Weir

Andrew Grimm
FIGHTING THROUGH TACKLES — Toronto’s Zeb Kinsey fights through a tackle attempt from Weir High’s Lucas McAllister during Friday’s game at Jimmy Carey Stadium. 

WEIRTON — A lightning delay for a second-straight week would not dampen the Toronto Red Knights’ momentum.

After waiting over an hour longer than planned for the opening kick, the Red Knights forced turnovers on the first two Weir High drives and scored on their first three possessions and never looked back, rolling to a 50-0 victory over the Red Riders Friday night at a rainy Jimmy Carey Stadium.

“We got a good start, we came out hot,” Toronto head coach Jaret Aubiel said. “I was impressed with our team coming out like they did after the delay. That’s always a good thing to see.”

Zeb Kinsey threw for two scores and ran for two more, Drake Bouscher rushed for a pair of scores, Brady Fair caught an 85-yard score and Aiden Filby hauled in a 64-yard TD as Toronto improved to 3-0.

The Red Knights have scored more than 40 points in all three games.

“We have a pretty talented group, we’re blessed to have the kids we have,” Aubiel said. “We had some big plays and that’s part of what we do, that’s part of our offense. Hopefully they keep coming.”

As the teams were set to take the field about 10 minutes prior to the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff, the announcement came over the speakers that the referees had spotted lightning. The delay lasted nearly an hour and 15 minutes, but it was the only delay despite persistent rain for most of the rest of the game. The Red Knights 57-26 win over Lowellville a week earlier was also delayed more than an hour by lightning.

“It wouldn’t be so bad to deal with if we didn’t have the same thing last week,” Aubiel said. “Last week we were in the first quarter when the lighting came, (Friday) it was right when we were ready to get on the field. It’s good to see that we are able to overcome things like that.”

Once things got going, though, the Red Knights did not seem to be affected.

After forcing a Weir (1-1) fumble on the opening drive of the game, Bouscher scored on a 6-yard run to take advantage of the turnover and take the lead.

On the ensuing Red Rider drive, Bouscher picked off a Lucas McAllister pass and returned it inside the Weir 20, setting up a 3-yard Kinsey plunge into the endzone to make it 14-0 two plays later.

The defense got a three-and-out, then a bad snap on Weir’s punt made for another possession with good field position — and this time it took just one play for Toronto to take advantage.

Kinsey let a long pass go to Filby down the sideline and he caught it in stride for a 64-yard catch-and-run, making it 20-0 Toronto after one quarter.

“We made a lot of mistakes, but good teams make you do that,” Weir High head coach Frank Sisinni said. “Credit to Toronto, coach Aubiel, their coaching staff and players. We ran into an exceptional team. Good teams put you in holes early, and we were in a hole early.

“We started with a turnover that really caused an issue and then a personal foul on top of it to give them an easy score and then turned around threw an interception that gave them good field position again.

“It was a tough start. There’s a lot that we can learn from it with a young team early in the year.”

The Red Riders looked to have gained their footing as the defense forced Toronto’s first punt to slow things down, then on the next drive, McAllister picked off a Kinsey pass and returned it deep into the Red Knights end, but the offense could not get anything going with either opportunity, and Brody Winters capped a Toronto drive with a 15-yard scoring run to make it a 28-0 Toronto lead at halftime.

On the first possession of the third quarter, Kinsey fired a deep bomb to Fair for an 85-yard TD on what was a third-and-15, a two-point run making it 36-0 less than a minute into the half.

Bouscher capped a long drive with a 4-yard scoring run later in the quarter.

With a running clock in the fourth quarter, Patrick McEwen busted a 50-yard run deep into Red Rider territory and plunged in from the 1 two plays later to provide the final margin of victory.

“We’ll find out how our guys respond, that’s why we had a lot of different faces out there throughout the night trying to see who can step up,” Sisinni said. “I give the boys credit. They played hard against a good team. This is why we have the schedule we have, so we can test our boys against good teams and see where we are at.

“We’ll dwell on it for a day or two then move on and be ready for the next one.”

UP NEXT

Toronto: Travels to Newcomerstown next Friday night.

Weir High: Is on the road at Indian Creek next Friday night to start a set of three-straight away from home.