Strong start by Wheeling
In the not so distant past when the Wheeling football program was recovering from a multi-year losing streak, the question every fall was, "will this be the year the Wildcats make the playoffs?"
That goal was accomplished last season when Wheeling qualified for the state tournament for the first time in 11 years, and now this season, the question seems to be "just how good can the Wildcats be?"
Judging from game No. 1, pretty darn good.
Wheeling piled up the yardage early and often against an outmanned Maine West team in a 48-13 home victory.
Wheeling senior quarterback Matt Holmes ran for 3 scores and passed for 2 more while the Wildcat defense more than held their own against a pass-oriented Warriors offense that put the ball in the air 36 times.
Wheeling defensive back Michael Barton had 2 of the 4 interceptions.
"Man, they're fast, aren't they?" said Maine West coach Chris Hare of the Wildcats.
"They hit hard and they execute well. We had our moments, but there were times we shot ourselves in the foot."
Holmes started the season on the right foot - and arm - by scoring on runs of 31, 7, and 11 yards, and connecting through the air for touchdowns to wide receiver James Kurtz (an 18-yard strike) and slotback Leo Hicks (from 23 yards).
"We just came out and worked hard," said Holmes, "and tried to do the things we did in practice."
And despite opening up a big second-half lead, Holmes said the Wildcats weren't taking anything for granted.
"We know that the game's never over," Holmes said, "no matter what the score is."
Hicks also ran 11 yards for a touchdown and Brendon Pozniak scampered 27 yards to complete the Wheeling scoring. Maine West quarterback Frank Hess had a 19-yard scoring run and completed 22 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown.
"Their quarterback threw the ball extremely well," said Holmes of his counterpart.
Receiver Tom Solis grabbed the only Warriors touchdown toss while senior Nick Abramsan caught 7 passes.
"We've got to execute better," said Hare, whose team has been hit hard by injury.
"We've also got to shore up our pass protection, but I did see a lot of positives out there."