IN POSSESSION — Weir High’s Max Wood corrals the ball during Thursday’s match at St. Clairsville. - Nick Henthorn

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Two teams who recently took part in last weekend’s 4A OVAC soccer tournament met up Thursday after missing each other in the conference tourney.

On the field at Red Devil Stadium, it was St. Clairsville who prevailed over the visiting Weir Red Riders, the Red Devils putting together a big second half in a 5-0 shutout victory.

St. Clairsville led 1-0 after a first half largely defined by close calls. In the second half though, it was all Red Devils.

“We were real close to a couple goals in the first half, we were just off a little bit here, a little bit there,” St. Clairsville head coach Jeff Roberts said. “We talked about it at halftime, adjusted some of our runs to try and create more openings from where they were defending us, and it seemed to pay off.”

Brennen Rice got St. Clairsville on the board in the 12th minute, taking one touch after a pass to the right wing and sending a worm burner through the reach of the Weir keeper for the game’s opening goal.

That is all the scoring the first half had to offer, though both teams came within a hair of more goals in the first 40.

Weir’s Noah Lamasters and St. Clairsville keeper Talan Rice met at the ball in the third minute, one step the difference between a clean shot on the Red Devil’s goal and a ball forced out of bounds. In the seventh minute, Weir’s keeper Ben Howard plucked a crosser out of the air to suppress a good chance for St. C.

Howard made a great save in the 28th minute, smothering a ground-bound shot from less than five yards away from the goal. Rice had another quick-thinking play in the 31st minute, extending out of the goal to boot a ball back to midfield which Weir’s Aiden Mills was one step away from striking in-stride for a shot on goal.

The goalies made the decisive plays in the first half, but in the second it would be St. Clairsville’s strikers.

The Red Devils struck again in the 61st minute, Camden Judge scoring after a soaring corner kick from Rice bounced around in a crowd before eeking out to the waiting foot of Judge, who sent a curving strike through the net.

Lucas Causey scored on a 64th minute tapper after two other shots right in front of the goal were deflected by desperate Weir defenders. Causey was back at it again only two minutes later to make the score 4-0.

St. C.’s Jackson Dutton put through a close-range goal in the 76th minute, a special moment for the senior.

“We got one of our seniors one of his first goals in his career,” Roberts said. “It was a great effort by everybody.”

With the victory, St. Clairsville looks to build momentum after losing to Beaver Local in both the OVAC semifinals and their first regular season game following the tournament. Weir meanwhile, loses their third straight since dropping the OVAC title game to the Beavers.

“I feel like we’ve been starting to put things together,” Roberts said. “It’s taken awhile. But I feel like we’re starting to play as a team, the passing has been looking a lot better, the possession has been looking a lot better. We’ve played a lot of good teams, which has helped get them adjusted to the game speed and everything like that. The tough schedule is paying off now, I feel like they’re ready for those challenges. We’ve got another challenge on Sunday against Ashland at Historic Crew Stadium.”