WHEELING – Sometimes there are simply too many challenges to overcome.

Wheeling Central can certainly attest after Saturday’s season-opener against Poca on sun-drenched Bishop Schmitt Field on the campus of Wheeling University.

Having players in new positions and battling through injuries were actually the last of the Maroon Knights’ worries. The real ‘Paynes’ in the neck for the Maroon Knights were supplied by the Dots in terms of Marshall-bound senior Ethan Payne and highly regarded junior Toby Pain.

Add all of those factors together and throw in five turnovers, all of which were fumbles, and the end result was a 34-6 loss for the Knights.

“We didn’t execute well and had far too many turnovers,” Central head coach Mike Young said. “We were definitely out-manned number wise, but credit to Poca. Those Payne Brothers are quite the duo. They’re two of the best football players in the entire state of West Virginia.”

Ethan Payne – the reigning Kennedy Award winner – rushed 26 times for 204 yards and scored three touchdowns on the ground on runs of 1, 22 and 34 yards. He also capped the Poca scoring with a 21-yard reception in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Toby Payne caught a game-high 8 passes for 126 yards and was a force on the defensive side of the ball, which is where he earned First-Team All-State honors in Class AA a season ago.

“(Poca) manhandled us in a lot of ways,” Young said. “They ran hard and the biggest glaring site, in terms of areas in which we need to improve on is our tackling.

Compounding matters for the Knights were the aforementioned turnovers. Central fumbled 11 times and lost five of them. Three of the five turnovers resulted in scores.

“When you turn the ball over like that, there’s no way you’re going to be in the game,” Young said. “It was a real breakdown in execution. We didn’t have any scrimmages and you expect to make mistakes in the first game, but we made way too many.”

All told, Central finished with 150 yards of total offense and only 41 of those came via the rush.

The Knights opened with senior Payton Marling at quarterback. He completed 5-of-6 passes for 68 yards. They also utilized Michael Toepfer, who completed 3-of-4 throws for 41 yards and orchestrated the Knights touchdown drive, which culminated with a 13-yard pass to Caleb Ratcliffe.

Central’s top returning running back, senior Jordan Waterhouse, saw a limited workload because he was fighting through an illness, according to Young.

Now, it’s simply back to work for the Knights.

“I don’t think there’s one thing that happened (Saturday) that we can’t improve on,” Young said. “These kids are all good kids and they mean well. But, they’re green and young (in terms of football experience). They worked their tails off all summer and this is the first time they’ve been tested. We can adjust what we have to do.”

Central’s schedule for this week remains in a state of flux because of COVID-19 and the state of West Virginia’s color-coded, county-by-county system, which determines whether or not the schools can play or even attend school.

Central was scheduled to trek to Winfield, but it’s listed as “Orange” on the map, meaning it won’t be playing this week. As they did a lot during the summer, Central is now left in scramble mode.

“I don’t know who’s red or who’s orange or who is available to play,” Young said. “I talked to Winfield’s coach and he apologized. I’ve talked to several other coaches and we’re waiting to hear. There are some possibilities. We want these kids to play games and get better.”

Should the Knights not find an opponent this week, their next scheduled game is on Sept. 18 at Fleming Field against Shadyside.

Poca 34, Wheeling Central 6

Poca 0 14 14 6 — 34

Wheeling Central 0 0 0 6 — 6

P — E. Payne 1 run (Starcher kick).

P — E. Payne 22 run (Starcher kick).

P — Taylor 8 pass from Cook (Starcher kick).

P — E. Payne 34 run (Starcher kick).

P — E. Payne 21 pass from Cook (kick failed).

WC — Ratcliffe 13 pass from Toepher (kick failed).

Rushing: Poca, 41-227-3td (E. Payne, 26-204-3td; Taylor, 4-14; Cook, 4-(-2); Young, 5-8; Easter, 1-4; Team, 1-(-2)). Wheeling Central, 30-41 (Marling, 12-29; Waterhouse, 6-36; Watkins, 6-22; Toepfer, 2-(-10); Team, 4-(-36)).

Passing: Poca, 20-25-204-2td (All by Cook). Wheeling Central, 8-10-109-td (Marling, 5-6-68; Toepfer, 3-4-41-td).

Receiving: Poca, 20-204-2td (E. Payne, 2-26-td; Miller, 7-25; T. Payne, 8-126; Taylor, 1-8-td; Withrow, 1-13; Harris, 1-6). Wheeling Central, 8-109-td (Smith, 1-18; Ratcliffe, 4-41-td; Watkins, 2-26; Waterhouse, 1-24).

First Downs: Poca, 23; Wheeling Central, 11.

Fumbles: Poca, 2-1; Wheeling Central, 11-5.

Penalties: Poca, 2-15; Wheeling Central, 2-10.