“There’s nothing to do in Wheeling.”

The Wheeling Miners kicked off their home schedule Friday evening with an exciting 42-32 win over the Jersey Bearcats. Quarterback Grant Russell threw for five touchdowns, the two teams were pretty chippy, there’s music, a drumline, dance teams, and even a hype guy who tries and tries and tries to engage the crowd.

It was a terrific show surrounding a competitive game, and it was far from a sell-out in a metro market with more than 130,000 consumers.

“It’s got to be competitive before I buy a ticket.”

The Wheeling Nailers will return to Wesbanco Arena Monday evening at 7 p.m. for the third game in their first-round series against the Indy Fuel with the series tied 1-1. The Fuel won the first game Friday, 5-2, and the Nailers tied the series with an impressive victory, 7-1.

Not only has the franchise improved the in-game entertainment by focusing often on the children in the crowd, but there’s a wide variety of food and drink in all corners of the venue. The Nailers have sold out a few games this year, but only when they host school children for morning games and when there’s a sideshow promotion and people are getting trinkets for free.

See you at the game?

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1 COMMENT

  1. I was quite concerned that this indoor fb team would be a one and done as the marking, imo, was not great…at least compared to that of teams past. I had no gage as to the competitiveness of the team pr how entertaining the whole product would be.
    Boy was I pleasantly surprised, the dancers, drum line and a quality team made the whole experience an enjoyable time!
    With a few tweaks, it can be even better. Some adjustments to the fan contests during the game would be helpful. They took to long and became a distraction rather than an enhancement. I’m sure the teams agreed. The concept is great; it just needs streamlined. Also, the miner mascot needs to be out in the stands…maybe giving away pizza or something. He was rarely seen by me.
    I highly recommend going and supporting The Miners and hopefully they will return next year as well.

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