NITRO LOOKS FOR WINNING SEASON
Publication:
Published: 10/18/1996
Page: P4B
Headline: NITRO LOOKS FOR WINNING SEASON
Byline: TOM ALUISE
A victory tonight against
Scott in
football program its long-awaited winning season.
The 5-1 Wildcats
play the 1-5 Skyhawks at 7:30 p.m. With a sixth
victory, Nitro would finish no worse than 6-4 or 6-5 if it makes the
Class AAA playoffs.
A triumph tonight - Nitro
has won seven straight over Scott - also
would greatly improve the 'Cats shot at a postseason spot.
Rated eighth in the latest
Secondary School Activities Commission
ratings, Nitro plays DuPont at home and Herbert Hoover and Poca
on the
road in the regular season's final three weeks.
Nitro has not posted a
winning mark since Pat Vance's 1983 team went
6-4. The Wildcats have gone 5-5 three times since.
Nitro QB J.R. House tonight
could threaten the state single-game
passing mark of 454 yards, set by
House has already thrown for 409 yards in one game this season.
On the season, the
sophomore has amassed 1,810 yards and 18 TDs
through the air. He is on pace to set state single-season records in
both categories.
- SPEAKING OF NITRO, the
infamous fifth-down officiating crew was
recently suspended for the season's final three weeks by the SSAC but
will continue to work games until its appeal is heard by the SSAC's
Board of Appeals on Oct. 31.
Working the Nitro-Ripley
game on Sept. 27 at Nitro, the crew awarded
the Wildcats an extra down on a key, late-game drive that eventually
resulted in a winning score for Nitro.
The Vikings have requested
that the game remain a victory for Nitro
but be declared a no-contest for Ripley, giving the Vikes
a nine-game
schedule. The SSAC reportedly will rule on that request later this
month.