Charleston Sunday Gazette Mail

September 39, 2007

Capital wins 42-36 shootout with Nitro

Rick Ryan, Assistant Sports Editor

Hard to believe that a game with 78 points and nearly 850 yards of offense came down a couple defensive stops.

But that’s what it boiled down to Saturday night when Capital held off Nitro in the final quarter to win a 42-36 shootout at Laidley Field.

“It was a shootout,’’ said Capital coach Jack Woolwine. “It was a great game for the fans — both teams running up and down the field — the kind of game people like to come out and watch. For the coaches, I don’t know if it was that much fun.’’

It marked the fifth straight win for the Cougars (5-1), who came into the game ranked seventh in Class AAA, five spots ahead of the Wildcats (3-2).

Despite holding leads as high as 22 points in each half, Capital found itself in a ballgame in the fourth quarter as Nitro quarterback Michael Scott caught fire against what appeared to be a tiring Cougars defense.

Scott wound up throwing for 407 yards and five touchdowns, completing 25-of-43 attempts. He also threw three 2-point conversion passes, all of them to Marcos Valentine, who had three of the TD catches and eight receptions in all for 129 yards.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,’’ said Tyrone Goard, Capital’s receiver-defensive back. “We knew they had a big passing game. We worked all week on lining up right, getting in our zones. We played hard, hung in there and did what we could.’’

Capital quarterback Malik Witten also had a fine day, completing 8-of-11 passes for 135 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to tight end Andrew Thomas on plays covering 3, 30 and 3 yards.

Amazingly, neither team scored in the final quarter after Scott heaved a 70-yard scoring strike to Andrew Frazier as time expired in the third period. But the thrills weren’t over by a long shot.

Nitro had two possessions in the final quarter with a chance to take the lead, an event which seemed implausible after the Wildcats had fallen behind by scores of 21-0, 28-6 and 42-20.

Their first chance was the better of the two as they moved to the Capital 19, but a 19-yard holding penalty pushed them back to the 38 and Scott’s fourth-down pass was tipped and intercepted by Goard.

The Cougars, however, were hit with three penalties on their ensuing possession and soon faced a third-and-18 from their own 2. Freshman Keion Wright weaved some magic, though, taking a handoff, slipping several tackles and picking up a first down at the 28 with 6:30 left in the game.

Three plays later, Capital was again staring down third-and-long, but Witten dumped a short pass to Wright, who again navigated through the Wildcats defense for a 21-yard gain and another first down to milk the clock and shift the momentum back to the Cougars.

“I was more confident than their defense, I guess,’’ Wright said. “I got the ball and got in a zone. I just followed my blockers. I knew where I was going to go, and I just had to make sure I got there.’’

By the time Nitro finally got the ball back, it came after a punt and the Wildcats were forced to start from their own 13 with 2:15 left.

Scott hit on one fourth-down pass of 13 yards to Adam Howell, but on fourth-and-3 from the 34, Goard and David Pack broke up a sideline pass meant for Valentine.

“We were on the sidelines when coach called for man-to-man defense [on the fourth-down play],’’ Goard said. “We said, ‘Man to man? Coach, we can’t do that. They’re gonna throw one deep.’ But we played man-to-man, and we came up big on defense. Sometimes you listen to your coaches and those things happen.’’

Witten also ran 1 yard for a score on the final play of the first half after one of his heaves to Goard gained 37 yards and stopped the clock on a first down with one second to go. That gave the Cougars a 35-20 lead at the break.

Goard caught four passes for 78 yards and Capital rolled up 252 yards with a balanced ground game. Wright led the way with 75 yards on 11 carries, followed by Jermere Hall (13 carries, 68 yards) and James Woods (eight carries, 64 yards).

Nitro’s Brett McClanahan hauled in eight passes for 155 yards and one TD. Mark Massey carried 18 times for 74 yards.

To contact staff writer Rick Ryan, use e-mail or call 348-5175