HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL - WEEK FIVE QUICK STRIKES LIFT NITRO WILDCATS 5-0 AFTER 34-7 WIN OVER CAPITAL

Publication: THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
Published: 09/24/2005
Page: 1D
Headline: HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL - WEEK FIVE QUICK STRIKES LIFT NITRO WILDCATS 5-0 AFTER 34-7 WIN OVER CAPITAL
Byline: LEE FRANCE

For The Saturday Gazette-Mail

If there was any doubt just how fast the Nitro offense could strike, those doubts were erased Friday at Underwood Field.

The unbeaten Wildcats used 21 second-quarter points - all scored in under two minutes - to upend Capital 34-7.

The Cougars (1-3) did a nice job in the first 23 minutes, both on offense and defense. They were able to contain Nitro's Josh Culbertson for much of the opening half, but a couple of key interceptions and a fumbled kickoff return set Capital reeling as the half came to a close.

"We just shot ourselves in the foot tonight," Cougars coach Jack Woolwine said. "It wasn't so much what Nitro did tonight, it was what we couldn't do."

Capital marched its first drive 32 yards on nine plays, chewing up most of the first-quarter clock. But a blocked punt by the Wildcats Jon Culbertson put the ball at the Cougars 1-yard line.

A few seconds later, Josh Culbertson, who rushed for 218 yards, plunged into the end zone for Nitro (5-0).

The next Capital drive ended in quarterback Malik Witten's first interception, but the defense held the Wildcats out of the end zone.

"Capital's defense came out in a formation we were not ready for," Nitro coach Scott Tinsley said. "That is a credit to their coaching staff. Their defense played hard all night, and the score doesn't show it, but they came to play some football tonight."

Give credit to the Wildcats unheralded defense as they held the Cougars to 123 first-half yards, including two Ross Martin picks.

"Our defense worked hard tonight," Martin said. "We kept fighting out there. When people think of Nitro, they don't think defense, so we go out with a little chip on our shoulder and I think it showed out there."

Although Culbertson finished the game with a hefty 218 yards on the ground, that mark was well off of his 308 yards-per-game average.

"We just played our defense," Woolwine said. "He [Culbertson] is a heck of a player. Our guys came out and played hard. I know our record doesn't show it, but these guys are going to be OK. They didn't quit and they don't have anything to hang their heads over."

As the Culbertson watch continues in Nitro, Tinsley says there are other things that need fixed on his team.

"I thought Capital made us look really bad on defense," Tinsley said. "This was a heck of a football game played out there. That had to be a fun game to watch, because I saw two quality football teams going at it tonight."