Intervals of clouds and sunshine in the morning with more clouds for later in the day. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy skies. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.
Anyone wondering what Josh Moody could do for an encore didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Moody, Nitro’s senior quarterback, threw for 417 yards and six touchdowns Friday as the host Wildcats withstood an hour-long lightning delay to rack up a 52-21 victory against Lincoln in a season opener at Underwood Field.
“He’s improved immensely over the offseason,’’ Nitro coach James “Boom’’ McKinney said of Moody. “His arm strength’s better; he’s reading defenses better. He threw a couple bad balls tonight, but it’s the first game and he did a great job. I have no complaints.’’
Moody set a state record last year by throwing 49 touchdown passes in the regular season, breaking the mark held by J.R. House, who led Nitro to the 1998 Class AAA title on a storied run. House had 45 TD tosses in the regular season that year, but finished the playoffs with 65 scoring passes to claim the all-games record that still stands.
On Friday, Moody went 26 of 35 passing and had two intercepted. He was sacked just once, but that was the result of a bad snap in shotgun formation. Moody hooked up three times for scores with Malachi Thompson on plays covering 31, 48 and 28 yards. Thompson had five receptions for 131 yards.
However, even with all the explosive plays, it was a bit of an uneven performance for the Wildcats, who had three turnovers and 15 penalties for 146 yards.
They vaulted into a 28-0 lead in the opening moments of the second quarter and seemed on the verge of getting a running clock in the second half, but then came the hour-long lightning delay with 6:34 left in the second quarter and Nitro up 28-7.
The Cougars managed to get back into contention, shaving their deficit to 38-21 in the third quarter. They had a chance to cut it even closer, getting a Jacob Bart interception in his own end zone and then driving to the Nitro 24 with 1:17 left in the third quarter before yielding the ball on downs.
Nitro tacked on two more TDs in the fourth quarter to again pull away.
“It was weird with the lightning delay and everything,’’ McKinney said, “and with teenagers, you never know what you’re going to get. And that’s what we were addressing with them after that game.
“I’m proud of the way we came out and started. Last year, we didn’t start well, but we started well tonight, and we didn’t finish. It’s a good win. That [Lincoln] team made the playoffs the last three years, so that’s a good football team. We’ve got some things we need to work on, but proud of our guys.’’
Eli Littlejohn led Nitro in rushing with 68 yards on 17 carries and had three catches for 84 yards, including a short toss that he carried 63 yards for a TD.
Lincoln was outgained 492-130 in total yards, but stayed afloat for a long time by being opportunistic.
Aidan Rice returned an interception 22 yards for a touchdown following the long delay, and the Cougars recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half at the Nitro 40 and scored moments later on a 6-yard pass from AJ Bart to Rice to make it 38-21.
Bart completed 14 of 28 passes for 142 yards but was sacked six times for minus-67 yards, three of those coming from Xavier Patterson. Landon Swiger caught six balls for 79 yards.
But the Cougars netted minus-12 yards rushing, with much of the gains coming on a 62-yard burst by Conner Rice late in the game.
Cougars coach Rob Hawkins noted that Lincoln played better after the lightning delay.
“That kind of gave us a chance to catch our breath,’’ he said. “They came out early and hit us with some big plays, and so after that I felt like we did a better job. We took some of those [big plays] a little bit after the break.
“But we can’t come out and not compete at the beginning. I didn’t think the first quarter, we didn’t do a great competing. I thought in the second half, we did. They’re a very talented team. We know how good they are. Skill-wise, they’re as good as anybody we’ll play all year.
“We got a lot of guys who got their feet wet. So I’m not disappointed, but we’ll have to use this to get better as the season goes on.’’
Halftime was subsequently shortened to 10 minutes and the third and fourth quarters were shaved from 12 to 10 minutes each.
Lincoln visits Elkins next Friday, while Nitro hosts neighboring rival St. Albans.
