CHAPMANVILLE – Nitro’s Eli Littlejohn and Malachi Thompson each scored a pair of touchdowns Friday night, helping lead the Class AAA Wildcats (3-1) to a controlling 34-21 road victory over Class AA Chapmanville (1-3) inside Tiger Stadium.
“I’m proud of our guys to come out ahead tonight,†Nitro coach Boom McKinney said. “We’ve struggled here for years, so we gave up more points than we wanted to, but we came out ahead. I think we had a few less penalties tonight than what we’ve had. I’m proud of our guys."
Nitro built an early lead that proved to be crucial down the stretch, as the teams were only separated by two scores for the better half of the fourth quarter.
Nitro led 20-0 with five minutes remaining in the second quarter, as Littlejohn used short rushes to pass the goal line twice in the first half alongside a first-quarter touchdown connection of 5 yards between standout quarterback Josh Moody and junior receiver Luke Shaffer.
Chapmanville scored its first points with about two minutes remaining in the first half after Tiger receiver Austin Adkins outjumped a Nitro defender to haul in a 30-yard dot from quarterback Dakota Dalton.
Nitro responded with a successful two-minute drill, as Moody shared the ball with multiple targets during the march up field before linking up with Thompson in the right corner of the end zone for a passing touchdown of about 25 yards.
The Wildcats followed that play up with a fake PAT, resulting in kicker Maddox Cole tossing a pass to Shaffer that converted for two points and put Nitro ahead 28-7 as the teams hit the locker room.
Chapmanville started the second half on a much stronger note, forcing Nitro to go three and out before Tiger running back Robert Cook broke free for a touchdown of over 70 yards on the ensuing drive, cutting the deficit to 14 points with roughly 10 minutes left in the third stanza.
With almost 11 minutes remaining in the final quarter the Wildcats made up for an interception that occurred on their prior drive, as Moody again linked up in the end zone with Thompson for a 12-yard touchdown that gave Nitro a late 20-point advantage.
The Tigers responded with a touchdown, as Dalton bombed a near 30-yard pass to Adkins that cut Chapmanville's deficit to 13 points with seven and a half minutes left in the contest.
Nitro’s first-half lead ultimately proved to be insurmountable, as the teams traded the ball off a few times before the Wildcats entered victory formation to finalize the 34-21 road victory.
“We’ve been giving up free yards all year, so our offense did enough tonight, and our defense bowed up when we needed to,†McKinney said. “We gave them a couple first downs with penalties, but I’m just proud of these guys. This is a tough place to win. We haven’t won one here yet, so we did a good job. We did enough tonight."
Chapmanville coach Zach Belcher spoke following the loss.
“We played a good team, man,†Belcher said. “We’re a good team and sometimes we’re beat up a little bit, but we played with them all night and we didn’t back down. We’re young, and like I told those guys, I played six sophomores and two freshmen tonight. We’re going to continue to get better.â€
Belcher believes that he saw bright moments in the game that the Tigers can build on moving forward.
“We’re a good team. I felt like my boys played well. I felt like they had a lot of speed on their side that gave us a lot of trouble, but we fought all game," he said. “I thought we were good up front, and I thought we took the run from them. They just made a play every now and then when they needed it. We’re so close, we just have to keep getting better."
Nitro’s Moody threw for three touchdowns with one pick, with Tiger leader Dalton tossing two touchdowns and three picks respectively.
Nitro hosts Wayne Friday night and Chapmanville travels to West Madison for a showdown with rival Scott.
