Football Game Preview: Nitro Wildcats vs. Capital Cougars + Official Tickets

The Nitro Wildcats will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Capital Cougars at 7:00 p.m. Nitro is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last seven games.

Nitro is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of West Virginia's top teams: Greenbrier East, who was ranked 25th at the time (Nitro was ranked 17th). The Wildcats strolled past the Spartans with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 23-6.

CHRIS RADCLIFFE

Rushing Yards

11/07/25 vs Greenbrier East	132
10/31/25 vs Capital	143
10/24/25 @ Winfield	108

Nitro's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but CHRIS RADCLIFFE led the charge by rushing for 132 yards and one TD while picking up 7.3 yards per carry. RADCLIFFE's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 108 rushing yards.

They were just one part of a punishing run game: Nitro was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 228 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 151 rushing yards in four consecutive games.

Nitro's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB four times. COHEN LUSHER refused to say out of the backfield, picking up two sacks all by himself. Nitro got some further help from LUSHER: he picked up two sacks and made 12 total tackles (5.0 for loss).

Meanwhile, Capital was able to grind out a solid victory over Riverside on Friday, taking the game 16-8.

Nitro's record now sits at 9-1. As for Capital, the win got them back to even at 5-5.

Nitro came out on top in a nail-biter against Capital in their previous matchup two weeks ago, sneaking past 22-20. Do the Wildcats have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Cougars turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.