Sunday Gazette-Mail Capital players and fans celebrate after their Class AAA state championship win over South Charleston. –
WHEELING — With all the play-makers Capital can crowd onto the football field at one time, Jordan Kinney often gets overlooked.
But not on Saturday afternoon. Not with the whole state watching.
The 6-foot-4 senior receiver-defensive back caught a record-tying four touchdown passes — two of the highlight-reel variety — as the Cougars routed Kanawha County rival South Charleston 55-15 in the Class AAA title game. An estimated crowd of 3,000 braved a steady rain and chilly weather at Wheeling Island Stadium.
The victory gave the top-seeded Cougars (13-0) a perfect season and their fourth overall state championship, coming exactly 25 years since their first in 1989. It had been 19 years since Capital captured its last AAA crown.
Just like it’s been much of the way, the Cougars had many heroes on Saturday. But unlike most of those days, Kinney was the shining star.
He caught a 24-yard post pattern from Tyrhee Pratt for his team’s second score and added a 61-yard bomb with 4:32 left before halftime to bump the lead to 28-7 at the break. On the latter, he outfoxed SC defensive back Kentre Grier, eluding his coverage and adjusting to the deep ball for an over-the-shoulder grab.
Kinney caught a 23-yard fade pattern from Pratt to score in the third quarter, and then saved his top catch for last, a one-handed grab in the end zone on another fade from 18 yards out, allowing him to tie the record of four TD receptions in the Super Six AAA final set in 1998 by Nitro’s Chris Martin.
“It was just the circumstances,’’ Kinney said…
