HUNTINGTON — The C&O River Bell will reside in the Capital city for the third straight year, as an athletic offense and stout defense boosted Capital to a 30-6 win over Huntington Friday night.

After an uneventful opening 22 minutes, Capital (2-1) broke the wrapper on a defensive struggle when Keion Wright scampered into the end zone from 12 yards out on an option.

The score capped a 10-play, 79-yard drive. The Cougars had moved the ball fairly effectively on their earlier drives, but failed to finish. Capital’s deepest penetration prior to the score was the Highlander 21-yard line. Capital faced a fourth-and-2 from the Huntington 16, but the Cougars were flagged for a delay of game penalty.

Following the flag, Capital coach Jack Woolwine sent Brad Deitzler on the field to attempt a 39-yard field goal. Deitzler’s attempt was errant, however, and the game remained scoreless.

It took just a minute and 22 seconds for Capital to light up the scoreboard. After a Huntington three-and-out, Aaron Burns lined up to punt from his own 18-yard line. Unfortunately, the snap sailed over Burns’ head and rolled out of the back of the end zone for a safety that pushed the Cougar lead to 9-0.

Capital had a chance to extend the lead on the free kick after starting in Huntington territory at the 48. On third down, Malik Witten found Dominique Green in the flat, but Green fumbled while churning forward for extra yardage. Huntington’s Joey Christian scooped up the ball at the 46-yard line, and raced 54 yards down the left sideline to slice the lead to 9-6.

Despite the unfortunate break, Woolwine advised his team not to panic.

“We told the guys we had to set the pace in the second half,” Woolwine said. “We said we just had to settle down and play our ball game.”

Capital wasted little time in striking back, as the Cougars scored on their first possession of the second half when Witten found Tyrone Goard on a 14-yard pitch-and-catch. The score capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive, but came by chance as Witten completed a risky pass on fourth down.

Operating out of the shotgun, Witten scrambled right and threw the ball across his body. Dustin Young appeared to have a bead on the interception, but Goard leaped and caught the ball over a pair of Highlander defenders to give the Cougars a 10-point advantage midway through the third quarter.

“Malik’s a good athlete, he’s been our quarterback for three years, and he’s a good athlete,” Woolwine said. “Tyrone’s a great athlete and 6-4 and he went up and made a good catch while taking a pretty good lick. That kind of brought us a little bit of a second life.”

Huntington (0-3) mounted a drive late in the stanza, but faced a fourth down at the Capital 29. First-year Highlander coach Zach Wilson sent Burns on to attempt a 40-yard field goal, but a false start set the Highlanders out of field goal range. Huntington was unable to convert on fourth down, and the Highlanders did not threaten again.

Capital tacked on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to set the final score. The first came on a 20-yard pass from Witten to Jermere Hall, and Wright added a 21-yard scoring jaunt late in the final stanza.

The loss was Huntington’s fourth consecutive, dating back to last season. Wilson, Richard Williams’ 25-year-old coaching prodigy, inherited the team just over a month prior to the start of the 2007 campaign.

Wilson’s team has experienced growing pains early in the 2007 campaign. The first two weeks were marred by inconsistent halves. In week one, the Highlanders were outscored 22-7 in the second half in a 29-22 loss to Woodrow Wilson. A week ago, Wilson’s team rallied from a 21-7 fourth quarter deficit in the final three minutes, but two failed 2-point conversions doomed the Highlanders.

One consistent trait Huntington has displayed is an inability to run the football, which did not change Friday night. Through the first three weeks the Highlanders have tallied just 18 yards on the ground. Capital’s 3-3-5 stack defense gave the Highlanders fits all night, as the Cougars blitzed often, and kept Huntington in the red on the ground. The Highlanders were shoved around for negative 26 yards rushing on the night.

“We’re a 3-3 stack, and we want to be aggressive,” Woolwine said. “We mixed up our man and zone coverages to protect against the short passes. We were fortunate to get a little pressure. The whole defense played well and things turned out well for us.”

Capital plays host to a winless Ripley squad next week, while Huntington travels to Hurricane.