Maybe Capital will throw it more this season. Then again, maybe not.

It almost seems a rite of fall that the Cougars promise to pass the ball around the lot a good bit, then back off those plans for whatever reason once the season starts.

This year, Capital returns a proven passer in senior Tyler McClaskie, who threw for 437 yards and four touchdowns in limited duty last season backing up Josh Sharp. McClaskie started two games in place of Sharp and attempted at least one pass in nine of the team's 12 games.

McClaskie had three decent games throwing the ball - 5-of-9 for 166 yards and one TD (and ran for another score) against Hurricane, 5-of-6 for 110 yards and one score versus Princeton and 3-of-8 for 79 yards and a TD against Huntington. The Cougars won all three games.

Of course, Capital also returns speedy sophomore running back James Richmond, who showed some gamebreaking ability last year, as well as three experienced fullbacks in Dustin Pullin, Mark Latta and Rayqon Vanover.

So will the Cougars still pass on the pass?

"It's tough,'' said Jon Carpenter, Capital's second-year coach. "Because when you do get in control [as a head coach], you don't do it like when you were an assistant.

"When I got into coaching, I wanted to be like Steve Spurrier and be wide open, throwing the ball all around. My dad asks me about that all the time. 'Why don't you throw it?' Well, if you've got somebody around like Keion Wright, who we had the last four years, you play the hand you're dealt. And we weren't going to throw it when he could carry it.''

If McClaskie does end up airing it out, he'll be breaking the mold at Capital. In their last 36 games, the Cougars have produced a 200-yard passer just one time.

Of course, McClaskie could simply dump the ball off to Richmond or one of several promising freshman and sophomore receivers the team sports this season, including Cliff Pratt and R.J. Simms.

"We recruited Horace Mann and Stonewall [Jackson] pretty well,'' Carpenter said jokingly of two of Capital's feeder schools. "I think that'll be a strong suit for us.

"Richmond's going to be special. He's obviously pretty good. Now he doesn't have the body like Keion to run up the middle. I remember last year the other coaches said all I did was run Keion right and Keion left. Now maybe I'll throw it right and throw it left to Richmond. But we've got those three big guys back there and we'll have to jam that ball up the middle, and we've got a pretty good line of scrimmage coming back.''

So will they throw it more this year? Maybe.

General idea

Winfield should petition to become a member of the Mountain State Athletic Conference.

And why not? The Generals, who are thought to have an interest in joining the Class AAA league, play eight MSAC teams this season. The only two non-MSAC members they meet are Logan and AA Tolsia.

"We're actually looking forward to it,'' said Winfield coach Willie Wilson of knocking heads with MSAC teams. "We've played seven or eight games against MSAC teams in the past and have been competing very well even though we've been low on depth and dealing with injuries and those kinds of things.

"This year we're going to give it the best shot we've got. We may have the talent to get over the hump. The kids are ready to bring it on.''

The MSAC teams Winfield meets are Hurricane, Ripley, Huntington, Riverside, Cabell Midland, Nitro, St. Albans and Spring Valley.

For openers

If Huntington coach Billy Seals could have just one wish this season, it would be to win his opening game. The Highlanders haven't opened with a victory since 2004.

"That's first and foremost,'' said Seals, who begins his third season at the Cabell County school. "We've got to build confidence early in the year. The last couple years, we've opened with South Charleston, and we were just not at that level the last two years.

"To get off to a good start, what we have to able to do is avoid injuries. We think we're a pretty good football team, but injuries can devastate us pretty quick. We're only one, two deep at certain spots.''

The Highlanders haven't been 1-0 since a 42-16 win over Herbert Hoover to start the 2004 season. Since then, they've lost six openers in a row - two each to SC (2009-10), Woodrow Wilson (2007-08) and Capital (2005-06).

This year, Huntington opens at home on Aug. 26 against Lincoln County.

Leaning on the bench

Woodrow Wilson coach John H. Lilly knows that with nine returning starters on offense and three weeks of summer practice behind them, the Flying Eagles should look smooth with the ball in preseason drills.

But that doesn't always guarantee success, Lilly said. A few injuries can shake up anyone's attack if the understudies aren't properly prepared.

"What we've learned since we've joined the MSAC,'' Lilly said, "is that it's not how good your No. 1s are, it's how good your No. 2s are. With the schedule we play, you're going to get banged up, and your backups have to be ready to play football.''

Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.