Capital had a lot more offense than the last time it played George Washington. Unfortunately for the Cougars, GW had way, way more than that.

Nick Britton threw for three touchdowns, two to Shawny Badger, and Felix Mollett ran for 168 yards and two scores Friday night as No. 6 GW hammered its way to a 49-21 victory over Capital in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs. The game drew a paid crowd of just 1,320 to Laidley Field.

"People in the press didn't expect us to win or win as big as we did,'' Mollett said. "We wanted to show the state that we're a team to deal with in the playoffs.''

The sixth-seeded Patriots (9-2) advance to the quarterfinals next weekend at No. 3 Bridgeport (11-0). The date and kickoff time will be decided on Sunday.

The first time GW and Capital met three weeks ago, defense reigned in the Patriots' 14-0 win as the Cougars were held to 124 net yards. In fact, in the last eight meetings between the city rivals, only once had a team reached 20 points. That was out the window by the first quarter Friday night.

Like it did in its last game with Capital, GW took the opening kickoff and drove for a score. Then Capital fumbled away the ensuing kickoff and the Patriots only had to go 27 yards for a second TD. Then the Cougars' return man slipped fielding the next kickoff at his 6 and when Capital went three-and-out, GW needed to cover just 36 yards after the punt for a third TD.

Capital finished 284 yards rushing and 387 total yards, but offset that with six turnovers.

"Those were the circumstances of this game,'' said Capital coach Jack Woolwine. "We ran three plays and we were down 21-0. That's the way it went.

"Offensively, I thought we were more effective moving the football. We had some chances to close the gap, and if we could have made some of those plays, it would have changed the ballgame around. But it wasn't meant to be. You get behind, and you start pressing.''

Capital indeed had opportunities to make it a game, but could never string together enough good plays or enough plays without a mistake.

After a Britton-to-Badger 42-yard TD strike put GW up 28-7 in the second quarter, Capital amassed a 14-play drive from its own 20 inside the GW 10.

But on fourth-and-goal from the 8 with 20 seconds left before halftime, quarterback Josh Sharp rolled right and was hit at the 5. He pitched to a trailing Justin Cousins, who was forced out of bounds at the 3.

When Capital's Myles Duiguid fumbled away the kickoff to start the second half, GW needed to cover just 23 yards to build its lead to 35-7 on Britton's 5-yard scoring run. Chris Stone recovered both kickoff bobbles by the Cougars.

Capital had a lot more offense than the last time it played George Washington. Unfortunately for the Cougars, GW had way, way more than that.

Nick Britton threw for three touchdowns, two to Shawny Badger, and Felix Mollett ran for 168 yards and two scores Friday night as No. 6 GW hammered its way to a 49-21 victory over Capital in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs. The game drew a paid crowd of just 1,320 to Laidley Field.

"People in the press didn't expect us to win or win as big as we did,'' Mollett said. "We wanted to show the state that we're a team to deal with in the playoffs.''

The sixth-seeded Patriots (9-2) advance to the quarterfinals next weekend at No. 3 Bridgeport (11-0). The date and kickoff time will be decided on Sunday.

The first time GW and Capital met three weeks ago, defense reigned in the Patriots' 14-0 win as the Cougars were held to 124 net yards. In fact, in the last eight meetings between the city rivals, only once had a team reached 20 points. That was out the window by the first quarter Friday night.

Like it did in its last game with Capital, GW took the opening kickoff and drove for a score. Then Capital fumbled away the ensuing kickoff and the Patriots only had to go 27 yards for a second TD. Then the Cougars' return man slipped fielding the next kickoff at his 6 and when Capital went three-and-out, GW needed to cover just 36 yards after the punt for a third TD.

Capital finished 284 yards rushing and 387 total yards, but offset that with six turnovers.

"Those were the circumstances of this game,'' said Capital coach Jack Woolwine. "We ran three plays and we were down 21-0. That's the way it went.

"Offensively, I thought we were more effective moving the football. We had some chances to close the gap, and if we could have made some of those plays, it would have changed the ballgame around. But it wasn't meant to be. You get behind, and you start pressing.''

Capital indeed had opportunities to make it a game, but could never string together enough good plays or enough plays without a mistake.

After a Britton-to-Badger 42-yard TD strike put GW up 28-7 in the second quarter, Capital amassed a 14-play drive from its own 20 inside the GW 10.

But on fourth-and-goal from the 8 with 20 seconds left before halftime, quarterback Josh Sharp rolled right and was hit at the 5. He pitched to a trailing Justin Cousins, who was forced out of bounds at the 3.

When Capital's Myles Duiguid fumbled away the kickoff to start the second half, GW needed to cover just 23 yards to build its lead to 35-7 on Britton's 5-yard scoring run. Chris Stone recovered both kickoff bobbles by the Cougars.

"We were fortunate to take advantage of some opportunities we had,'' said GW coach Steve Edwards Jr. "When we do those things, it comes out well for us.

"I was real pleased with our offense. We came out clicking. Nick was hitting his reads and the receivers were catching the football and doing some of the things we worked on. Nick Britton - when he has time - he can find somebody. It doesn't always work out the way you work on it or the way you want it to. But if you do those things, good things will happen for you.''

Capital was further hampered by injuries to some of its key players, including all-state running back Keion Wright and top receiver Melvin Allen.

Both of those players sat out last week's game with injuries and both didn't make it to the end of Friday's game. Wright aggravated a knee injury after carrying eight times for 48 yards and a TD, and didn't play in the second half. Allen suffered a possible broken leg, according to Woolwine.

GW didn't escape unscathed, either.

Top receiver Shaquille Williams didn't play for a second straight week because of injury and one of the Patriots' top tacklers, linebacker Eric Davidson, went out in the second quarter with a leg injury after picking up a Capital fumble at his own 3 and returning it 13 yards. Edwards hopes to have Davidson back next week.

Those injuries didn't seem to bother GW, which rolled up 377 yards of offense, 256 on the ground. Britton hit on 7-of-11 passes for 121 yards, including TDs of 18 and 42 yards to Badger and 19 to Eric Aluise.

"We turned it over too many times and we couldn't get them stopped defensively,'' Woolwine said. "We've been a pretty good defense, but not tonight. When a team is two-dimensional - when they're having success throwing and passing - you have a problem. If you can take something away, you have a chance. We could never get it to where we could take something away from them.

"We battled all the way, but they beat us pretty good. But it wasn't because we laid down and quit. Our guys fought all the way 'til the end.''

Cousins, subbing for Wright, ended up with 141 yards on 25 carries for Capital.

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