By Shane Shackleford
Sports Writer

The always exciting Bell County cross-county matchup between the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets and the Pineville Mountain Lions usually doesn’t disappoint in excitement.
This year’s edition was no exception.
Even though the Lions and the youthful Jackets have had struggles this year, both squads played an exciting brand of football, featuring power running games, timely completions, and a timely onside kick from Middlesboro that finally turned the tide in favor of Middlesboro 36-14 Friday night at Lee Majors Field in Middlesboro.
It was Middlesboro’s senior night, and running back Vincent Smith made the most of it, scoring four touchdowns to pace the Jackets offense.
Middlesboro got the early jump on the Lions, scoring on their first two drives of the contest. Smith opened up the scoring with a 15-yard jaunt to pay dirt to put the Jackets up 6-0 and the Partin brothers added the next score on a 23-yard pass from Deakon to Kordell to extend the lead to 12-0.
From there, the scoring ground to a halt for MHS due to three fumbles by the Middlesboro offense to close the first half. Pineville did get some things going on their side of the ball near the end of the second quarter, highlighted by long runs by Landon Robbins, Kaiden Robbins and Nas Wilson before stalling on downs at the Middlesboro 19.
However, the Lions found the end zone on their final drive of the first half, converting a Middlesboro fumble into a 15-yard touchdown run by Landon Robbins. The two-point conversion by Kaiden Robbins narrowed the score at halftime to 12-8 Jackets.
Pineville took the second half’s opening kickoff and marched 45 yards on four plays on a 35-yard run by Landon Robbins to the end zone to give Pineville a 14-12 lead with 8:50 to go in the third.
Middlesboro answered, marching 60 yards on three plays with the go-ahead score coming off a 30-yard touchdown from Smith. Deakon Partin found his brother in the back of the end zone for the conversion to give the Jackets the lead again 20-14.
The play of the game happened on the ensuing kickoff when the Jackets squibbed the kick and Colby Lawson recovered the ball for Middlesboro. The Lions’ defense held Middlesboro to a fourth-and-20 situation before Partin found wideout Mekhi Young for a first down. Smith scored his third score to finish the drive on an eight-yard rush. Partin hit Young for the conversion to give the Jackets a 28-14 advantage with 4:46 in the third quarter.
On the opening play of the next Pineville drive, the Lions immediately turned the ball over to the Jackets. Smith delivered the proverbial nail in the coffin to Pineville, racing 77 yards down the MHS sideline for the score. Another Partin to Young completion for two points closed the scoring at 36-14 at the end of three.
Unfortunately, the game took a downturn. Consecutive brawls between the two rivals forced the game to be called early in the fourth quarter.
Pineville will be open next week while Middlesboro travels to Williamsburg to determine the District 7 champion.

Middlesboro 36, Pineville 12

Piineville — 0 8 6 0 — 14
Middlesboro — 12 0 24 0 — 36
M- Smith 15 run (Conversion failed)
M- K Partin 23 pass from D Partin (Conversion failed)
P- L Robbins 15 run (K Robbins run)
P- L Robbins 35 run (Conversion failed)
M- Smith 30 run (Partin to Young)
M- Smith 8 run (Partin to Young)
M- Smith 77 run (Partin to Young)