By Shane Shackleford
Sports Writer

In a season where the Pineville Mountain Lions have not had anything close to normalcy, week 10 on the schedule was just another challenge.
The Lions have endured opening the schedule with two 3A contenders, home games at Union College to start the season, injuries and a tougher-than-expected district schedule.
So for the Lions having homecoming, the annual Laurel Bowl, and Senior Night festivities all rolled into one Friday night clash with longtime 25E rival Lynn Camp seemed like just another night at the office.
Behind great performances by Landon and Kaiden Robbins offensively and a stout defensive effort highlighted by edge rusher Dylan Abner, The Lions responded with their best performance of the campaign in defeating the Wildcats 18-12 to earn their first victory of the
season.
The Lions got off to a good start on defense on the Cats’ opening drive with an interception by Kaiden Robbins off of Lynn Camp signal caller DJ Wren. Robbins made sure the Lions capitalized by going 40 yards for a touchdown on the next play to stake the Lions to a 6-0 lead with four minutes to go in the opening quarter.
After a long Lynn Camp drive, the Lions forced their second turnover of the game on a Tate Slone interception. Pineville moved the ball down the field on carries by Landon and Kaiden Robbins before Landon carried the mail for a six-yard score to extend the to 12-0 Lions at the half.
After forcing a Pineville punt, the Lions chewed the clock on a 12-play drive that ended in the end zone on a 3-yard run by Wren to close the Lion advantage to 12-6 with 37.4 seconds to go in the third quarter.
The Cats surprised PHS with an onside kick and recovered it on their 38-yard line. Lynn Camp struck again on a 40-yard jaunt by Wren to tie the score at 12-12 entering the final period.
Pineville responded with their own drive covering 60 yards on five plays with the final three yards coming on Landon Robbins’ second score to give the Lions an 18-12 lead with 7:42 to play.
From there the Lion defense stood up on three occasions led by Abner. The senior made three plays in the backfield to thwart Wildcat’s drive to give the Lions a hard-earned victory. Pineville will close their regular season with the Leslie County Eagles paying a visit to the Gem City. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Pineville (1-7) clinched the fourth seed in District 7 with the win and will travel to Pikeville in the opening round of the Class A playoffs. Lynn Camp (3-5) finished fifth and will play at Williamsburg, filling in as the fourth seed in District 8 since that district has only three teams.

 

Lynn Camp 0 0 12 0 — 12
Pineville 6 6 0 6 — 18
P- K Robbins 40 run (run failed)
P- L Robbins 6 run (run failed)
LC- Wren 3 run (run failed)
LC- Wren 40 run (run failed)
P- L Robbins 3 run (run failed)