The Pineville Mountain Lions traveled to Whitley County to take on the 5-2 Williamsburg Yellow Jackets on Friday night. Williamsburg was able to build a solid lead early in the game and control the tempo. After building a 28-6 lead by halftime, the Yellow Jackets were able to hold Pineville out of the end zone in the second half and post a 44-6 victory, clinching the regular season district title.

Williamsburg’s defense held solid on the first drive of the game as Pineville was only able to gain 19 yards on their first possession. That drive would be indicative of how the game would play out.

Devon Morris led the Pineville offense with 10 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown. Reece Capps completed 3-of-7 passes for 24 yards. Colby Frazier had seven carries for 17 yards. Noah Caldwell rushed four times for 15 yards. Landon Couch and Braiden Lingar each had one reception for 12 yards.

Frazier led the Pineville defense with 15 total tackles. Morris added six tackles, Lingar added five. Brendan King had two tackles, Evan Biliter added two as well.

The Yellow Jackets got things going on their second possession after a big punt return from Thomas gave Williamsburg possession deep in Pineville territory. Dalton Ponder connected with Caleb Rose for Williamsburg’s first touchdown of the night with 5:45 remaining in the first period to give the Jackets a 7-0 lead.

On Pineville’s ensuing possession, they found some success through the air after Capps connected with Braiden Lingar, who made a diving catch for a Mountain Lion first down. However, Pineville was unable to capitalize and was forced to punt the ball.

A 50-yard run from Anthony Snell set Williamsburg up in good position inside the Pineville 10-yard line. However, there was a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct on the Yellow Jackets, backing them up just inside midfield. On the ensuing play as the Yellow Jackets were marching down the field, Ponder connected with Gavon Thomas on a big pass play, but Thomas was stripped of the ball inside the 15-yard line with the Mountain Lions recovering the fumble.

After recovering the fumble, Pineville was unable to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. Forced to punt, Pineville again had trouble containing Ponder as he snuck into the end zone on a 10-yard quarterback keeper for the touchdown. With the score, Williamsburg extended their lead to 14-0 after a successful extra point.

On their ensuing possession, the Mountain Lions continued to struggle gaining only 13-yards of offense. After forcing Pineville to punt again, Williamsburg continued to march down field. With 6:32 remaining before the half, Ponder hit Thomas on a 24-yard passing touchdown, extending the Yellow Jacket lead to 21-0.

Williamsburg struck again with just over 2:30 remaining in the half to extend their lead to 28-0. With 44 seconds remaining in the half, Devon “Scooby” Morris scored Pineville’s only touchdown of the night on a 27-yard touchdown run, decreasing the scoring gap to 28-6 just before the half.

Williamsburg went on to hold Pineville scoreless in the second half while adding 16 points of their own, securing a 38-point victory and clinching the regular season district crown.

“Williamsburg is playing on a different level right now,” said Pineville head coach Randy Frazier. “I am a little disappointed with our offense, but we can’t take anything away from Williamsburg. They are one of the best teams in the state and they played like it.”

“We are going to move past this game and focus on Harlan. In a lot of ways, their program is similar to ours. They like to run the football and they run hard. Clem runs the ball hard for them and they’re big up front. We expect a hard fought game this week against them.”

With the victory, Williamsburg improved to 6-2 on the season. With the loss, Pineville moved to 6-2 on the season. The Mountain Lions play host to the Harlan Green Dragons on Oct. 25 at home.