Pineville’s impressive start came to an end of Friday when they hosted Paris. The Greyhounds, who brought a few D-I level football players to the field, had to fight for every yard they gained on their way to a 21-8 victory.

“You couldn’t ask our defense to play any better really. (Paris) hit a couple of big plays. That was a good football team,” said Pineville coach Bart Elam. “We knew it going in. We knew we were going to have trouble and we would have to play hard. I thought our defense really played well, and we’ve worked hard to be a good defensive team this year. It’s definitely showed.

“(Paris) had some weapons that we might not see all year, honestly. That may be one of the best teams if not the best team we play all year. That’s just the facts. We knew it was a good team, we knew they had a couple good backs…that were faster than us as well. So, we kept them bottled up really well. The problem was we just couldn’t move the football.”

According to stats provided by Paris, the Greyhounds held the Lions to 66 yards rushing and only 6 yards passing.

“They locked down in cover zero on us, and they were able to bring the house on us all night,” said Elam. “It was a little too much for our young offensive linemen to handle at times, so we got behind the chains a lot. You can’t do that in a good football game…especially if you don’t throw it well like we don’t.”

Similar to last year, it was Matthew Barber who paced Paris on the ground. He tallied 80 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Lavonte Sanford rushed for 71 yards, while Adam Renfro rushed for 39 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.

Chase Puckett completed two passes for 2o yards with both going to Jamaun Clark.

On the defensive side of the ball, Jackson Livingood and Renfro both finished the game with eight tackles. Clark, Michael Jackson and Zion Jackson each finished with six tackles apiece.

Devon Morris scored Pineville’s lone touchdown of the game.

“We were desperate. I said ‘let’s just get Scoob the ball.’ Scoob is a special talent. We’re trying to work him in slow because obviously he is a freshman,” said Elam about Morris. “All these freshmen we’re trying to make seniors on the football field, they’re just not. We just direct snapped to Scoob and let him work with it, and he did. He made a great play and made stuff happen.”

Up Next

Pineville (2-1) returns to action on Friday when they host Berea (0-2).

Paris (1-1) will travel to Harrison County (1-2) on Friday.