Sometimes it’s tough being a young football team. Just ask the Pineville Mountain Lions.
After losing 14 seniors and eight who started on both sides of the ball, the prevailing thought is the Lions would have their share of early-season struggles. That has been the case considering the schedule Pineville has played with losses to 3A Clay County and Rockcastle County.
To the Lions’ credit, Pineville hung around with traditional 1A power Bishop Brossart before surrendering a couple of touchdowns late to fall to the Mustangs 36-18 in the annual Laurel Bowl in Pineville on Saturday
The Mustangs rode a big night rushing from running back Cameron Mandel and timely defensive stops to limit the Pineville offensive attack. The Lions also were their own worst enemy with several penalties that either took touchdowns off the board or put the Lions in challenging field position situations offensively or defensively.
Regardless, PHS fought for the entire matchup, a sign that coach Allen Harris found as a positive moving forward.
“No one wants to be 0-3, but we knew it would be a struggle early as our young guys got experience against a very tough schedule early on,” said Harris. “But we grew up some tonight against a tough northern Kentucky team. We had our share of miscues on both sides of the ball, but no one in this program has given up the ship. We believe we have a good team regardless of the record, and the results will show up on the scoreboard soon.”
The Mustangs opened the scoring with a drive that ended with a one-yard Mandel touchdown plunge. The two-point conversion was good staking Brossart to an 8-0 lead.
The Lions answered on their next possession as sophomore back Landon Robbins exploded for a 69-yard touchdown run. The conversion failed and the Lions trailed 8-6.
In the second quarter, the Mustangs scored on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Keegan Gulley to Nick Schroder, extending the lead to 14-6.
The Lions closed the first half scoring with a 17-yard pass from junior Sawyer Thompson to senior wideout Wyatt Caldwell, making the count 14-12 going to the half.
On the Lions’ opening possession of the second half, the Mustangs scored a safety on an errant long snap on a punt to extend their advantage to 16-12.
However, Pineville would not quit and scored on a 69 strike from freshman signal caller Deakon Partin to Robbins to take their first lead at 18-16 late in the third quarter.
On the immediate Brossart possession, though, Mandel broke a 59-yard scoring jaunt to give the lead back to the Mustangs at 22-18.
The Lions had a couple of opportunities late to take the lead, but ill-timed penalties and turnovers became the undoing of the comeback. The Mustangs added a couple of Mandel scoring rushes from 1 yard and 20 yards to close the scoring.
The Lions will be back in action Friday at home against Eminence.