When your team is the smallest football-playing school in Kentucky, there is a razor-thin margin for injuries not to affect your program.
Unfortunately for the Pineville Mountain Lions, that margin has been crossed.
Pineville (1-6) could not overcome the loss of several key players and a 46-point first half by the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets in a 58-6 defeat at Williamsburg on Friday night. It was the 28th straight district victory for the Jackets and the 16th straight win over Pineville.
The injury bug and the haymaker threw by the Jackets began in the first quarter as Pineville lost two starters to injuries that ruled them out for the contest, and Williamsburg came out white hot on offense and scored on its first three possessions.
“We got a good win,” Williamsburg coach Jerry Herron said. “Our kids played the game plan to a T tonight. We are really excited with what they accomplished tonight. They really worked hard, and we were able to get a district win.
“We’re also excited about getting the first district win. We like to build off each game and get better, and I feel like we are doing that. We’ve got another big district game this week, and it’s against an old rival in Lynn Camp. We will need to continue to play well to give ourselves a chance to win.”
The Yellow Jackets took control of the game early, and never looked back against outmanned Pineville.
Nate Goodin scored on a 20-yard touchdown run two minutes into the contest to give Williamsburg a 6-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Holden Clark returned an interception for six points to push the Yellow Jackets’ advantage to 14-0.
Goodin followed with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Prewitt to make the score, 22-0, with 1:15 remaining in the first quarter while Peyton Hamilton’s punt return for a score with 8:58 remaining in the second quarter pushed Williamsburg’s lead to a comfortable, 30-0, advantage.
Pineville got in the score with 5:57 left in the second quarter thanks to a 17-yard touchdown run by Landon Robbins while cutting the Mountain Lions’ deficit to 30-6.
The Yellow Jackets answered on their ensuing offensive drive with another score as Hunter Thomas found paydirt with an 11-yard touch run at the 3:51 mark, giving his team a 38-6 lead.
A 43-yard touchdown run by Peyton Tye to end the first half gave Williamsburg a comfortable 46-6 lead at halftime.
Wyatt Probus and Eli Meadors added the finishing touches on the blowout win with a 37-yard touchdown run and a 35-yard touchdown run, respectively.
The Lions had a few bright spots on defense as Wyatt Caldwell, Kaiden Robbins and Riley Monhollen had interceptions and Landon Abner had a fumble recovery.
Pineville will attempt to get healthier over fall break in anticipation of a cross-county district showdown with Middlesboro that looms at home next Friday night.