BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — The Martin County Middle School football team hosted Shelby Valley on Sept. 1 in what became a basketball-scoring affair. Injuries plagued the Cards and they fell to the Wildcats 60-52.

Down 30-24 in the second quarter, Brody Howell rushed for 30 yards to reach the red. He received the handoff and broke into the endzone to tie the game. On the 2-point conversion, he ran to his left and stiff-armed a Wildcat defender to convert.

A kickoff by the Cards bounced off Shelby Valley and Parker Maynard recovered with under a minute remaining in the half.

In 22 seconds, Maynard took off from the 50-yard line, drove his shoulder into a defender, and broke loose to score a touchdown.

In a back-and-forth game, Valley rushed down the field to score in the last seconds of the half to tie it up 38-all.

The next score came when Haney pushed up the middle from the 5-yard line. Braxton Moore rushed for the 2-point conversion to take a 46-38 lead.

The Cats drove up the field to tie the game back up.

Howell went down with an injury late in the third quarter, which hurt the Cardinal run game.

With 4:19 left in the fourth, the Cards forced a fumble and things seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Seven seconds later, on Martin County’s first play of the drive, the Cards fumbled and the possession returned to Valley.