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