BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The Harvest Fest was brewing with Noah Thompson in town, but Cardinal Nation watched the Martin County football team put on a show at The Rock on Friday. Martin County fought their way back after being down 19-0 to take down the Paintsville Tigers 34-32 in a comeback thriller.
“The turnover and injury bug almost got us this week. With a couple of guys out, we asked some younger guys to step up and play some varsity football,” head coach Josh Muncy said. “We dug deep. We knew in the second half the team that had the most juice and hit the hardest was going to end up winning the game.”
After a Tiger score in the third quarter, Paintsville kicked off to the Cards with a little over nine minutes on the clock.
Devan Maynard received the pigskin on his own 25-yard line in front of the Paintsville sideline. The Cardinal broke right across the field before flying past multiple Tigers. He hit the Martin County side and sprinted towards the Red and White’s first touchdown of the night.
Maynard converted the two-point conversion with a Paintsville defender hanging onto him.
Down 26-8, Parker Watts ran a kickoff for 27 yards to provide great field advantage.
On the 28-yard line in Paintsville territory, Maynard took the snap and senior Julian Stafford swept through for the forward toss. With a Tiger nipping at his heels, he scurried free and hit paydirt.
The Cards crept closer after a quarterback keeper for the two-point conversion.
The fourth quarter began and Martin County was still facing a steep hill down 26-16.
Crayson “Bones” Lafferty strapped on his helmet and picked off his former Tiger teammate to continue the Cardinal climb.
On second-and-9 Brayden Estep hit a route at the 17-yard line. The senior managed to one-hand catch a rocket with his left arm to move the chains.
Maynard ran into the end zone on the following play but was brought back with a penalty. On the ensuing play, a blindside block sent the Cards back again.
Third time was the charm for Martin County. The signal caller sent Watts sprinting down the Cardinal sideline. He floated the perfect pass into the corner of the end zone. Watts wrangled in the pigskin past the outstretched arms of a Tiger defender.
A Kendal Mullins tackle for a loss set up a Paintsville punt.
Watts received the ball on the Tiger’s 38-yard line. He managed to break a tackle in the backfield and hit them with the ole razzle dazzle. He turned on the jets and scored to give Martin County their first lead of the game.
Paintsville answered in a hurry and regained the lead with 4:28 remaining.
After a Stafford first down, Maynard called his own number on the Tiger 38. The Cardinal found a hole and made his way into the end zone for a 34-32 lead.
The Tigers had time on the clock, but Martin County’s defense was calling the shots.
Facing second-and-20 in Cardinal territory, Stafford nearly intercepted a pass to force a third down.
The Tigers went for it and sent a pass to the end zone. Stafford and teammate Parker Maynard were there to knock it down again.
Two seconds, one final play, and Paintsville threw to the middle. Parker and Devan teamed up for the Maynard stop and the celebration began.
Martin County improved to 3-1 on the season.
Devan Maynard, the offensive player of the game, rushed for 106 yards on 15 attempts. He ran for one touchdown and scored on a kickoff return. He threw for 159 yards and completed three touchdown passes.
On the other side of the ball, he had eight solo tackles and two for a loss.
“It wasn’t the way we wanted to start. Coach gave us a good talk during halftime. Our defense stepped up and we started rolling from there,” the quarterback said after the game. “Bones [Lafferty] was in every play. Brayden [Estep] on that amazing pick. Julian Stafford broke up some big passes. I’m excited for everybody.”
Watts had two big touchdowns in his debut for 65 yards.
Aiden Horn ran for 22 yards on the night.
Stafford had a touchdown reception and 46 yards on the receiving end. He had 10 total tackles on defense and five solo.
Estep intercepted two passes on the evening. He caught two passes on offense for 34 yards.
Lafferty was named the defensive player of the game after having 18 total tackles for the Cards. Six of those were solo and one for a loss.
The former Tiger had nothing but good things to say about his previous team.
“Coming into this game my mentality was to lift everyone up,” Lafferty said.
Bones sang his teammates’ praises after the win. “Devan Maynard is a dawg. Everyone on this team is dawgs.”
Martin County will host Magoffin County (1-3) on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
