BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Friday night lights were back at The Rock as Martin County opened the football season with a dazzling 41-19 win over Leslie County.
Leslie County hit the scoreboard first with 4:09 left in the first quarter. After a 4 and out, Leslie got the ball back. With two minutes to go, Madden Miller forced a fumble that the Cards recovered.
On second-and-5, halfback Dawson Mills received the handoff and saw an opening before running for a 48-yard touchdown to pull the score to 6-7.
The Cards regained the lead quickly in the second when Mills hit the left sideline, ran into three defenders, and juked right before running into the end zone. Maddox Johnson’s point-after attempt was straight down the middle for a 13-7 score.
On Martin County’s next possession, excellent blocking from Bryston Wells and company opened a hole for Brock Messer. He wasted no time making it downfield for a 74-yard touchdown to extend the score 20-7 after another Johnson PAT made it through the crossbars.
The next drive for the Cards saw six penalties. Beginning on the Leslie County 44-yard line, two holding penalties set up a first-and-28. Mills erased 11 of those before another Cardinal penalty made it second-and-22.
Miller had a carry for 6 and the Cards had a 16-yard pass for the first down.
A pass on the next play was intended for Julian Stafford near the end zone before being brought down by a defender too early. This put the Cards near the line before another penalty brought them back to the 7.
The O-line held strong and quarterback Weston Jude pushed through past the goal line. The Cards would go up 26-7.
With 1:10 left in the third, Leslie put points on the board to bring it closer with a score of 13-26.
Mills carried for 12 yards as the quarter ended for a first down.
He continued his trek to start the fourth. Mills broke loose for a 21-yard run to bring the Cards to the 3-yard line.
Mills snuck through after a handoff for his third touchdown of the game. Cardinal coach Josh Muncy saw the opportunity and made the call to go for two.
Mills crossed the line again to put the Cards up 34-13.
After the defense held Leslie County, the ball returned to Martin County.
The Cardinals had one more left in the tank. In a thrilling way for Jude to get the first passing touchdown of his high school career, he sent a 29-yard bomb to Stafford, who caught the pass falling to the ground and wrestled it away from his defender.
LC would score one more TD for a final score of 41-19, with the Cards opening their season at 1-0.
Coach Muncy spoke to his team after the game.
“We kept our focus and when we missed something, no one got too down on themselves. Mistakes are going to happen, and we can clean it up,” Muncy said. “The fact we made mistakes and pushed through shows you have a little grit in your craw. The physicality and want-to are there.”
Mills said it was a great way to start a season.
“We have to keep blasting them, run it hard and get the win,” Mills said.
Muncy liked the maturity his team showed.
“Our guys blocked like men out of the backfield tonight. Our backs were hittin’ and fittin’,” Muncy said. “Weston showed a lot of maturity tonight. He stayed in the pocket and was a big driver of that machine out there.”
Jude, who threw for 58 yards, said, “Our receivers got open tonight, and I could hit em’ with it because our backs did great at blocking, and our O-line was amazing.”
The defense had 76 tackles. Messer had 11, Miller 10 and Damian Cheek had nine. Ja Quan Rufus had some big hits with six, as well as Stafford and Chris Phillips.
Of the team’s 387 rushing yards, Mills led the way with 244 yards on 20 carries. Messer had 105 on six, Miller 42 on nine, and Phillips had a 7-yard carry.
Stafford had 40 yards receiving and Cheek had 18.
The Cards will be back in action Friday at Greenup County.
“Greenup is a 3A school and will be a challenge, but that’s what we want,” said Muncy. “Non-district teams will help expose our weaknesses. I think they’re a good team, and we’re going to have our work cut out for us on the road.”