Coming off of an emotional one point loss to in-county rival Middlesboro on Sept. 20, the Pineville Mountain Lions bounced back emphatically against the Thomas Walker Pioneers at home on Friday night, winning 26-6.

Pineville’s defense continues to hold its opposition out of the end zone frequently. The Mountain Lions have only allowed two or fewer touchdowns in five of their six games this season, allowing an average of 12.6 points-per-game, along with averaging 34.6 points-per-game on offense this season.

“That was probably the best kind of game we could have played,” said Pineville coach Randy Frazier. “We were coming off of a very tough loss against Middlesboro, and we knew that Thomas Walker was a good team as well. We knew that their quarterback had a cannon, and that they had some good athletes all over the field.”

“Defensively, I thought we did a good job all night of containing their quarterback. With the exception of one play near the end of the game, we held him in check pretty well. We had one guy slip behind us on a big pass play near the end and they were able to get six points out of it, but other than that I thought we played well on all phases of the game.”

With the Mountain Lions leading 13-0 at halftime, the game went into a lengthy lightning related weather delay. As play resumed, Pineville picked up right where it had left off, holding Thomas Walker out of the end zone. Pineville added six more points early in the fourth quarter to take a 19-0 lead in the final frame.

Thomas Walker was able to capitalize on offense for the only time during the game when a Pioneer wide receiver go behind the Lion secondary and received a 44-yard pass, giving Thomas Walker a good scoring opportunity from the Pineville 12-yard line. After hitting pay dirt for the only time all night, Thomas Walker drew the score to 19-6. Pineville was able to add another touchdown in the fourth quarter.

With the loss, Thomas Walker moved to 3-1 on the season. With the victory, Pineville moved to 5-1 on the season. The Mountain Lions will get a much needed week of rest this week as they prepare for the Lynn Camp Wildcats on Oct. 11 at Lynn Camp.