For a quarter and half the teams looked evenly matched. The game was scoreless and the Jackets held a 81-65 edge in total yards.
Then Central running back Jermaine Kirkland took a pitch from quarterback Clark McMillan, cut against the grain and burst for 44 yards down to the Middlesboro 20-yard line. McMillan passed for 15 yards to Michael Nelson then ran five yards for a touchdown to put the Bobcats on top, 7-0 with 5:04 to play in the first half.
Casey Earls returned the kick-off 28 yards to the Middlesboro 48 and a penalty gave the Jackets a first and ten at he Bobcat 42.
But the Jackets went three and out and running back Jamie Wilson broke a 71-yard touchdown run to make Central's lead 14-0 with 2:00 to go in the half.
“We controlled the game pretty well for the first quarter and a half,” said Middlesboro coach Kenny Roark. “But they've got a lot of quick players we just got wore down.”
The Bobcats recovered their third fumble of the half a few plays later and took over at the Middlesboro 22.
The Jacket defense stiffened and stopped Central for a ten-yard loss on fourth down with 27 seconds to go before halftime.
On the next play, quarterback Trevor Hoskins' pitch on an option play was picked off and returned 22-yards for a touchdown by Orlando Blair. That play put the Bobcats up 21-0 and seemed to take the wind out of the Jackets' sails.
“Mistakes hurt us once again. We had too many mistakes at critical times,” Roark said. “We had done well to just hold them right before halftime. I should have kneeled on it and went in 14-0. That was my mistake right there.”
Central picked up right where they left off in the second half. Jonathan Saah had runs of 20 and 33 yards and then scored from seven yards out at the to make it 27-0.
Once again the Jackets were driving. C.G. Ford ran for eleven yards and Earls broke one for 18. But two plays later Earls had the ball stripped and Central recovered.
This time Hoskins came up with an interception to set Middlesboro up with first down at the Bobcat 35-yard line.
Ford capped a six-play drive with a 16-yard touchdown catch to make it 35-7 with 3:22 to play in the third quarter.
The Bobcats answered as McMillan scored on a 27-yard run and Wilson added a 55-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.
A heavy pass rush kept the Jackets from mounting any kind of passing attack. Hoskins was forced to throw on the run throughout the game and only completed three passes for 27 yards.
“They were fast up front, they were fast everywhere,” Roark said. “We just got beat by a pretty doggone good football team. We've go to learn from our mistakes and make ourselves better from it.”
Earls led Middlesboro on the ground with 70 yards on 14 carries. Ford added 49 yards on ten carries, Shawn Russell ran seven times for 43 yards and Brennan Bowling gained 27 yards on six carries.
Wilson led Knoxville Central with 146 yards rushing on nine carries and Saah had 105 yards on eight rushes. Kirkland needed only three carries to gain 78 yards.
The Bobcats averaged 11.5 yards per carry as the ran for 379 yards in the game.
Overall they out-gained Middlesboro 438 to 198.
The Jackets did manage a 16-15 edge in first downs.
On defense, Middlesboro was led by Daniel Crawford's 10 tackles and four assists and A.J. Jones' eight tackles. Shawn Russell recovered a fumble and Hoskins had the interception.
Middlesboro (0-1) travels to Lynn Camp next Friday night.
- - -
Central 0 21 13 8 - 42
Middlesboro 0 0 7 0 - 7
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