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By Bill Templeton
Sports Writer

The top seed in next week’s District 50 boys soccer tournament was on the line Wednesday night at the James A. Cawood field, and the three-time defending district champion Harlan County Black Bears found themselves playing a third game in as many days.
Needing to defeat the rival Yellow Jackets by at least two goals in order to secure the No. 1 seed, Harlan County surrendered three unanswered goals in the second half. Following two overtime periods, Middlesboro escaped with a 7-5 victory on penalty kicks
With the narrow defeat, Harlan County (7-4) will face Barbourville (2-9) Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the second game of the district doubleheader at JACES. Middlesboro (6-4) plays Knox Central (0-9) in the opening match at 6 p.m.
The District 50 championship game will be played Tuesday at a time yet to be determined.
Harlan County shut out Barbourville in both games during the regular season. Likewise, Middlesboro blanked Knox Central in each of its regular-season matchups.
The Black Bears exploded out of the starting blocks Wednesday in similar fashion to their dominant win over Knox Central the night before, and led by a 4-1 count at halftime.
Senior Ray Splawn scored the first of his two goals during the sixth minute, before sophomore Luther Gross scored his fifth goal of the week during the 19th minute.
Less than eight minutes later Splawn scored again, before senior Bradley Brock scored his team-high 15th goal of the season with 11:36 remaining in the first half.
The Harlan County offense was unable to sustain the momentum, however, and the Black Bears yielded Middlesboro’s lone first-half goal in the waning stages of the opening stanza.
Showing the effects of playing on the rain-soaked natural grass for three straight nights, the Harlan County defense was unable to match the fresher legs of a Middlesboro team that had not played a game in just over a week.
The Yellow Jackets swarmed the Harlan County defense throughout the second half and scored three goals during the final 12:40 of the match.
Harlan County junior Ethan Lewis was the lone Black Bear to push the ball past Middlesboro goalkeeper Dalton Fleet during the shootout.
Senior Keaton Simpson and junior Trevor Farley misfired on their respective tries, and Middlesboro converted on three of its first four chances to secure the victory.
Harlan County senior goalkeeper Travis Burkhart was credited with 26 saves for the Black Bears.

 

District 50 Tournament schedule:

All games at James A. Cawood field

Monday, October 7

Knox Central vs. Middlesboro, 6 p.m.

Barbourville vs. Harlan County, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, October 8

Championship Game, TBD