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By Bill Templeton
Sports Writer

After a mercy-rule decision in the opener, Monday’s nightcap in the 50th District boys soccer tournament at the James A. Cawood field was not for the faint of heart.
Middlesboro scored a lopsided, 8-0 victory over under-manned Knox Central in the first game, before three-time defending district champion Harlan County escaped with a nerve-wracking, 1-0 (5-4 in sudden death penalty kicks) decision over Barbourville.
Harlan County and Middlesboro will play for the district championship today at 8 p.m. at JACES; the second meeting between the two rivals in less than a week, and third time this season.
“Every time we play Barbourville in the district, they’re tough,” Harlan County coach Tommy Key said. “They’re well-coached, their players are disciplined and they brought 8-9 players in the box the whole game, and it’s hard doing anything against that.”
After a scoreless 80 minutes of regulation time and two 5-minute overtime periods, the two teams each selected five shooters for the penalty kick phase of the match.
Harlan County freshman Austin Tye was the first player to find the back of the net, the first of three straight shots to elude Barbourville senior goalkeeper Jared King.
Barbourville misfired on its first PK, before senior Clayton King and junior Noah Popejoy each drilled the ball past Harlan County senior goalkeeper Travis Burkhart.
Leading, 3-2 and needing just one more ball to find its way past King, Harlan County misfired on its final two shots. Following a miss on Barbourville’s fourth shot, the Tigers scored on their decisive final attempt to send the game to sudden death.
Senior Bradley Brock converted for Harlan County on the first shot, followed by a goal by Barbourville junior Aiden Sanchez. Harlan County sophomore Luther Gross scored on the ensuing shot, before freshman Noah Gray’s attempt sailed high over the net to end the game.
Key mentioned that the Black Bears will have to step it up a notch against Middlesboro to secure a fourth consecutive district championship.
“We played ugly; ugly is how we played,” Key said, “but a win’s a win, especially when it’s win or go home.”
“Middlesboro’s well-coached, they’re disciplined and have some great players. If we’re going to win, we’re going to have to play a lot better than we did today, but I’m ready for the challenge. I’m really ready for the challenge.
Burkhart was credited with seven saves in the tense win, while King stopped 31 Black Bears shots.
Key also lauded the play of sophomore midfielder Braylee Kazy.
“He controlled the middle,” Key said. “When he wasn’t in the middle, we’d lose it, and when he was in the middle we’d win it.
“I don’t know how he does half the stuff he does, but that young man held down the middle for us. If it wasn’t for him we’d have given up lots of goals.”
In the opener, winless Knox Central fielded just seven players, along with freshman goalkeeper Cashius Woolum, for the match against the Yellow Jackets, and despite the otherwise comfortable win, Middlesboro coach Jeff McClelland wasn’t overly impressed by his team’s effort.
“We have to do better,” McClelland said. “(Knox Central) was playing three players down and we did not play well, so I’m not fairly happy with them.
“Harlan County is a different team than Knox Central, so we’re going to really have to step it up to win. We’ll have to make some adjustments and play up to our competition a little better. I feel like we kind of played down to Knox a little bit. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll come out stronger and not so flat.”
Middlesboro (7-4) opened the scoring during the sixth minute of the game on the first of two goals by junior Brent Thompson. On the play, Thompson took a long pass from junior midfielder Aiden Larew, outraced two defenders and pushed the ball past Woolum into the lower left corner.
The short-handed Panthers kept Middlesboro at-bay for the next 16 minutes, before the Yellow Jackets scored twice within a span of 44 seconds.
Thompson’s second goal of the game came on a second breakaway, before senior Trevor Raney drilled the first of his three goals on the night into the upper right corner during the 22nd minute.
Larew scored the first of his two goals during the 34th minute of the game, after the ball deflected off a Knox Central defender. Larew capped the first-half scoring with his second goal three minutes later.
Raney scored consecutive goals for the Yellow Jackets to open the scoring in the second half. Raney found the upper right corner of the net during the 50th minute, and he completed the hat trick when he scored on a rebound during the 75th minute.
Junior Aiden Spencer’s goal during the 77th minute invoked the mercy rule.
Middlesboro freshman goalkeeper Dalton Fleet was called upon to make just two saves Monday, while his counterpart, Woolum, was credited with an eye-popping 38 saves.