The Pineville High School football team had a respectable season up until the last game. They could not win the conference championship, but they could improve their standing in the conference by winning their last game of the season. The season always ended with a game against Middlesboro, a game that would be remembered throughout the coming year. It was as if the whole season could be rescued by winning the game against Middlesboro.

The big day was at hand when the Yellow Jackets of Middlesboro arrived in town for the game against the Pineville Mountain Lions. The November day was cold and overcast. It had rained in recent days and the surface of the ground was frozen to a depth of an inch or so. To top it off, about an inch of snow covered the frozen ground. The usual method of lining the field with lime would not work over the snow, so slack coal was used instead of lime. Despite the weather there was a good turnout for the game.

In their respective dressing rooms the coaches were preparing their teams with last minute instructions and the equipment managers were guarding the players against the ice and snow. They had a liquid they rubbed on hands to enhance circulation and it worked beautifully. Only one thumb was reported to be cold.

“Coach,” a young player asked, “would you rather we would win 7 to 6 or tie 0 to 0?”

That sounded like a pretty dumb question. Right? Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t. Several years earlier, Pineville skunked Middlesboro when the game was played in Pineville. People remembered the zero part of the scores. Soon nobody remembered the Yellow Jackets ever scoring a point on the Lions’ field. The last two games played in Pineville ended in scoreless ties. People began to think of it as a jinx. To be sure there were lots of fans in the stands that day who wanted the jinx to hold regardless of the outcome.

“To win, of course,” Coach Grabuck said in response to the young player’s query, “This team always plays to win so long as I’m in charge. I don’t believe in any jinx and neither should you. All it would take for them to score is just one tiny slip. But win, lose or draw, never let it be said that you didn’t give it your best. Now let’s get out there and win this game.”

It was tough going on the field for both teams. The icy crust broke underfoot and made normal running impossible. None of the fancy plays were practical and had to be abandoned for just the basic plays. The first half ended with no score. The school bands performed their half-time shows and were glad to be done with them.

The second half was much like the first until the Yellow Jackets stung the Lions with a touchdown. They missed the extra point, but the “jinx” had been broken. Score 6 to 0: Middlesboro.

The score remained the same until midway through the forth quarter when Pineville scored a touchdown to tie the game at 6 to 6. That would never do. Pineville didn’t have a good kicker, but they had a heavy fullback. They ran a fake kick play and the fullback drove his mass over the goal line for the point. That proved to be the end of the scoring for this game.

Final score:

Middlesboro—moral victory

Pineville—real victory