Final from Josh Francis Field
Martin County earns the 2 seed and the Blackcats get the 3 seed.
Pburg shot themselves in the foot early and dug themselves a 20-0 hole, but they fought back to tie things up in the second half and Martin County put together a great drive to go back up and then the MC defense stopped the Blackcats on 4th down in the redzone and ran the clock out.
Blackcats are banged up right now and next weeks bye couldn’t come at a better time. Proud of our Cats tonight. Middlesboro is a very winnable game in two weeks. Hail Blackcats!!!
Congrats Cards!
Congratulations Martin County!!
First win for Sheldon Clark at Prestonsburg since 1999
What a game tonight, these two teams went to war and left everything on the field
Turnovers killed Prestonsburg in the first half, its as simple as that. Two interceptions, one was a pick six, and the other would have been, if not for a players helmet coming off, which led to Martin County getting the ball somewhere around the thirteen yard line of Prestonsburg. Also, fumbling the ball on the two yard line, didn't help matters. Prestonsburg dug themselves a 20 point hole. What I did like was this teams will to fight back when they could have folded. The running game was dominate all night. I understand throwing it to keep teams off balance, but it wasn't needed in this game. Prestonsburg literally ran the ball at will, all night. I didn't understand why Brewer decided to throw the ball on the last drive when they were picking up big yardage on the ground. The incomplete pass on second down, really put Prestonsburg behind the chains, and they ended up coming up a couple of inches short from a first down. If you run the ball on second down, we would have eventually had the yardage for the first down, close to the twenty yard line and I think the Blackcats had all of the momentum to score, and tie the game or go ahead. As I said in an earlier thread, if we were going to win, our QB had to be more than a game manager, and clearly that wasn't the case. Nothing against the kid, he just didn't make the plays that were needed. Defensively, I think we played well. We missed a few tackles here and there, but overall, Martin County had trouble running against our front seven. We missed out on a great opportunity to host a playoff game, but we have the talent to go to Middlesboro and get a win. It's not going to be easy, especially with a three hour bus ride, but if we can limit our turnovers, we have a chance. We need to rest up and heal up and get ready for the Yellow Jackets.
Prestonsburg played lights out. Kudos for giving us all we wanted. Not sure how we can keep blowing 20 point leads but I think it’s our youth showing. We absolutely love this very young Martin Co team. There was a lot of sophomores and a few freshman out their playing. I feel like next year MC will be a force as these boys start to grow a little. Good luck in the playoffs.
Martin County started 3 seniors total on both sides of the ball. Prestonsburg graduates about 15 seniors off of a 32 man roster. Many of those seniors played a major role on this years pburg team. This game will be very different next year at the rock. I feel like this was brewers best opportunity to host a playoff game for a while.