[Gitback Coach]

For Middlesboro, the first one that comes to my mind is their 1974 win at Boyd County in the first round of the Class AA playoffs. Boyd County was supposed to walk through the competition that year, and the Jackets upset them 28-14 in Catlettsburg.

Then the next week, MHS beat Lexington Henry Clay in the semi-finals, another huge win. The Jackets dressed 40 kids, and the Blue Devils had at least 100 players come out of that visiting locker room. Still don't know how they fit 'em all in there . . . maybe they dressed in shifts. I was only 10 at the time, but I still remember the pre-game prayer given over the PA system that night by a local Middlesboro preacher: in it, he retold the story of David and Goliath.

More recently, their home playoff win over Beechwood in '98 was a big hurdle, and then of course, the next week they beat Mayfield for the school's first state title.