[Red and Black]

Ronnie Milsap and Stevie Wonder could see that!  How did you even have the nerve to ask such a question….. They match like this….when half or more of two classes leave our school and go to yours and help you win a state title; don’t check the wrong box when ONE KID leaves you to come to us.

Care to share their stats while playing for Prestonsburg High?

Are we really doing this again?

There’s 1 person that loves to bring this up every single time…


for the record, I hope Paintsville checks whatever box needs to be checked to allow anyone to transfer, if something like that is required. I doubt any box had to be checked to allow 8th graders to choose their high school.

Those Pburg kids and their parents made a difficult decision that they strongly believed was in their best interests, in more ways than just football. I have talked to some of those parents about it and as a parent myself I understand and respect their decision and I honestly believe most people in Pburg feel the same way about it at this point. It was a tough situation, for sure, but I'm still proud of the success those boys had and truly am glad they won it, even if I'm still disappointed that I believe they had the wrong color "P" on their helmets when doing so. The amount of Blue "P" stickers on the back glass of trucks in driveways all over downtown Pburg during that time was tough for an old blackcat to see every day, no doubt, but they switched school systems because they believed their success and growth not just as football players, but as adults, was directly tied to that decision, and I have nothing but respect for that. All transfer situations should have that as the primary goal in mind. I believe Alex Johnson shares that goal, just as those kids that left the Pburg school system after 8th grade did. I respect Paintsville football and I hope they reciprocate that respect back to us.

Pburg vs Paintsville is one of the oldest rivalry games in the mountains and that game means a lot to a lot of people on US23 and it's an absolute shame that it was cancelled the first time and equally a shame that it was cancelled this time. People involved in both decisions should be ashamed. Adults should act like adults and not throw childish temper tantrums when something doesn't go their way, but maybe that's too much to ask of school administrators. Pburg shouldn't have cancelled everything the way we did after the mass transfer and Paintsville shouldn't have cancelled after this transfer either. It's a disservice to the kids and to the people of these communities who look forward to and love seeing this game every time it's played. This game has been played 70(!!!) times since the 1st one in 1925 and next year would've been the 100th year anniversary of that game at Paintsville. How many other teams not just in Appalachia but in the state of KY can say they have played another school 70 times in 100 years? It's unbelievable to have a rivalry that old! Then to slap that history in the face over childish pride about a transfer is abhorrent behavior from adults, IMO. This game went 13 years without being played between 2010 and 2023 because of pride, and the communities suffered for it. Then, they finally brought it back the last two years to ramp up for the 100th anniversary and both of those games were absolutely electric. Electric crowds, excited communities, full bleachers and pumped up sidelines both times- and now it's gone again for who knows how long because of hurt feelings, once again.

All cancelling this game does is teach our kids that we should "take our ball and go home" whenever we don't get our way, instead of standing up in the face of adversity and overcoming it. That's one of the most important lessons to teach a teenage boy about life in general, I think, and I'm proud of the way Coach Hager handled that exact situation with Betsy Layne remaining on the schedule last season after having 3 starters to transfer from Pburg to them. He didn't whine and cry and cancel the game, even though he could have, and most people wouldn't have blamed him if he did. Instead, he told the boys to work harder and win it, to rise up in the face of the challenge, and they did it. God bless him for it! I think that's the proper way to handle things like this, but I guess that's antithetical to the culture we live in today. Our culture wants us to whine and cry and blame others and run away when things get hard. I'm not here for it! We should teach these kids to be men who are capable of doing hard things as adults, not to remain pouty kids always looking for imagined insults the rest of their lives and then run away when their feelings get hurt. That's the worst possible thing to teach them! My kids are growing up in these communities and I want to know that there are good men, strong men, courageous men being raised up through football programs here instead of the alternative. We should do better, we should set better examples for them. Not trying to single out Paintsville, because there is shame enough to go around for both sides now, but I think they should reconsider cancelling this game and act like adults for the sake of these communities and the history of this rivalry. It's important to us.  

Rant over. Hail Blackcats!