[Stardust]

For the first time in 28 years, the DeSales Colts are going to play in a state championship football game

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2...burg+33-28

Not since the Colts lost to Henry Clay 20-7 in the 1981 Class4-A final have they battled for a state crown. They earned their latest chance by knocking off previously undefeated Prestonsburg 33-28 Friday night in a 2-A semifinal at Southern High School.
With senior Andrew Beeler running for 186 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries and senior quarterback Ryan Johnson playing a major role again, the Colts stretched their winning streak to eight games.
Coach Mark Sander's team will take an 11-3 record into Friday's 4p.m. EST final against Fort Campbell (14-0), which beat Monroe County 30-16 in Clarksville, Tenn


“Some of us have been thinking about this since the eighth grade when we won the Toy Bowl at St.Nicholas,” Beeler said. “Of course, this is bigger.”
DeSales had to withstand a fine performance by Prestonsburg quarterback Michael Burchett, who competed 25of38 passes for 361 yards and four TDs as the Blackcats finished 13-1.
Burchett erased a 13-0 deficit and put Prestonsburg ahead 14-13 at halftime with scoring passes to John Craynon and Tyler Hall. But DeSales, which was knocked out by Newport Central Catholic in the semis in 2007 and the regional final last year, came back strong.
“It was determination,” said Johnson, whose 16-yard TD run around left end put DeSales ahead for good at 26-22 with 5:23 left in the third quarter. “We set a goal to go to the final last summer. This is our home field, and we weren't going to lose at home.”
Sander, an All-Stater at DeSales who went on play linebacker for the University of Louisville and the Minnesota Vikings, reached one of his goals in his eighth season as coach.

I'd probably say this win ranks right up there at the top, but we've had other great wins,” he said. “I'm still in shock — not that we beat them, but that we're going to the state championship game. I thought our kids hung their heads at halftime, and I told them they had to regroup and step it up on the next play.”