Should leave Gretna at 8:30, go about halfway. Stop at some high school, do a light walk thru. Then continue on towards Big Stone Gap. At 3;30, you want to get into normal Friday routine. When you take field for pre game warm-ups, you don't want to feel like you just rode 4.5 hours on a bus.
I recall a team in Final 4 in basketball at Seigel Center a few years back. The coach chose to ride a school bus to Richmond because "they had been riding a school bus all season". They were one and done. I believe had they taken charter bus and allowed for better travel arrangments, that team could have won state championship.