The Washington Post brings Prestonsburg's journey to the '93 2A State Championship to life

[caption id="attachment_253139" align="alignnone" width="5298"] (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post)[/caption] The story of Prestonsburg's journey to the 1993 2A State Championship game is one that has been told over and over again throughout eastern Kentucky. They lived it. And 25 years later, it's still dominating the collective minds of the Prestonsburg community, for both good and bad. For those unfamiliar with the story, a small town with less than 4,000 people rallied behind the local Prestonsburg High School Blackcats in their magical ride to the title game. The city essentially shut down to watch the Blackcats defeat two-time defending champion Danville in the state semifinals, and then followed it up with a battle against Mayfield for the title. After going up 12-0 with 8:32 remaining in the game, Prestonsburg gave up two touchdowns down the stretch to fumble the championship right out of their hands. A touchdown called back due to a hold and a missed field goal with 1:52 remaining sealed the devastating 13-12 loss, one the entire city of Prestonsburg has yet to get over. Chuck Culpepper, a journalist for the Washington Post, wrote a feature story on that special 1993 Prestonsburg group that many Kentuckians deem the best Blackcat team in school history. For starters, Culpepper laid the foundation of the team down, describing in detail just how dominant they were on the defensive side of the ball.

Their defense ruled Kentuckian earth. No opponent scored in double digits for 10 regular season games and the first three playoff contests. Nobody scored at all until Game 4, when Belfry’s storied team made a field goal that nudged over the crossbar in a manner Elliott resented.

“We didn’t even want to give up first downs,” he said.

The author then moves on to talk about the city of Prestonsburg rallying behind the undefeated Blackcats in the state semifinal against Danville, highlighting the town's temporary shutdown as the exit roads were filled with PHS fans.

When the Blackcats stood 13-0 and began the two-hour, 45-minute bus ride for a state semifinal at Danville, a colossus with a 42-game win streak, fullback Dewayne Garza said: “I remember looking up on the overpass, up there coming out of Prestonsburg. I remember somebody had a sign up there, ‘LAST ONE OUT, PLEASE TURN THE LIGHTS OFF.’?”

In a 16-15 upset, the Blackcats defeated the powerhouse Danville Admirals in double-overtime. From there, all eyes were on bringing a championship trophy back to Prestonsburg. Once again, the entire city flocked to see their beloved Blackcats.

Championship week blurred by. They bused 55 miles to practice on artificial turf, at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., to simulate the turf of Louisville. A townsman with a plane jetted to Memphis to buy the team proper cleats. A send-off drew such a throng that Hager pictured a town otherwise empty and thought, “I can’t think of anybody I don’t see here.”

When the potential game-winning field goal attempt drifted left past the goal post and reality set in that their epic run had come to a close, it was an emotional sight on the field at Trinity High School.

The spiteful scoreboard stayed 13-12, and “the tears were falling with the rain,” Amy Hyden said, “and you’re just like, really, ‘I can’t believe that this is how it’s ending.’?”

Players sobbed in their hands, pounded the turf. Wells tried to help up teammates who wished to stay down, then, “I looked up at the scoreboard one last time to make sure that this was actually real.”

25 years later, that devastation still lingers throughout the community.

“And you knew that that win did not mean to Mayfield what the loss meant to us,” Amy Hyden said.

“Yeah,” Seth (Hyden) said. “No way.”

“Thirty-one years” coaching, (Bill) Letton said, including a Kentucky state title won with Lexington Catholic in 2007 while waving to several elated former Blackcats in attendance. “I think that’s the one thing if I could change, give up a lot for, it would be to have that group of people, you can’t fathom how much it would have meant to that community, you know, to be called state champions.”

If there is one thing you read this Christmas Eve evening, make sure it's Culpepper's feature over at the Washington Post. I promise it will be worth your time.

Check it out here.

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