KINGWOOD, W.Va. — This week, the high school football fields in Monongalia County have been quiet, but in Kingwood, pads are still popping, coaches are still game-planning and a community is lit up with excitement.
That’s right, only one area team qualified for the WVSSAC football playoffs, and that team is the Preston Knights.
Preston? Playoffs? Unbelievable, right?
After all, this was a team that just last year struggled through a 1-9 season that even PHS coach Jonathan Tennant admits might’ve been the worst in school history.
“We gave up 50 points per game, and scored 8 per game,” Tennant said. “We were so young, so inexperienced and just overmatched all year. We knew it was going to be tough, but we hoped we were laying the groundwork for the future.”
And that future began last November, right after the final loss of the season.
“The juniors, this year’s seniors, got together and decided they weren’t going to let that happen again,” Tennant said. “They went to work in the weight room and encouraged the underclassmen, as well. And it’s made a difference.”
When the summer practice period started, less than 40 players showed up, with about 12 players dropping out, including a handful of likely starters. But once practice began in earnest, especially during 7-on-7 scrimmages, veterans like senior lineman Robbie Stinson could see this Knights team could be different.
“We knew then what we were capable of,” he said. “We obviously weren’t getting blown away and we were competitive. That gave us a lot of hope and enthusiasm heading into the season.”
An impressive opening win at Hampshire was followed by three tough losses to North Marion, John Marshall and Robert C. Byrd. The key difference was that the Knights were in every game, competing on equal terms with good teams, and according to Tennant after the RCB loss, “We’ve learned how to compete, now we need to take the next step and learn how to win.”
The turning point in the season actually came the following week, in the Buckwheat Bowl against Lewis County, and it wasn’t pretty. Distracted, unfocused and uninspired, the Knights were blown out 43-7, and afterwards, senior Jesse Gribble remembered the message his coach delivered to the seniors.
“He told us that we still had all our goals left on the table, that we could still make the playoffs,” Gribble said. “He said, ‘If you want to do something great, if you want to leave a legacy, do it now.’ And so we just got the team together and told them to stay with it, stay focused and see what happens.”
After a bye week and a loss to Class AA powerhouse Bridgeport, while Preston supporters were obviously skeptical (Stinson admits he heard “Same old Preston” whispered more than once), Tennant nevertheless saw something in his 1-5 team that was missing from the previous season.
“Confidence,” he said. “We were down after five-straight losses, but we never lost the confidence that we could be successful. We didn’t have any confidence to lose last year, but the seniors did a great job of keeping everyone on track and positive. We had a goal in mind and we broke it down into weekly steps, and the team responded.”
Responded in a big way, with a three-game win streak that included a victory against University. Although a mistake-filled first half led to a season-ending loss to Brooke, the 4-6 Knights had done just enough to qualify for a first-round game at Martinsburg at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
“The benefits for the program are enormous,” Tennant said of his team’s playoff run. “The chance to practice for another full week, to experience a playoff atmosphere, to measure ourselves against a great team, just to see a reward for all the hard work and dedication we put in all year. The support for the community has been great for these kids who came back and stuck with the program, and I hope this will inspire more kids to come out next year. We’re excited about the present and the future.”
As for the players, the support has been both welcome and interesting.
“Yeah, it’s sort of surreal,” Gribble said. “The whole community is behind us now, especially after the UHS win, but it’s kinda weird, too. I guess they thought of that as the big one, but we just thought of it as the next step to our goal of making the playoffs. It’s been nice to have shocked people, I’ll admit. And who knows, maybe we can shock people again. We’re just gonna go out there and give it our best shot.”
Same old Preston?
Don’t you believe it. The Knights are in the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
