By Alex Hickey | For The Dominion Post
If Friday night was Preston’s final game of the season, what a way to go out.
And if it was the Knights’ final game before qualifying for a playoff spot, what a way to get in.
“I told them to be prepared to come to practice Monday and have another week to be together as a group,” said Preston coach Jonathan Tennant.
Preston recovered its own opening kickoff to set the tone on its way to a massive halftime lead, then fended off a furious Bruins rally to close the regular season with a 39-27 win.
Now Preston’s eyes turn to an unlikely place for a potential Class AAA playoff berth — West Virginia’s color-coded COVID-19 map.
If enough contenders are knocked out of the playoff picture due to their county’s status on Saturday night, the Knights are in.
If not, the season is over. Based on a Friday-night ruling from the WVSSAC that provides a path to eligibility for schools in orange and red counties, it appears the latter is likely to happen.
The playoff selection meeting is on Sunday.
“I told the kids, we just don’t know,” Tennant said. “It’s been a crazy year. I’m real proud of how they responded to getting beat by University. I asked ‘Are you the solution or are you the problem?’ and they’ve responded with some very good football the last two weeks.”
Crazy is an understatement for the Knights’ season, which includes a forfeit and an eviction from playing games at their own home field due to problems with the bleachers.
Junior Easton Gibbs led Preston’s attack with four touchdowns — three rushing and one receiving. With senior J.J. Townsend less than 100 percent due to a hamstring injury, Gibbs became the workhorse to the tune of 176 yards on 24 carries.
The game looked destined for a running clock with Preston opening up a 31-0 halftime lead. The Bruins had other ideas.
Brooke seemed to be waving the white flag on a methodical drive to start the second half, taking seven minutes off the clock before finally scoring on a deflected pass in the end zone.
As it turned out, the Bruins were playing possum. Brooke struck quickly, recovering back-to-back onside kicks and cutting the lead to 10 points in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
“We played, at times, very well. And then at times we didn’t play very well. That’s kind of like our whole season,” Tennant said. “We’ve been competitive in just about every game, but manage to shoot ourselves in the foot a time or two.”
Gibbs helped Preston avoid a meltdown with back-to-back plays that sealed the game.
First, he broke four tackles on a 12-yard touchdown run that put Preston back up by three scores. Then on the first defensive play of Brooke’s ensuing possession, Gibbs picked off Bruins quarterback Joshua Shorts to effectively seal the deal.
BOX SCORE
Brooke 0 0 14 13 — 27
Preston 19 12 0 8 — 39
SCORING SUMMARY
PHS — Easton Gibbs 15 pass from Trevor Thomas (Levi Lowdermilk kick)
PHS — Gibbs 20 run (kick failed)
PHS — Todd Fraley 34 pass from Thomas (kick failed)
PHS — Gibbs 10 run (run failed)
PHS — J.J. Townsend 8 run (kick failed)
BHS — Seth Coburn 9 pass from Joshua Shorts (Quinlin Blair kick)
BHS — Gus Gilbert 10 pass from Shorts (Blair kick)
BHS — Drake Hukill 5 run (Blair kick)
PHS — Gibbs 12 run (Richard Layton pass from Zach Riffle)
BHS — Jace Campinelli 3 pass from Shorts (run failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Brooke–Hukill 18-55 TD, Shorts 10-26, Campinelli 5-17, Kurtis Leonard 1-(-1). Preston–Gibbs 24-176 3 TD, Townsend 5-23 TD, Brendon Pacholke 5-8, Thomas 2-15, Jaxson Lewis 1-6.
PASSING: Brooke–Shorts 12-26-3 156 3 TD. Preston–Thomas 3-3 55 2 TD
RECEIVING: Brooke–Gilbert 7-102 TD, Campinelli 2-24 TD, Coburn 1-9 TD, Nicholas Costlow 1-7, Anthony Bachinkski 1-8. Preston–Fraley 2-40 TD, Gibbs 1-15 TD
