It took Paintsville three football seasons to exercise their playoff demons.
Paintsville used a sold second-half performance to pull away and beat Raceland, 32-18, in the Class 1A, District 6 championship game played at Memorial Field on Friday night.
The Tigers had lost the previous two seasons in close games to the Rams.
John Walker Phelps ran for 97 yards and three touchdowns and added a scoop-and-score from 47 yards away to push the Tigers into the regional finals this coming weekend.
Quarterback Jake Hyden passed for 69 yards and rushed for 77 and one touchdown as Paintsville moved to 9-3.
The Tigers will host Williamsburg (10-2) this Friday night.
At Paintsville
(Class 1A playoffs)
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
RL (7-5)……6 6 0 8 – 18
PV (9-3)…..19 0 0 13 – 32
Scoring:
First Quarter
RL – Jake Heighton, 1-yard run (kick failed), 10:57
PV – John Walker Phelps, 2-yard run (Seth Trador kick), 7:36
PV – John Walker Phelps, 2-yard run (kick failed), 5:56
PV – John Walker Phelps, 47-yard fumble return (pass failed), 2:24
Second Quarter
RL – Caleb Rowsey, 30-yard field goal, 6:21
RL – Caleb Rowsey, 22-yard field goal, :26
Third Quarter
No scoring
Fourth Quarter
PV – Jake Hyden, 10-yard run (Seth Trador kick), 11:14
PV – John Walker Phelps, 16-yard run (kick blocked), 3:12
RL – Jacob Wallace, 15-yard pass from Jake Heighton (kick failed), 1:16
Next up: Paintsville (9-3) vs. Williamsburg (10-2), regional championship, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 22.