Final

Pirates do what they do best...gain almost 450 yards before the running clock and starters are pulled at the end of the 3rd

Congrats to Lawrence County, they overcame a lot of injuries this season and made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs. That is an accomplishment and the win last week against a good Morgan Co team was a good one. The young Bulldogs improved a lot over the course of the season and I hope they build on that heading into next season.

 

Belfry still hasn't played a game all season where everyone was healthy. They played again tonight without starting MLB Peyton Mullins. Mullins is a multi-year starter who is one of the leading tacklers on the team. Hopefully he will be healed up by next week and we can go at Breathitt firing on all 8 cylinders.

 

Starting RB Johnson looked really quick and seems to be back to full strength. Warren played well tonight and looked good throwing the ball as Belfry worked quite a bit on the passing game. Autstin Hatfield continues to impress as the soph just performs well no matter what position you put him in. Love the motor on that kid.

 

This will be a big week as Breathitt comes to town. CAM Stadium will be rocking and the rest of Pond Creek will be abandoned come kickoff time next Friday. There is no love lost between these two fan bases and teams. They have been on a collision course all season and both teams will come in ready to play and sky high. Can't wait.

Belfry still hasn't fired on all cylinders all season. Either they have been injury riddled and missing key pieces, they have been on cruise control the whole game, or they have played mistake hevay football committing a lot of penalties.

 

If Belfry can put it all together they have the potential to be very scary. The defense is lightning quick, flies to the ball, and has a lot of veteran experience. The offense is more balanced then it has been in a long time and has a very diverse backfield in terms of skill sets and how they attack you, and they have guys who simply can make plays in the open field.

 

If the Pirates are going to peak.. now is the time as next Friday is going to be an absolute war.

Congrats to Belfry on the win. I hope you take the title back to the mountains!

 

I wish all those seniors at LC the best of luck. All of them are class kids with tons of heart.

Belfry is perhaps the most unsung football powerhouse in Kentucky. They win every year and have done it for many, many years but we don't hear much about them.

Belfry is perhaps the most unsung football powerhouse in Kentucky. They win every year and have done it for many, many years but we don't hear much about them.

Belfry is a dinosaur. They are a blue collar team with a lot of tough, hard nosed blue collar kids, and rarely a legitimate D-1 talent on the squad. They may be among the state leaders occasionally in team stats, especially rushing, but you will rarely see an individual name on the state lists. They have a tremendous coaching staff who's biggest talent, IMO is getting those kids to buy into the system. they have a community that supports them fully and unconditionally. They run an offense that dates back to the Pharohs, but they run it well with fundamentally sound blocking, technique and execution. Their base defense is a 5-2 that they have ran since I played in the 80's. What they do may not be sexy, but everybody runs it from the 3rd grade on up at every level. By the time they get to high school, they know the system well. They preach blocking, tackling, execution and defensive responsibility. Most Belfry teams are physical and well conditioned, with a ton of heart but not a ton of speed. Coach Haywood is tremendous at looking at the big picture and bringing his teams along to peak at the right time. He will do little things in September that pays dividends in November.

 

It is a special place for high school football where tradition means something, hard work is rewarded and the TEAM is the focus. I'm thankful that my grandparents were Pirates, my parents were Pirates, I am a Pirate and my kids are Pirates. If your community doesn't have that, I feel sorry for you, it is a special thing.

Edited November 10, 201213 yr by Watusi