Belfry 56 Pike County Central 34

[ATLCat]

Belfry opened the game putting it on the turf 4 times in their first 8 plays with 3 being turnovers and the other pinning them inside their own 5. PC jumped out to a 19-0 lead.

 

Belfry then turned it on and outscore the Hawks 42-8 in the 2nd Half

[theguru]

Have turnovers been an issue this year for the Pirates?

[ATLCat]

Have turnovers been an issue this year for the Pirates?

 

Lately...

 

Early on this year they were not... but once Belfry got slammed by the injury bug it is like they have had a residual effect because of the timing being off. The past 3 or 4 weeks Belfry has had several bouts with simply playing braindead football at times. Tonight it was turnovers more than anything.. in previous weeks it was bonehead penalties or mistakes in execution.

 

Belfry has silently became a team who has shown a propensity to have borderline awful stretches during the First Half while depending on the ability to overcome those bouts with an equally eye opening stretch of dominance in the 2nd Half.

 

Against Somerset, Harlan County, Southwestern, Gallia Academy, Lawrence County, and Pike Central Belfry has had a stretch in the First Half where they either fell behind or had their lead shrink only to come back in the 2nd Half to put on an impressive streak of points and plays to propel them to victory.

 

I think the JC game next week will be feat or famine. Either Belfry puts it together for 4 Quarters and beat a JC team that has looked unstoppable, or the Pirates will become a statement win in a big way for JC. I don't see a scenario that Belfry loses narrowly at this point.

[Watusi]

Belfry's offense is light years ahead of the defense at this point. Minus the fumbles, the offense has been pretty impressive as they have a really nice compliment of skill players and a tough OL. Defensively, however, they are just not good. Way too many missed assignments, bad tackles and coverage mistakes for the 9th game of the season. There is a lot of talent on that side of the ball, but a lot of it is young talent and maybe they are just a little behind the learning curve.

[theguru]

How many players are playing both ways for the Pirates?

 

And thanks for the info guys.

[ATLCat]

How many players are playing both ways for the Pirates?

 

And thanks for the info guys.

 

QB/DB Sani Warren (essentially a 4 year starter at DB)

WR/DB Keaton Taylor

FB/DE Austin Hatfield (they spell him fairly often at FB when they have all their backs healthy.. expect his role to increase on offense as they get deeper in the playoffs)

 

OL Michael Barnes starts full-time but they play him about 50/50 on the DL.. the rest of the OL, DL, and LB'ers only play one way. The Safeties play one way on defense and the HB's play one way on offense.

 

Before X Willis was lost for the season he was playing about every other down at CB spelling both Warren and Taylor to keep them fresh. He was also playing at least 1/4 of the snaps at HB on offense. Belfry has been rotating Carr between HB and FB to keep Hatfield fresh, also using the superb Freshman Fletcher at times.

[ATLCat]

Belfry has been starting 4 Freshmen the entire season:

 

Bentley TE

Hall DE

Horton DT

Woolum K

 

The aforementioned Fletcher has seen significant varsity minutes at FB and another Freshman Catron is the top reserve at Safety and has seen a good bit of varsity action as well.

 

The Freshmen have been an underlying storyline all year, especially on defense. They have had moments where they looked their age, they have also had moments where they were clearly some of the best players on the field. Last night was a prime example:

 

Trailing 26-14 Belfry coughed up the ball on their very first play of the 2nd Half deep in their own territory. After forcing a FG attempt Belfry blocked it and Hall scooped the ball and returned it past the 50 setting up a short field for a Belfry score to bring it to 26-21. The ensuing possession Horton got the first pressure of the night on the PC Quarterback and hit him as he threw forcing an INT. Belfry scored the very next play to take the lead.

 

After missed XP's have been a major problem the past two seasons (arguably costing them a Championship last year) Woolum has been unbelievable. He is 49/51 on XP's. One of those 2 misses was controversial as the official actually ruled the kick good on the field before conferring and ultimately saying no good.

 

The play of these Freshmen is a very good sign for Belfry's future as they were part of the Middle School State Championship team from last year. Today Belfry advanced to the Semi's in the Middle School State Tournament by obliterating East Carter. Some feel like they are the 2nd best Middle School team in all of KY losing twice in overtime to Johnson Central who is the prohibitive favorite to win the largest division. Belfry should have two bumper crops of talent to build off of the next 4 years.