Welcome to BGP @ccm7984

 

Awesome first post. Keep them coming.

 

For you or @Jeepman or @GOREDDEVILS , how would you compare this Russell team to last year's version?

 

From the outside looking in, they seem to be a little stronger on the OL and more balanced, but a little more dependent on 1 or 2 main players. Korzep was a big part of that offense last year, along with Conley and McKee. This year it seems to be mostly Conley and McKee and then a host of others splitting the remaining touches. Is that better overall, or not?

 

The loss of Korzep and Arnold on defense is huge, too, IMO. Who has replaced them?

Belfry rolls in this one.

Piggybacking off ccm7984's well though out post I also think it is fair to assess "The State of the Pirates" right now.

 

I think every Belfry fan was a little perplexed after the CM beatdown and the downright awful performance against Lawrence County. Now that those days are behind us (hopefully), and we are entering Round 2 I think it is fair to evaluate Belfry from high above.

 

Key Games:

Tates Creek- At the time this was a "iffy" win. TC was thought as a non-competitor in Fayette County 6A. Belfry's Offense rolled and though TC had success on Offense it was a game that Belfry seemingly won going away. Belfry got a little lax and started subbing liberally too soon and TC closed the gap. In hindsight, this is a pretty solid win. TC pounded Dunbar and Ashland and played stride for stride with some good teams.

 

Harlan County- Belfry crushed HC as most expected and the game wasn't competitive. HC is far from a "good team", but they actually aren't as bad as they seem either. They finished 2nd in their 5A District, gave Knox Central all they wanted, and hung with Bell most of the game.

 

NewCath- How Belfry wins in hindsight was pretty cool. The Pirates started a Freshman QB and were without X Willis who has been outstanding this year. A Three TD margin over a team with a legit shot at reaching Bowling Green despite that is pretty solid. Belfry also held Jacob Smith in check to 55 yards on 19 carries... that doesn't happen with Smith.

 

Pikeville- Great performance by Belfry. Pikeville has legit 1A Title hopes and Belfry thoroughly dominated them in every facet.

 

Knoxville Catholic- This one has looked better every week since. Catholic entered with a 2-3 record and some of the shine off them. Belfry dominated them and left little doubt. Since that game Catholic has won 5 straight by an average score of 47-10. KC's other losses? CPA.. 10-1 #1 in their class. Fulton.. 10-1 #1 in their class. Knoxville Central.. 9-2 Top 5 in their class only losing to Fulton and a highly rated Morristown West.

 

Cabell Midland- See above.. Belfry got abused..but CM has turned into one of the Top 150 teams in America and currently rule West Virginia with an iron fist.

 

Lawrence County- Disaster of a game that Belfry won. In hindsight it is almost impressive.. to hand the ball over 7 times, take points off the board, and set LC uo inside the 30 so many times and still win? LC is a solid team too.

 

Johnson Central- Belfry is to JC, what CM was to Belfry. Is Belfry 41 points better than JC? Absolutely not. Did JC bring their A game? Not close to it. With that said, Belfry performed on a different level and JC could have brought back alumni and couldn't stop Belfry's domination on the D-Line and Front 7. What makes this win doubly impressive is that JC physically manhandled LexCath.

 

 

All in all.. I love where Belfry is at with one glaring caveat and a couple minor ones.

 

When you turn it over 12 times in 2 Weeks at Mid-Season that will haunt your thoughts. Belfry has seemingly resolved these issues since, but the competition has been down and against JC the Pirates were just in the zone. You almost have to worry if that will rear it's head once someone starts hitting them hard again. Self inflicted wounds are the great equalizer.

 

Minor Critiques:

1. Belfry still isn't exactly the 2013 Seattle Seahawks in the secondary. Teams who can pass has passed. Granted, Belfry also held Pikeville, NewCath, Pikeville, and Knox Cath well under what they are used to offensively.

 

2. Punt Return is still a dangerous adventure. It is vastly improved from the trainwreck that was 2014 where Belfry essentially refused to even try to catch a punt. With that said, it is almost as if they went too far the opposite direction. Now they field punts off the bounce in heavy traffic and do not even fair catch when surrounded by bodies. Can we please just find a happy medium? HAHA

 

3. Passing game is coming along, but still nowhere near what you want. Improvements have been marked and new weapons and routes shown. Corbett does a better job of footwork and patience. It still is not something Belfry can rely on.

Russell definitely has their work cut out for them on Friday night. This is an "all hands on deck" kind of situation. Hopefully everyone that's banged up will be ready to go, if not 100%.

 

To answer your question, @Watusi, this year's Red Devils are more balanced on offense than last year's team. Once McKee started to get healthy, he began to show significant improvement as a passer. This season, he's already thrown for more yards and TDs in nine games than he did in fourteen games last year. He's been aided by a deeper, more talented receiving corps. Juniors Landon Brewer and Drey Boehm have really stepped up their game the last few weeks to become primary targets.

 

Korzep's versatility and impact on both sides of the ball hasn't been duplicated this year. He and Landon Arnold each had well over 100 tackles last year and were one of the best and most productive LB duo's I've seen at Russell in a long time. Bronson was also a great blocking back who complimented Conley nicely. The role of complimentary RB to Conley has been filled by a committee this season.

 

The OL might be a little stronger this year, but I'm not sure that they're better. They've been a little inconsistent this season. Russell hasn't looked particularly impressive running the ball as a team the last two weeks. When it comes to running the ball against good opposition this year, it's been Conley or bust.

 

Defensively, no one player has really stood out. Russell has pretty good depth at DL, LB, and DB. They rotate a lot of kids in and out of the game.

Lots of really good info in this thread. Love it.

 

Thats what set BGP apart for me from other forums. To be able to have meaningful discussion in depth about these games like this without wading through pages of other "stuff" is priceless.

I have to agree. This Russell team is nowhere near the level of years past that have competed with Belfry. I will be beyond surprised if this team scores anything on the Belfry defense. Russell just doesn't have the talent it needs to be able to compete with the Pirates.

 

Belfry- 35

Russell- 0

Pronunciation of Boehm or any other unusual last names?

Pronunciation of Boehm or any other unusual last names?

 

You pronounce Boehm sort of like Rome. Just ignore the "e". Also Drew Bultynck is a name people have struggled with. Despite the order of the letters, it's pronounced Bult-nick.

 

I think in order for Russell to have success tomorrow night, those two names will have to be heard frequently.

Thanks for the info.

Game day!

 

About to go get on a metal bird and will not be able to follow closely. Wan o wish the best of luck to both teams.

 

Russell is definitely one of my favorite fan bases to engage with and always enjoy this week regardless of outcome on the field

Be fry 48-0

Belfry 48-0

My heart says Russell, but my mind says Belfry.

I'm interested to see what happens if Belfry's run defense takes Nick Conley out of the equation in the running game. I think we'll see the continuation of Russell's air raid offense tonight. McKee's attempted 50 passes the last two weeks. He might set the school record for pass attempts in a game tonight. If that's the case, someone might have to shield Coach McGlone's eyes if he's in attendance, lest he be subjected to the abomination of the forward pass over and over again, lol.