Is Western Kentucky Class 3A Really Wide Open?

[ATLCat]

I'm serious. Everybody has made a foregone conclusion that Belfry will cakewalk to the title, but we all know it ain't that easy. There are teams in the east capable of beating them, even if it doesn't look that way on paper. Look at the regular season game with Lawrence Co last year for an example. Bad things can happen and it is not easy to keep a group of teenagers focused week in and week out, especially when everyone they know is telling them how great they are.

 

Let alone the fact that Corbin is on their side of the bracket and Corbin has a good enough team that they might have been the 3A State Champion a number of years.

 

Corbin has defeated Central head to Head and knocked off a Danville team that running clocked Boyle County. You don't win those games if you can't play football.

 

All it takes is one fumbled exchange deep in your own territory, a 3 and Out to set someone up in great field position, a busted coverage, and a yellow flag negating a big run to potentially be a 28 point swing.

[thehotsnakes]

I'm serious. Everybody has made a foregone conclusion that Belfry will cakewalk to the title, but we all know it ain't that easy. There are teams in the east capable of beating them, even if it doesn't look that way on paper. Look at the regular season game with Lawrence Co last year for an example. Bad things can happen and it is not easy to keep a group of teenagers focused week in and week out, especially when everyone they know is telling them how great they are.

 

I think everybody knows that Belfry losing is a possible issue. But, everybody also knows that Belfry is the hands down favorite to win it all in 3A.

 

For me, when I think about Belfry losing, it comes down to one major thing in my mind. If Belfry plays their game, they win. Opponent doesn't matter. And for me, I don't think some teams really would even have a chance at winning. But, for the teams who could possibly beat them, it would take a perfect storm of a game. Did Corbin play the absolute game of their lives, while Belfry slept through the first half, got injuries, turned the ball over, and when they snapped back to the game, they couldn't rally enough.

 

Is Belfry better than everybody else in 3A? Uh, yeah. Quite. Everybody knows that the road for anyone to a title is rough. Physically and mentally for your team, physically and mentally for their team. Anybody who is playing late in the season has earned it, period.

 

But, I think everybody knows who Belfry is. And everybody, while they know that anything is possible, knows what it would take from 3A to unseat them.

[backinblack2000]

Let alone the fact that Corbin is on their side of the bracket and Corbin has a good enough team that they might have been the 3A State Champion a number of years.

 

Corbin has defeated Central head to Head and knocked off a Danville team that running clocked Boyle County. You don't win those games if you can't play football.

 

All it takes is one fumbled exchange deep in your own territory, a 3 and Out to set someone up in great field position, a busted coverage, and a yellow flag negating a big run to potentially be a 28 point swing.

 

I think we will definitely find out more about Corbin September 23rd....if they can beat MF then we start talking Belfry. But ur right all it takes is one off night....especially in the playoffs.

[Watusi]

The kind of scary thing about Belfry is this. Pirate teams almost always start a little slow and then improve quite a bit over the course of the season. Coach Haywood's philosophy is to get a little better every day, and keep doing the little things right, and you will hopefully peak at the right time. I think that has been evident over the course of time, that his philosophy is working and he knows what he is doing.

 

Case in point, 2015. This time last year we were all thinking Boyle Co was the team to beat and Belfry was hanging around in the top 5 in most people's minds. Belfry was 3-0, had beaten Tates Creek in a shootout, and beaten NCC respectably, but was not seen as a dominant force, especially in a 3A class that was very very strong. The Pirates opened some eyes with the win of Knoxville Catholic, but then showed their dark side in the loss to Cabell Midland and the near lost to Lawrence Co. After that, they started to gel, and they made improvements by leaps and bounds, and by the time November rolled around, they were a beast.

 

We all have said complacency will be their biggest enemy in 2016, and I still thank that is true, barring any major injuries. And here is my point. They have been pretty dominant early, so if they continue to improve like they typically do, how good COULD this team become by playoff time? The answer to that probably lies in their level of mental toughness and their ability to keep that "drive" to motivate them each week.

 

They still have a few teams on the schedule that can give them that wakeup call kind of game that might help to keep them on the right track. On the other hand, I could see them going undefeated for the first time in school history also.