LCA makes the long haul to Eastern Kentucky to challenge the Pirates of Belfry. Both teams come in at 1-0.

Will be an even longer haul back to Lexington after they get thrashed. Belfry 42 LCA 13

LCA's skill guys will really challenge Belfry without Coleman in the secondary.

 

No Offense to Southwestern, but they just lacked any semblance of an ability to get a big play and the Warriors definitely were not equipped to drive the ball on Belfry.

 

LCA will potentially expose a couple things with Barnhardt's passing ability and the tandem of Dee Smith and Xavier Brown. I also noticed the LCA is giving Barnhardt some more freedom to run the ball and he had a lot of success last week. Belfry has traditionally not fared well against legitimate dual threat QB's (see Beau Allen last year), so they will have to step up.

 

On the flip side, I am not sure LCA will be accustomed to seeing a team comparable to Belfry. LCA is not very big on Defense but they have some really nice athletes. The Long kid is a relentless DE and their LB's are quick and tough. I think Belfry should find a little more success between tackle than they had against Southwestern, but the same rules apply as last week. Protect the ball, execute, and take what they give you.

 

Defensively LCA will put you in mind of what LexCath brought last year. Obviously Allen is a special QB, but Barnhardt can hurt you. I like the LCA receivers over what LexCath had, but the Eagles aren't quite as good in the threat of a ground game.

 

I think LCA will get some points, but if Belfry doesn't hurt themselves I like them to make more plays and win by 14-20.

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Fun Stats:

- Belfry is 15-2 All-Time versus Private Schools.Their two losses were to Newport Central Catholic in 1955 and Knoxville Catholic in 2016. Belfry is 4-0 against Private Schools in the Pike County Bowl.

 

- Belfry is 34-12 All-Time versus teams from the Central KY area. They are 14-7 against teams from Lexington. They are 12-3 against Central KY teams in the Pike County Bowl and 4-1 against Lexington teams specifically.

 

- With losses to Huntington, WV in successive years, it marks the first time Belfry has had a two game losing streak in the Pike County Bowl since 1997 and 1998. Those were a both 7-0 losses to Male and Campbell County respectively. The Pirates also lost in consecutive years to Danville and Montgomery County in 1993 and 1994. They have never lost in 3 consecutive Pike County Bowls.

 

- Belfry is 30-4 since 2000 when "playing down" in Classification. They have lost twice to Pikeville and twice to Prestonsburg in that time.

 

- Junior RB Isaac Dixon enters the game with 123 carries for 1758 yards and 22 Rushing TD's for his career. He averages 14.3 yards per carry and scores a TD every 5.6 carries. He also has added 6 receptions for 184 yards and 4 TD's and his Punt Return TD Friday marked his fifth non-Offensive TD already.

@ATLCat, do you anticipate the wildcat becoming a weekly occurrence for Belfry? It worked to devastating effect against Southwestern the one time I saw them run it. That's a dangerous wrinkle with either Dixon or Bentley back there.

@ATLCat, do you anticipate the wildcat becoming a weekly occurrence for Belfry? It worked to devastating effect against Southwestern the one time I saw them run it. That's a dangerous wrinkle with either Dixon or Bentley back there.

 

To be fair, I won't actually consider that to be a true "Wildcat".

 

That was actually a more standard Pistol formation that just so happened to be a designed read with Dixon at the QB spot. The true wildcat usually uses a jet sweep action and often uses a decoy as nothing more than a decoy spread out wide.

 

With respect to Canterbury who did a solid job running the Offense, once Coleman returns from mono he will not only take over under center, he brings a fourth lethal option in the run game.

 

I am not saying the pistol is here to stay, but I am saying that if I am game planning for Belfry and the Pirates can switch from the flexbone to the pistol without necessarily having to make major personnel changes it is a dangerous proposition, especially when teams are accustomed to using Bear Fronts.

 

A set with the versatile Coleman at QB with the option to wrap to Dixon or dive to Hensley, with the sure handed Ben Bentley out wide with his elite speed...:eek:

 

It is worth noting Haywood has used the Wildcat before. In the 2009 season when Belfry was painfully thin with playmakers, the Pirates sued the Wildcat with Thomas Varney a good bit including a come from behind win against Letcher Central and Pike Central.

ttt

Belfry by whatever they want it to be.

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:54 in 2nd

Belfry 26

LCA 20

Been a wild one so far. LCA has been hanging tough and have hit three big plays for scores.

 

Belfry has scored 4 TD's, but the Eagles have held their own and then some up front. Isaac Dixon and Ben Bentley have had to put their super hero capes on at times.

LCA has turned it over twice so far, the last time their Defense bowed up inside the 10.

 

Belfry has missed two XP's and a short FG.

 

Pirates have really struggled to maintain blocks and it has been individual efforts so far to spring big plays. LCa's quickness has presented a lot of problems and without the threat of Canterbury hurting the Eagles they have successfully sold out to stop the vast majority of Belfry's base run game.

HALF

Belfry 26-20

Wow! LCA is hanging in there better than I thought they would.