After an explosive First Half full of fireworks the 2nd Half calms down and Belfry pulls away late.

BELFRY

62 plays, 437 yards (all rushing)

Dixon 25 carries, 207 yards, TD

Hensley 17 carries, 142 yards, 2 TD

Bentley 16 carries, 85 yards, 2 TD

 

LCA

39 plays, 273 total yards

Barnhardt 13/23, 187 passing yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, LOST FUMBLE

Someone reported the score wrong to KHSAA. I was about to have some serious questions in here tonight. :lol2: :lol2:

Thoughts:

- I thought LCA showed a ton of heart and their staff entered with a solid and aggressive gameplan. The stats say otherwise, but I really felt LCA won the LOS scrimmage battle vs. Belfry's OLine most of the night. Belfry's playmakers and the Pistol wrinkle and the new looks out of it just made big plays.

 

- Pirates turned LCA over 4 times and that was huge. LCA did a good job for the most part keeping those from turning to points, but lost possessions trying to pull an upset is a tough obstacle. Belfry had no turnovers.

 

- LCA hit three big plays in the 1st Half that accounted for the majority of their Offense. It was a weird game because the entire 3rd Quarter and start of the 4th Quarter, neither team had hardly any Offensive success. The turning point was when LCA trailing by six seemed to pin Belfry back and flipped the field after a quick kick was down at the 2. Belfry went to their Pistol look and went 98 yards in a hurry to extend the lead.

The Good:

- Belfry's backfield is just stellar. For a while Dixon and Bentley was having to create the Offense on their lonesome, then Hensley got going out of the Pistol look. All three of these guys are just exceptional backs and when Belfry gets Coleman back you will have a true 4-headed monster to contain in the run game.

 

Dixon made several highlight reel runs against a very stingy LCA defense. He may have gained 207 yards, but he probably ran for 350 yards to get them. There was no wonder why the Pirate backs were cramping, they were ran to death and exhausted.

 

- LCA has some special pieces themselves. Dee Smith had two beautiful catch and runs for scores and Xavier Brown made some plays as well. Barnhardt threw some INT's, but he also had some beautiful throws and a couple nice runs.

 

LCA to me proved they are definitely a Top 5 team in 2A and it can be argued they outplayed Belfry in the First Half and also completely shut down the Belfry flexbone in the 3rd Quarter.

 

- Early on Belfry played a conservative look on Defense and it resulted in two early scores. Once the Pirates adjusted to a more aggressive look like last week they suddenly played lights out and shut down LCA in the 2nd Half until the Eagles put a nice drive on their last possession.

 

Isaiah Birchfield was very good and jumped two routes for INT's. Grayson Cook and Seth Mounts were bringing the wood and teamed up for a pretty INT as well. This belfry D simply looks so much better when they are bringing some heat from their OLB's.

 

 

THE BAD:

- If you are one of those "football is called too soft for what it should be" guys like me, you had two penalties that were absolutely atrocious. Ben Bentley and Grayson Cook of Belfry each made plays that 10 years ago were highlight plays and textbook coaching examples of what to do.

 

LCA drew up a gorgeous trick play and had Belfry fooled. Bentley used his special athleticism to recover at full speed and time the arrival of a pass perfectly to make a play on the ball and break up what should have been a TD. The refs called a PI.

 

The Air Force commit Cook made his own D-1 play. He timed a pass perfectly and made a textbook hit leading with his shoulder into the chest of an Eagle player to dislodge a pass reception. The ref threw a flag, anticipating that because it was so abrupt it had to be illegal, and did not seem to have the gumption to simply admit he reacted too quickly so they let the penalty stand taking away a truly beautiful football play.

 

 

- CRAMPS! Both teams were severely effected by cramps and were physically exhausted. Sometimes I wonder if these late Bowl Games in the heat of August is the best idea. Between playing after midnight and adding physical exhaustion, kids were dropping like flies late.

 

 

THE UGLY:

- Belfry had some injuries they cannot afford. Monster NG Jacob Baisden left with an apparent ankle injury and one of their OL also was banged up. Bentley had a scare with his hamstring that he recently recovered from, but it was thankfully only a cramp.

 

- Belfry's OLine did not play up to the stats, in fact at times they were downright dominated by the smaller Eagles. The Pirate line is really struggling with finishing their blocks and at times there was a different linemen laying on the ground every play while the man he had tried to block assisted on the tackle.

 

Right now Belfry has a Championship level set of skill players and I would argue a Championship level Defense potentially, but the OLine simply must improve leaps and bounds.

 

The Pirates have an off-week then travel to play Archbishop Alter who is stout as bears up front and fundamentally sound. Belfry needs to improve on the Offensive front or they may get embarrassed after a long road trip to Kettering.

I thought score would be worse than final.