One of the more interesting non-district games is scheduled as 6A North Hardin makes the long trip to Haywood Stadium to meet the defending 3A Champion Belfry Pirates.

The Trojans enter as one of the top 6A teams in all of Kentucky and sport a dominating defense that has put together three consecutive shutouts and the only 17 points they have allowed came against 5A powerhouse Frederick Douglass (who subsequently have averaged 56.5 points in the two games after). They will get the unique challenge of facing Belfry's Flexbone offense and Mr. Football candidate HB Isaac Dixon who has been arguably as good as anyone in Kentucky. Dixon enters with nearly 1000 all-purpose yards, 14 offensive TD's, and averaging almost 250 yards from scrimmage per game. North Hardin will counter with their own Mr. Football candidate and short lister for the top RB in Kentucky in Lavell Wright. Wright enters averaging 156.5 yards from scrimmage per game.

This will be the first ever meeting between these two teams, Belfry has only played a team from Hardin County one time. The Pirates defeated Elizabethtown in the 2003 2A State Championship game.

The last and only time Belfry played a 6A team from the Louisville metro area was when Louisville Male defeated Belfry 7-0 in the 1997 Pike County Bowl. The last and only time in the past 20 years that North Hardin ventured into Eastern Kentucky was 2006 when the Trojans defeated Whitley County 40-6.

 

 

I’m going to go with North Hardin by 14. I think North Hardin has the better defense giving them the edge.

Belfry is simply struggling right now in the Front 7 on defense.

Pikeville moved the ball with measured success, specifically in their run game. Belfry was unable to get off the field in key situations in the Second Half against the Panthers. Floyd Central was probably the more alarming harbinger. Though Belfry won in a heavy handed manner, it wasn't for a lack of effort and success from the Jaguars (who avoided the running clock for the first time in series history).

Floyd Central scored three times on long drives and had another pair of drives come up short on 4th Down after getting deep into Pirate territory. Floyd Central finished just shy of 300 total yards and over 250 of that came via their ground game that dominated the T.O.P and number of plays ran. 

Simply put, Belfry is a legit title contender in 3A this season but that is more about a lack of great/dominant teams in the classification and less a reflection of Belfry's might. The Pirate offense has gotten the job done led by a simply phenomenal talent in Dixon, who may be a Pirate all-timer. 

I will be surprised if the Pirates can hang within 4 TD's in this one. On the surface, I would be inclined to say this could be a running clock game except for the fact that Dixon's special ability and North Hardin's sometimes inefficient offense may help to keep this respectable. I don't see an outcome that Belfry wins this without Dixon basically making himself the front runner for Mr. Football with a heroic performance though. I don't think North Hardin's defense will allow that though.

NH 48

Belfry 20

North Hardin's win against Frederick Douglass is one of the best wins of the year IMO, as I think FD is a Top 5 team in the entire state.  I like North in this game as I think they are the better team, but you should never count Belfry out at home.  I think Belfry enjoys playing the underdog role and being a home game will do all they can and be as competitive as they can.

That said, North Hardin 35

Belfry 21

Trojans will stay undefeated!

How far of a drive is it for North Hardin?

12 minutes ago, R1 sports fan said:

How far of a drive is it for North Hardin?

263.4 miles

4 hr and 30 minutes by car without stopping.

4 minutes ago, ATLCat said:

263.4 miles

4 hr and 30 minutes by car without stopping.

That could be a factor in this game as well, maybe not enough for Belfry to win, but I would expect them to keep in close. 

16 minutes ago, ATLCat said:

263.4 miles

4 hr and 30 minutes by car without stopping.

I hope they are taking a tour style bus and not school busses.

I expect North Hardin to be too much for the Pirates, even with the cross country trip. 

N. Hardin 21-14.

Win or lose, this is a great example of what makes Belfry special: The willingness to challenge themselves and punch above their weight class, so to speak.

I'm pretty much toeing the line with my take on this game. North Hardin has a bunch of dudes, while Belfry, with all due respect to the other Pirates, has just one dude. Who on Belfry's side can make the Trojans pay for keying on Dixon? 

This game should have an eager audience following along on Friday. I'll probably be one of them.

I just hope it gets played it seems like we’ve had a lot of marquee matchups with long drive cancelled this season and I would love to see how Belfry matches up against potentially the second best team in the state.

North Hardin 35

 

Belfry 7

Radio broadcast available here:

http://player.listenlive.co/42141

 

Pay-per-view video broadcast available here:

https://mountain-toplive.com/belfry-sports/