Belfry Pirates ☠️ (11-2, 3A #3)
vs.
Union County Braves ? (11-2, 3A #9)

? At this point in the season, the road ahead is much shorter than the one behind.

We're nearing the end.

Try telling that to Belfry, who's staring at close to 400 miles between the frigid waters of Pond Creek and the hostile territory that awaits them in Morganfield. 

The Pirates are a fixture in late November, when practicing on Thanksgiving has become a borderline birthright over the last twenty years. 

Those expectations never change, but Belfry's identity on the field has evolved this year.

Sell out to stifle their vaunted running game at your own peril, and watch Chase Varney make you pay dearly with deep balls to Cayden Varney and JB Woolum. The passing game has produced nearly 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns, career numbers for most Belfry quarterbacks.

They haven't abandoned their roots by any means, averaging close to 260 yards per game on the ground, led by fullback Jeremiah Austin's 1,500+.

Belfry's thunder in the run game is seldom ever stolen, but Jarren Johnson is a master thief. He stole Hart County's “0” last week and he's pilfering a little more of the Mr. Football spotlight every time he takes the field.

He's surpassed 2,000 yards rushing with over 40 total touchdowns. Willem McPeake and Abreyan Fletcher supplement Johnson with over a thousand yards combined.

The Braves have earned the right to host one of the 21st century's elite programs. An opportunity for transcendence is at their doorstep.

But as I've stated before, Philip Haywood's teams are the rocks and cliffs against which 3A contenders crash.

Series History ?: First ever meeting

Live Stream: Union County's home games have been broadcast by WMSK Radio's YouTube account. 

I absolutely love this game this week. Coach Derek Johns doesn’t get enough credit state-wide for being a heck of a football coach. 
 

Union will have the best player on the field. They will be physical and match up well with Belfry.

In the end it’s hard to go against Coach Haywood & the Pirates. 
 

Belfry-28

Union-21. 

Union easily can exploit some of Belfry’s biggest weaknesses.

The Pirates have struggled tackling and taking good pursuit angles outside the hash marks on defense.

On offense the Belfry triple option has been brutal of late. The spacing has been awful, the timing off, and the blocking outside has left a lot to be desired. As a result Belfry has basically been relying on the Fullback and making plays with either the passing game or jet sweeps to generate their offense.

The Union team I watched abuse Hart County and their offense can definitely win this game. If the option pitch is not in the Belfry arsenal the Braves have the speed and aggressiveness to limit Belfry on offense and Johnson can bust enough big plays to get Union enough points.

Throw in this will be a full day’s journey for Belfry.

With all that said, I have to roll with the Pirates. If any staff can remedy their weaknesses enough to give themselves a chance it is this Belfry staff. Haywood knows how to win on Black Friday and they have done it on the road as well.

Union can easily win this game and most likely will, but for me I will take Belfry by the slimmest of margins while Johnson continues to make believers of his game despite the loss.

Belfry 28-26

On one last note… remember Belfry’s loss to GRC early in the year when Belfry had a three score lead late.

If Belfry wins that game that they threw away then it is Union making this trip to Pond Creek instead. Those early season games matter folks.

1 hour ago, ATLCat said:

Shades of Lawrence County to Mayfield in 1991. Well over six hours on the cheese wagon. 

Will Belfry leave on Thursday or early Friday morning?

This will be a classic between two football titans to say the least. The Belfry team will no doubt have "bus lag" before they land the big red bus in Morganfield. Really don't know who wins this game but would love to watch it. Will be pulling for the Pirates from 606. Good luck to both teams for a safe and injury free game.

 

31 minutes ago, All State Baseball said:

Will Belfry leave on Thursday or early Friday morning?

That’s a good question, it has to be something they’re thinking about. A few hours on the bus is enough to make you feel weird, can only imagine six hours. With them only being a couple hours away from Lexington if they do win this game, I’d say this would be the time they stay the night if that is in the budget. Believe this will be a great game either way, very physical matchup.

27 minutes ago, All State Baseball said:

Will Belfry leave on Thursday or early Friday morning?

My friends from pond creek indicate Thursday. The KHSAA should have a better system than RPI. This is unreal the distance from Pike Co. to Union Co. (387 miles)

This should be a great one! Belfry has a balanced attack and as usual, they are capable of doing damage on the ground. I think they have a different element this year with Varney being so talented throwing the ball. It's much, much harder to key directly on the run. If Coach Haywood can run the ball effectively, he will so. This is a coach that in eight state championship victories, his teams have completed a total of two passes. That is certainly not meant to be a knock (Notice especially I mentioned eight state championship victories) but just to show that if he can find a way to run the ball comfortably throughout the game then he will do so. 

I did not know a whole lot about Derek Johns being from the opposite end of the state. But after researching him, wow. @WKY_Football is right - this is definitely an underrated coach and one that seems to have his program playing their best ball at the right time. Johnson has great instincts from the highlights I saw. Containing him would be a challenge for Belfry or any defense that competes against him. Abreyan Fletcher seems to be hitting his stride as well as he has had a couple of nice games in the post season. I expect the Belfry defense will fully key on Johnson and likely keep multiple players on him every play to try to prevent one of his patented long runs.

On a side note regarding Jarren Johnson as I do not have nearly the knowledge on Union County as some of the other posters on this forum. Is this a QB that is a credible threat running the ball in the mold of somebody like Cash Harney at Covington Catholic, or is he more of a great RB that throws some from a Wildcat formation? I mention this because he has thrown 57 passes this season. If he plays QB primarily, I'm curious to see what the rushing touchdown record would be for a QB in a season as he has 39. This should be an exciting matchup between two powers!

They way these two run the football, are we looking at a 6.5 hour bus ride for a 1.5 hour game?!

Very good game here excited to see Union Co making another deep run Coach Johns has done a tremendous job since being at Union Co always keeping them in the mix every year for 3A contention. Belfry is also a good football team I could see this going either way for a Belfry win or a Union win. Going to be a hard nose ground and pound type of game. Johnson has been killing it all season for the Braves and will continue to do so.

For those not familiar with Belfry's 2024 edition:

 - They are still primarily what you associate with Belfry. They run the flexbone offense with a Belly basis. Their FB J.J. Austin stirs the drink and has turned into a very good runner. You won't see a ton of exotic looks out of Belfry's run game. They will mix going single tight and double tight.

- Belfry blocks a little different than most flexbone based teams. They don't really cut block often. They pull guards, they tag team block, and try to get linemen to the second level to spring big plays. This is a pretty solid OLine with a god bit of experience as most of these guys have been starting since they were Freshmen and Sophomores. Bo Wolford is a very good offensive linemen.

- With all that said, this isn't your normal Belfry offense in some ways. They coach to their personnel and the personnel is a little different than most of the teams you are familiar with seeing in the State Finals. There is no dominant Halfback like a Dixon, X Willis, etc. Caudill is very smallish in size but is quick as a housecat and runs harder than his stature. Woolum is going to be that feature back but is only a Sophomore. Much like his brother he is a big threat play in both the running and passing game.

Belfry leans heavier into their passing game than year's past as the QB Chase Varney has a big arm and they have some weapons that can catch it. With that said, if Belfry is passing more than 12-13 times it means they are having to do so. An ideal situation is Belfry will pass less than 7 or 8 times and those times will be strategic.

- Defensively, Belfry has been a work in progress. They don't have the size or depth of team's past and they are relatively young on defense. This core of players really struggled to get stops last year and that trend continued early in the season. The defense though has seemingly found their stride. Against Rockcastle and Russell they got some big stops, especially in the run game.

Hunter Hylton is the unquestioned star of the defense. He is a machine on the field and plays with 110% effort every play and is always at the football. Most of Belfry's success with Johnson begins with Hylton's ability to create penetration or his ability to pursue the ball even to plays on the opposite side of the field. Keaton Deskins and Cayden Varney have both turned into consistently good defenders at their respective spots as well and both will have specific roles this week in being the guys on the 2nd and 3rd level of the defense to combat Johnson. 

The Belfry defense does have very good quickness and team speed and they have started to show an ability to dial up key big plays when they are most needed. With all that being said, this is an unit as a whole that has been less than stellar at tackling and sometimes their pursuit angles and ability to disengage blocks to get outside has been painfully bad. Even against Rockcastle County, the Pirate defense only allowed 13 points, but Rockcastle consistently was breaking tackles at the LOS or in the backfield. Belfry also has an opportunistic secondary that can create turnovers, but they have also really struggled against capable vertical passing attacks. For all the good Belfry did against limiting the Russell offense, the Devils hit probably four passes over 20+ yards and probably had two more where the receiver was open but the ball couldn't find them.

-Special Teams wise there are things to like and things to dislike with Belfry. The PK Nick Savage has been pretty darn consistent all season. Belfry has made some big plays in the return game thanks to the Caudill boys and Woolum including an Eli Caudill return against both Pikeville and Rockcastle that proved huge in setting up scores. 

Belfry's kickoff and punting game leaves a lot to be desired. They have struggled to consistently pin teams back punting and the average field position on kickoffs is usually probably around the 35 yard line.

 

-Long story short. This won't be a dominant Belfry team like we have seen at times. There  have been times in 3A where the only chance teams had to beat Belfry was if Belfry beat themselves. This is certainly not the case and the talent level isn't littered with superstars.

They are still relatively young and are improving. They have a little more versatility and are built a little better to overcome deficits. In other words, they are a team fully capable of winning Friday and maybe even the next week, but it will have to come from earning it with effort and good coaching.

Union County will match up well. Belfry has seen some good players and athletes but Johnson is probably the best individual offensive player anyone on this roster has seen in game action and that includes Cortez Stone. If the bad tackling and bad angles reappear then it could be a long night for Belfry. 

Belfry may look similar to Hart County but they run their offense a good bit more differently than Hart. Some of the reasons Union shut Hart down will help them Friday, but the way Belfry uses their FB and the way Belfry blocks will make it a little tougher potentially for the Braves solely from a matchup standpoint.

 

8 hours ago, TCR said:

 

On a side note regarding Jarren Johnson as I do not have nearly the knowledge on Union County as some of the other posters on this forum. Is this a QB that is a credible threat running the ball in the mold of somebody like Cash Harney at Covington Catholic, or is he more of a great RB that throws some from a Wildcat formation? 

He plays a true QB position and not just a Wildcat.

Union's bread and butter is the read option and designed QB power and counter. He is a capable passer, especially when defenses are on ice skates and petrified of his running ability. As a result, when he passes there is usually a strong chance of success because play action will be effective and in designed routes they are sure to see one on one coverage because Safeties are sitting on the run game.

He reminds me of a Lynn Bowden type of player. 

Ultimately, I am not sure his passing would be super effective if a team is confident enough to jam receivers and break timing and can devote a Safety to spying the routes they try to hit... but this is much easier said than done. The way Union is running the ball teams are just trying to play the run and take their chances on an inaccurate pass at this point.