Pikeville travels to CAL this Friday for a 7:30 p.m. showdown to open the season.  Pikeville has a lot of questions coming into this season, most of which is how to replace their QB, leading RB and tackler, as well as leading receiver from last year.  They do return 3 of their top 4 receivers and 2 of their top 4 tacklers from last year.  This looks to be a rebuilding year for the Panthers, but with a good junior class and very talented freshman class, Pikeville will be in the thick of things again in Class 1A in the not-to-distant future.

CAL comes into the opener off of a 3rd straight Class 3A title last year and two scrimmages that hopefully have them prepared to start this season.  The CAL offense will be tough to contain this year, regardless of which QB takes the reigns.  I do suspect you will see more passing from the QB position this year than in years past.  The defense has improved greatly overall, but will be without 2 starters for at least the first couple of games due to injuries against Cooper in the opening scrimmage.  Regardless, CAL does have good depth at the skill positions and should be able to keep things rolling until those starters return.

As for Friday night, I expect Pikeville to play their typical 3 DL on defense and drop 8 into coverage, forcing CAL to run the ball more.  That will be a good test for the CAL running game.  If Pikeville can hang around for the 1st half and keep it close, that could create a lot of confidence for their young team, but if not and CAL jumps out quickly, this one could get ugly.  I expect Pikeville to do what they do and put up a good fight.  They'll come to play, no doubt, but I simply think they're a year or two away.  I expect CAL to roll in this one and a running clock would not surprise me.

Let's hear those predictions BGP.

It’s going to be a really long bus ride home for Pikeville on Friday. 
 

CAL 45 - 7. 

I believe CAL has one of the best teams in KY this year.  It would be a huge upset IMO if they don't win their fourth straight title. 

I don't know that I've ever penciled in Pikeville for a boat racing. There's a first time for everything, I suppose. The Panthers schedule above and beyond the rest of 1A, so this is a game that will hopefully beat fruit in November.

I'll take CAL by a hefty margin.

My head says CAL wins this one by 3 touchdowns and both teams shake off some rust.

My heart says I hope CAL wins by a lot more than that. ?

Go Pikeville!

I am going with a running clock CAL win.  

I'll go with CAL by 21.

34 minutes ago, theguru said:

I am going with a running clock CAL win.  

I believe the last time Pikeville was clocked was 2017 against LCA.

1 minute ago, Bac2369 said:

I believe the last time Pikeville was clocked was 2017 against LCA.

When you are good as Pikeville it is tough to do.  But CAL is on another level. 

6 minutes ago, theguru said:

When you are good as Pikeville it is tough to do.  But CAL is on another level. 

I agree it very well can happen. I believe if it wasn’t 2017 against LCA, it was in 2016 against Belfry.

Pikeville fans should be weary of seeing that 35-7 score against Franklin County.

9 minutes ago, Bac2369 said:

I agree it very well can happen. I believe if it wasn’t 2017 against LCA, it was in 2016 against Belfry.

Pikeville fans should be weary of seeing that 35-7 score against Franklin County.

Although I believe CAL would running clock Franklin County in an actual game this year, that scrimmage score is deceiving.  I don’t think this is close to the caliber of team we’re accustomed to Franklin County having as in recent years.

As for Pikeville, you know they’re going to battle.  They’re not going to roll over.  CAL will have to work for this W.  I could see a 7-0 or 0-0 first quarter and a close one late into the second quarter, but I think CAL wears them down after that & pulls away.  An eventual running clock wouldn’t surprise me but one before the fourth quarter would.

The other thing is CAL will be without a few starters, one of which is a D1 FBS commit, and that will help Pikeville greatly.

There is really no limit to how bad CAL would have beaten Franklin Co. in a real game….part of that being how good CAL is, but part Franklin was pretty bad. 

Did these teams get out of the scrimmages injury free? Hoping for an injury free game Friday for both. 

On 8/18/2025 at 5:26 PM, Watusi said:

My head says CAL wins this one by 3 touchdowns and both teams shake off some rust.

My heart says I hope CAL wins by a lot more than that. ?

Don't know why you would want CAL to beat Pikeville so bad Watusi. You must have a deep grudge against your home Co. football team. Anytime I've ever heard Pikeville fans discuss Belfry opponents it was just the opposite; we were always supporting the Pirates. Showing your true colors, I suppose.