Final

 

 

The Coach Matt Varney reign gets off on a positive note.  Congrats to the Pirates on an emotional win to kick off the new era.   

This was kind of an odd game.

Belfry jumped out to a 21-0 lead like rocket and Belfry’s defense was giving East Carter absolutely nothing in the First Quarter. Pirates scored on a long pass on the first play from scrimmage. EC finally found some life after a penalty following a TD gave them great field position and then an unnecessary Belfry penalty extended a drive. This was like an alarm clock for East Carter on offense as they made it 21-7.

Belfry returned the ensuing kick for a TD to make it 28-7, but Belfry’s defense was now tired. East Carter marches with relative ease cutting a couple big plays to cut it to 28-14 and get some momentum. After Belfry mishandled a kickoff and was pinned at their own 10 it looked like we might be in for a shootout. Belfry then hit their second TD pass of over 80 yards on the very next play. 
 

EC broke a long kick return and looked like they were about to score easily but they threw a Pick 6 that was negated by an unnecessary penalty behind the play.

TOP in the first half was like 75-80 percent East Carter yet they were down 21 points. Belfry had 200 passing yards at their own Half.

Belfry got the ball to start the Half and did not do much with it as they were kind of cute with play calling or borderline treating it like a scrimmage. East looked very good running their two backs and missing in the pass and had a long drive and appeared to be destined to get back in the game but as Yoak was fighting for extra yards he was stripped and the Belfry defender returned it 80 yards for a TD. Yoak got his revenge by scoring on a long run the very next play from scrimmage.

The game went into the 4th Quarter with Belfry holding a 43-21 lead, but East was dominating them on the ground and in TOP. In the 4th it was clear the Belfry coaches decided to focus on their bread and butter. They started riding JJ Austin and Dante Davis at FB behind that big line and got two more TDs. East added a late score.
 

 

What stood out:

- Belfry is a BIG play team. Lots of skill and athleticism and five or six guys capable of exploding at any moment the ball touches their hand. 
 

- The final margin was probably indicative of these two teams but this could have been a 40+ point Belfry win very easily and it also could have been a much tighter game just the same. 
 

- I mentioned it above, but Belfry seemingly treated this like a third scrimmage it kind of felt like. Lots of experimenting, lots of shifting defensive fronts, lots of trying to establish the pass in live game reps. In Belfry’s two scrimmages they were very cautious with trying to avoid injury and rotated a ton of players. This was like the NFL “dress rehearsal” pre-season game. When it was the 4th Quartet and the staff realized they had only gave Austin the ball like three times you could almost sense a feeling of “alright let’s not neglect what we know we always have”.

- There are few staffs in EKY and maybe even the whole state I think are more underrated than East Carter’s! I think they are tremendous and I saw some stuff from EC that will make them very dangerous come late Fall. The Yoel kid is a stud. He had probably 250+ rushing yards and made plays all over the field on every side of the ball. The #23 is an excellent change of pace and a weapon in the slot. Once East got the jitters out of the way Belfry really struggled to stop them.

- I want to be disappointed in Belfry defensively but this is a hard one to judge. I actually saw a ton of promise their first three possessions when the staff was playing them more aggressively. Most of the game they reverted to the frustrating things they have struggled with the past two years, but they also spent basically the first three quarters out on the field. The one definite critique of the defense that is merited is they need to stop talking and prove they can shut people down. Soooo many unnecessary penalties and most of them weee just for jaw jacking or extra curriculars. I thought a couple kids flashed brilliance though. Bogar and Muncy looked like they may have breakout seasons to join Hylton and Woolum who we already knew were very good.

- I am worried about Belfry’s kicker. He is very consistent and his kickoffs have improved some. With that said, he saved a TD with a great hustle play to stop a return for a TD and I noticed he never kicked an XP again following that. I hope he didn’t get hurt. It is uncharacteristic for Belfry to go for 2 and they even kneeled one once the game was out of reach. They can’t afford to miss Savage, hope he is OK.

- Belfry now gets to renew the rivalry with Louisville Central on what should be one of the most emotional nights at Pond Creek in a long time.  With the late start it will be important to keep their cool because Central will enter as a team very mad following their loss tonight.

Kudos to Matt Varney for his first win! Coach Chapman called up some creative plays as well.

Congratulations to Coach Varney and the Pirates!