Pikeville Panthers ? (0-1, 1A #4)
vs.
Cabell Midland Knights ? (0-0)

? | Pikeville looking to right the ship after blowout loss to CAL. The Panthers welcome one of the largest schools in West Virginia for the 40th annual Pike County Bowl.

? | It's a rare site to see Pikeville on the receiving end of a running clock. They're usually the ones dishing them out. The Panthers were outgained by approximately 300 yards by CAL for their most lopsided loss in eight years. After being shown the door earlier than usual last season by Sayre and now a Week 1 clocking, Pikeville is searching for its mojo. Are the Panthers merely traversing a detour before reclaiming their seat at the head of the 1A table, or is the dynasty showing cracks in the foundation?

? | This will be Midland's first game of the season. The Knights compete in West Virginia's largest classification and typically have great strength in numbers. They're looking to bounce back from their first losing season since 2010. This isn't Midland's first venture into Pike County. They battled Belfry for a few years in the mid to late 2010s, including laying a 49-7 shellacking on the eventual 3A champion Pirates in 2015.

Series History ?: First ever meeting. 

Anyone got information about Cabell Midland this year? 

Midland was very "midland" last year. They went 5-6 and of those 6 losses only one was a close game. 

For those that don't know this is the school that Corbin's Head Coach previously coached at.

Midland is just outside of Huntington off I-64 and is conveniently located between Huntington and Putnam County, WV. It has always been one of the, if not the, largest High Schools in WV and would be a 6A school in KY.

Salmons got Midland to their highest water mark by keeping the talent in their hallways and getting a couple kids who moved to the district from the two talent pools around it. Even then, they started to regress toward the end of his tenure. 

If Midland resembles the team that played in 2024 I think Pikeville wins this in a competitive game. The size and depth of Midland will be problematic for the 1A school, but Pikeville should be able to hold up well and probably has better skill production. I will take Pikeville by a score or two.

 

On a side note, WV big school football is weird. There are teams who are seemingly strong every year with Martinsburg being the powerhouse of all powerhouses over there... but it's not like most states where you kind of have a hierarchy and predictability. Programs like Huntington & Spring Valley almost always have a quality team, but ten years ago Capital and South Charleston were teams you expected to be very good and compete among the five best teams. South Charleston just went 0-10 and Capital hasn't sniffed anything close to a winning season in some time. 

9 hours ago, ATLCat said:

Midland was very "midland" last year. They went 5-6 and of those 6 losses only one was a close game. 

For those that don't know this is the school that Corbin's Head Coach previously coached at.

Midland is just outside of Huntington off I-64 and is conveniently located between Huntington and Putnam County, WV. It has always been one of the, if not the, largest High Schools in WV and would be a 6A school in KY.

Salmons got Midland to their highest water mark by keeping the talent in their hallways and getting a couple kids who moved to the district from the two talent pools around it. Even then, they started to regress toward the end of his tenure. 

If Midland resembles the team that played in 2024 I think Pikeville wins this in a competitive game. The size and depth of Midland will be problematic for the 1A school, but Pikeville should be able to hold up well and probably has better skill production. I will take Pikeville by a score or two.

 

On a side note, WV big school football is weird. There are teams who are seemingly strong every year with Martinsburg being the powerhouse of all powerhouses over there... but it's not like most states where you kind of have a hierarchy and predictability. Programs like Huntington & Spring Valley almost always have a quality team, but ten years ago Capital and South Charleston were teams you expected to be very good and compete among the five best teams. South Charleston just went 0-10 and Capital hasn't sniffed anything close to a winning season in some time. 

South Charleston and Capital are true inner-city public schools with real inter-city public school problems. Not surprised at their lack of success. Martinsburg is more of an affluent DC superb and their success is predictable. 
 

Cabell Midland should be good season to season based on their location, talent pool, and size. They have had success in spurts but lacked it in spurts as well. The size of the schools are much different, but the size of the teams will be similar. Like I always say, “it’s the number of players, not the number of boys in the school”. For that reason, Pikeville wins, but a solid test for them in doing so. 

Word on the street Pikeville lost playmaker Kingston Braxton. He moved back where he was from.

6 hours ago, Bac2369 said:

Word on the street Pikeville lost playmaker Kingston Braxton. He moved back where he was from.

Oh wow. That’s not a good thing for Pikeville.  Not good at all. 

Bump.

Will there be a stream for this game?

Losing Kingston Braxton would be a big loss for the Panthers, if true. It seemed like he was really coming into his own towards the end of year. 

37 minutes ago, theguru said:

Will there be a stream for this game?

WYMT usually streams all of the Pike County bowl games. No direct link to a stream is available yet, but it should be later.

1 hour ago, theguru said:

Will there be a stream for this game?

Looks like there will be a live stream here: 

https://youtube.com/@matthewperez-g4r?si=4Feaeu4KgnAJADTR

5 minutes ago, Ram said:

Looks like there will be a live stream here: 

https://youtube.com/@matthewperez-g4r?si=4Feaeu4KgnAJADTR

That looks suspect, are you sure?

16 minutes ago, theguru said:

That looks suspect, are you sure?

Nope. Not sure at all. I figured it was a West Virginia broadcast. 

Some information on Cabell Midland