Belfry 47 Leslie County 0

[theguru]

Leslie (2-8) visits Belfry in the first round of the 2A playoffs.   

This one looks to be all Pirates. 

TP94 Power Ratings from last week:

Belfry         67.85
Leslie County    0.77

[DevilMayCare]

The Pirates will roll, unencumbered.

Historical tidbit involving these two teams.... As a senior at Leslie County in 1995, Tim Couch broke the national record for career passing yards in a region final win over Belfry. 

[Watusi]

12 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

The Pirates will roll, unencumbered.

Historical tidbit involving these two teams.... As a senior at Leslie County in 1995, Tim Couch broke the national record for career passing yards in a region final win over Belfry. 

Belfry jumped out to a 20-0 lead in that game in Hyden.  One of the wildest atmospheres ever.  Huge crowd, ESPN on hand, just electric.  Couch brought the Eagles back and won 28-20.  

A cool moment came when he broke the record and the game was stopped for the celebration.  Reminded me of the Pete Rose moment when he broke Cobb's hit record.  It was something to see.  I remember all of Belfry's coaching staff came across the field to shake his hand and everybody in the house knew we were watching greatness play out in one of his final games.  

[Watusi]

Here is a video about Couch's 1995 season/record. Too many highlights against Belfry, but that was a special moment when he broke the record. 

I think he broke the national completion record against Belfry in October of that year, and then the yardage record in this playoff game in November. 

Notice about the 1:25 mark when Couch broke the record

 

[Watusi]

There has been a lot of very good, tough football played over the years between Belfry and Leslie County going back to 1972, and the rivalry really reached it's zenith in 1995.  For a few years there from '91-'96 This was one of the best rivalries in Eastern Kentucky and I know both squads had those dates circled on the calendar. 

I want to discuss a few of those story lines and should have posted earlier in the week.  

Overall the record stands with Belfry having a 13-5 advantage in the win/loss column.  Four of those wins for Leslie came in Tim Couch's junior and senior seasons of 1994-1995.  The Eagles got the Pirates pretty good in 1994, winning 30-7 and then 32-13 in the playoffs.  But in Couch's senior year of 1995 it was two real battles.  Leslie won the regular season game 18-15 and then won the playoff matchup in the record-breaking game 28-20.  

The two teams have only played 3 times since 1994 as Leslie and Belfry were no longer in the same district starting in 1997, with Belfry winning all 3 of those games.  

More to come...

[Watusi]

1979-80 The Mike Whittaker years

Although Belfry and Leslie played a couple of times in the early 70's it really didn't take on any emotional component until 1979.  Leslie's offense was run by the first real gunslinger in KY HS Football that I ever heard about, Mike Whittaker.  He was really something to see and would throw in any situation in any position on the field.  4th and 7 from his own end zone? Come out throwing, lol.  In the 3 yds and a cloud of dust era, Mike was throwing the ball 30 times a game and doing a great job of it.  

1979 - Belfry was undefeated and ranked #1 in 3A.  Had beaten Leslie 20-16 just 3 weeks earlier and came rolling into Hyden in the regional championship game on a mission.  It was a torrential rain that evening (like every Friday that year) and the field was muddy and messy.  Fields in that day were overused and undermaintained, and a rainy game in November was going to be a mud bath.  No doubt it affected the passing game, but Whittaker was a threat from anywhere on the field.   The Pirates defeated the Eagles 16-0 and moved on to face Ft Thomas the following week where they would win and earn their first ever trip to the state title game.  They lost 33-0 to a Joker Phillips led Franklin Simpson team in the title game.

 

[Honey Badger]

If the Browns aren't going to put Sheduer in then they should give Couch a call to see if he is interested in another run. What's it been like 67 starting quarterbacks since they drafted him? He isn't that much older than Flacco and Flacco was able to get them into the playoffs.

[Honey Badger]

7 minutes ago, Watusi said:

1979-80 The Mike Whittaker years

Although Belfry and Leslie played a couple of times in the early 70's it really didn't take on any emotional component until 1979.  Leslie's offense was run by the first real gunslinger in KY HS Football that I ever heard about, Mike Whittaker.  He was really something to see and would throw in any situation in any position on the field.  4th and 7 from his own end zone? Come out throwing, lol.  In the 3 yds and a cloud of dust era, Mike was throwing the ball 30 times a game and doing a great job of it.  

1979 - Belfry was undefeated and ranked #1 in 3A.  Had beaten Leslie 20-16 just 3 weeks earlier and came rolling into Hyden in the regional championship game on a mission.  It was a torrential rain that evening (like every Friday that year) and the field was muddy and messy.  Fields in that day were overused and undermaintained, and a rainy game in November was going to be a mud bath.  No doubt it affected the passing game, but Whittaker was a threat from anywhere on the field.   The Pirates defeated the Eagles 16-0 and moved on to face Ft Thomas the following week where they would win and earn their first ever trip to the state title game.  They lost 33-0 to a Joker Phillips led Franklin Simpson team in the title game.

 

Wonder what the chances are that Jimmy Bevins is related to the Bevins balling out at NCC right now. I don't think Bevins is that popular of a last name.

[Watusi]

1980 - Belfry won the regular season game with Leslie 33-2 and looked poised to win the playoff matchup later in November but fate had other plans.  

This game was back and forth and when Belfry scored midway through the 4th quarter to take a 21-14 lead, the Pirates coaches decided to go for a 2 point conversion in hopes of putting the game out of reach for good.   The conversion failed, and Leslie County's  Wendell Maggard returned the kickoff for a 90 yd TD and Whittaker hit Wells for a 2 pt conversion of their own to take the 22-21 lead that would hold the rest of the way.  

According to the game writeup in the paper the next day Belfry outgained Leslie 422 yards to 143 but the only number that really mattered was the 22 on the board.

 

[Watusi]

5 minutes ago, Honey Badger said:

Wonder what the chances are that Jimmy Bevins is related to the Bevins balling out at NCC right now. I don't think Bevins is that popular of a last name.

I would say slim.  Bevins is a really popular name in EKY and I am not aware of any of Jimmy's family that settled up there, but it is possible.

[Watusi]

One last thought, and it revolves around the contribution that Mike Whittaker made to the evolution of football in KY.  He came back to Leslie County to coach and it was his system and his guidance that let to Tim Couch setting national records.   This was one of the catalysts towards that movement away from the running game and into a more open, passing philosophy.  Mike Holcolm was doing the same things at the same time at Breathitt County and they were having incredible success at it.  These guys changed the game and this is probably a topic for another thread, maybe an offseason discussion.

 

[gchs_uk9]

Great stuff @Watusi!

[Watusi]

Here is a funny anecdote regarding this series.

Back in 1991, Leslie County had a pretty darn good quarterback named Couch.  He was mobile, had a good arm and was a good athlete.  His first name was Greg.  Tim's older brother.  

Greg graduated that spring and I for one was thinking, I am kind of glad he is gone, lol.  Now LC was starting his freshman kid brother in the fall of 92 and the Eagles came to Belfry.  Belfry built up a good lead, something like 34-7 or 34-14.  Early in the 2nd half if memory serves, there was an altercation on the field while Leslie was on offense and it escalated into something bad.  At the conclusion of that there were multiple ejections which included Belfry's entire secondary (one of them was current Belfry head coach Matt Varney).  Tim Couch threw the ball all over the Pirates, just about led Leslie back to victory and the final score ended up being 47-30. 

My joy in seeing Greg graduate was short lived and Tim just continued to wow everyone for the next 4 years.