Bayshore Drive

Pineville has star power, JD Strange can take over a game, Bell co still has some time to get better before the district.

I wanted to take a minute to give props to coach Anthony nolan for getting the HC girls team off to such a good start. They have captured at least a tie for the top seed in the district. He and his staff and mostly the girls should be proud of what they have done, so keep it up, and good luck in the rest of the season and tournment.

All we have left are memories! To get back on track the Redhounds look to be hitting a really nice stride going into the last third of the regular season.

It makes me feel good to know that I have put a smile on someone's face!':lol:

Chris Wilson from Evarts High played for at least two years at Berea College, Paul (peanut) Herold also played at Union for a year and could have had a good career at that level if he would have stayed. So there have been a few since Casey and Nathan played at the college level. Coaching has never been in question, it is in place.

My original post was about the 52nd dist not winning a game in the region, and then on to the level of overall basketball in this county/city. What I want to express is that we don't have a team playing up to the past standards set by a number of teams throughout our county. I have given the reasons as to why I feel we have fallen, it isnt supposed to be offensive to any one player or coach. I would like to revisit this topic during tournment time, and if I am wrong it won't be the first time.

I posed my thoughts to someone that has been around much longer than you or I, HDE, he was the builder of the Harlan teams from the 90s, and he also played on some pretty good teams in the 60s that won the 13 region a time or two. His feeling was that he can't believe that the level of basketball has fallen so far so fast. I do however agree that the stars of middle school not playing is nothing new, but of the last 2-3 classes the three that I am refering to, were by far the best we had seen, and for them choosing not to play for whatever reason, is cause for concern.

The way I understand it 20 years is a generation so to put this group against the 88-89 classes, (which I understand to be the worst year in Harlan Co basketball history) that seems to me to be to big of a time span. Times change people change and kids really have changed in their desire to play sports at the levels of their predecessors, most kids that are tabbed the stars of the future in Middle school for some reason never find the court in high school. Three of the best players in the county league two years ago are not on either team. So is it that they loose there desire to play? Or maybe to get to the levels of past Jones, or Harlan High teams is just asking too much of these youngsters. So if I am alone in my observations, I still stand by opinions. Of the group that is playing at this time do you see anyone that could play college ball? I sure don't, but this about talent and work ethic, not if a student is a good person, most of these players are pretty good kids, just not when it comes to hoops.

Depressing was what I saw last week at HHS, the game with HC, that was all of the basketball players in Harlan county on the court at the same time, and it was ugly. There are some really good kids playing for both teams that work hard at the game, but lets face it the talent level in this county has sunk to an all time low. Think back about a dozen years ago, when coach Jones was roaming on the home bench at HHS, his teams were some of the best in this era, but Cawood had some pretty good teams along with Cumberland, and when coach Parsons was at Evarts they could beat most teams on a given night. The only reason it could be is the level of talent that each coach has to work with, you know that coach Jones is as good as they come and Coach Lester came up through coach Jones's program, so he knows what it takes. I normally try to put a positive spin on most things that has to do with high school athletics but as of now I just can't see it.:cry:

At this point in the season I don't see any team from the 52dist being able to win a game in the region.

Hey-Ref, I think that everyone gets your point about not calling kids in middle school ALL-AMERICANS, the title was more about the tie in with the Army and its program. Your totally right in that it would be near impossible to rank the top 120 players in middle school football from around the country. From my understanding the players choosen to play in these games were from schools and leagues that joined this federation to get some sort of common ground that each state is doing in the middle school programs.

Letcher will be a tough game as well as Southwestern in a bowl, this team could be as good as this years but with a tougher schedule the record may not be as good.

Thanks Isaac, it has and is a very rewarding situation when you see young kids making the kind of progress that these guys have made over the past few years, and to be part of that has been special. Most of the praise must go to Tony, I have been around for quite a while and I have never been more impressed with a coach and how he conducts the entire program than his way, which is some what different than some people may think that a football team is prepared. From a parential standpoint I could not be more confident that my son will be a better football player in High school from being in Tony's charge, but even better, if he listens and takes hold of the teachings that have been offered to him, he will be a much better man for it. As a father what more could you want your son to learn?

I really like this schedule it is a good mix of teams and a huge test with the defending 4A state champs. An early prediction is anywhere from 8-2 to 6-4 depending on a number of factors. This 5A district is a good one with the upswing of Whitley and Letcher, Perry Co can be tough, Clay and North may end up bringing up the rear this year. So HC is in a good postition to have a good season in their first year in 5A.

This so true, what seperates a great program from a good program is work ethic from the kids, if they just show up and put their time in, it dosen't get them where they need to be. When you see the same type of focus in the offseason as you do during the season you have turned the corner and are on the verge of something special.

They may have contacted him about their opening, the AD is from Harlan Co and has been a high school ref for a number of years so he knows JB well and has a lot of respect for him and the way he runs a program. I know that he has turned down at least three jobs to remain at Harlan in the past few years, with what he and his staff see as a good number of football players in the next several classes, I don't think that he is ready to move just yet. JMHO Good to hear from you Lung, here's to hoping we all have a great 09.

If coach D can get his numbers in to the low 40s he should have enough to do both, in JV ball a junior that has not played much can get some game reps or a standout freshman can play both, but as outlaw said you can't loose vital practice days for varsity games to play a JV schedule. The only way is to have the numbers to do each one well.

That is one of the biggest concerns right now, how to get more kids out to play so you can have a JV schedule, fresh start is right the Dragons will need to play as many games as they can get on the JV level to ever get to where they are hoping to go. 15 8th graders signed up for next year, some have started working out and the rest are playing basketball, but 15 in a class is huge for a class A school, the next class after this could be Harlan's biggest ever there are 24 7th graders that either played last year or are intending to play next year.

If only somebody would listen, I have some great ideas but they are normally so much space in between them that no one noticies.:dancingpa

With this tandem it doesn't really matter who plays QB just get them the ball and watch them work their magic, if Coach Larkey wanted to he could continue to play Green at QB and lineup in some sort of Wild Bear formations, with his power running abilities and the speed of the other three they could be a real force to contend with. TJ also throws the ball much better than most realize.

That group ended up being fools gold, they lived off of some of the class above them and when it came time to shine they left off their polish. Football being the ultimate team game should enable this class to set the bar a few notches higher with a group that has no one that would be considered star status, but one that has decent talent and a hunger to be better. This class could start the upswing for the Dragons for a nice run back to being a team that was respected by most teams in our area, and maybe get to go beyound that level. Time will tell, but it is fun to speculate at there chances of doing some nice things in the next few years.

Cody Taylor, if he gets some carries.

Oh no, but I would have to agree with HDE on this one, this class has the making of a very good group but to give them an outstanding rating at this point would be a stretch. It is a good group when it comes to leadership and work ethic but to be labeled outstanding, there is still some earning to be done. With that thought my money is on them to get it done an earn that outstanding label.

Why so much turnover in a program that has had so much success in the past 25 years?

This has been done in basketball for years, I think that anytime you can expose our kids to how big time sports is done, it can only help. We played Morgan Co in our first game this past year and actually led them 16-0 at the half, but they came storming back in the 2nd half, and beat Harlan Middle School 28-22, it was the only game our team lost until our conference finals. Morgan Co went on to a very fine season and had a great showing in the Middle school state playoffs. Which btw is another great idea, I think that our MMAC teams are wanting to get involved with the playoffs this year.