Uncle Rico

Just a thought, maybe some of these kids you mention don't like J.B. for some reason. Maybe he is too hard on them or maybe they don't think the same way. No ones fault some people just can't mesh. Someone brought up basketball in the 90's. I was at Cawood in that time and I know there were a lot of guys who were really good basketball players in middle school and p.e. class that didn't like cawoods basketball coach so they wouldn't play. Could have made them a lot better and the coach got to see the talent he was missing out on in p.e. almost everyday. Just a mystery I guess.

Not for sure but I think I remember hearing that Fleming was in this district because they (KHSAA) knew Cawood would be breaking it up this year. Not sure how that matters but I am pretty sure something was done because they knew Cawood would be consolidated.

Were they fast? I think we will be alright we have a good combination of both.

Studies have shown that Black Bears can travel great distances. So they should be alright. Black Bears 32-17. 1ts 126 miles to Richmond from Harlan stop in Richmond eat and then you just have 60 or so miles to go. Not to bad. I don't think this team can be that big and fast, players sizes get adjusted anyway. If they are that big they will have to deal with our speed.

Bears have to travel a long way. After their first win in decisive fashion. I could see a lot of improvements from the Letcher Central game how will they build on the win from Lynn Camp? How many Black Bear Fans plan on making the trip? It's a Saturday game.

A good game!

Did Lee Co. have a freshman running back playing? If so how did he do? His name is Tyler Grahm he played middle school for Pennington last year he can absolutely fly!

Way to go Black Bears. First ever win. Green may have been the difference last week with him to handle some of the rushing load and being active on defense everyone stayed fresh. But we can stay in the past we are 1-1 on to Fleming County. Again LC thanks for playing us and I hope your boys are alright!

I just checked the lungbuster/Mama Bear preps predictions and it has the Black Bears favored to win by two TD's. My prediction for the season for the Black Bears is 8-2. I think this game will be a good ole sloberknocker with the Bears doing the slobbering and the knocking, I think I picked earlier in the thread a Bears Win 42-20 I will stick with that. Go Bears!

I wasn't calling your posts cold I was afraid my post would sound cold. I can see your point also, I just get upset especially with our situation with our local 1A school who didn't play cawood for years and then when they felt they were good enough they wanted to play and now we are back to them not being very good and picking and choosing when to play us. I guess I was kind of taking that out on the wrong people. It's good that we can act like civil people on hear and actually have educated discussions without getting into arguments. I still hope my Bears win though!

This is not intended to insult or disrespect anyone. When you type things come off as cold. But I really can't stand this. LC is tough, hard hitters, Harlan County better come to play. But will not play next year. A lot of teams do this. As long as they feel they have a chance to win they will play, but once they have a down year or don't think they can win they take their ball and go home. This teaches kids that when they go off to a bigger place they aren't as good because they are smaller. I think playing better competition makes you better. I think a game on the schedule where you know they are bigger and better but you circle it and say hey we can play with these guys lets make them remember they played us. HC played a better team in LCC last week and are a better team for it and you couldn't buy the feeling they have from having a chance to win. I say make a commitment to a team and play every year. Show them Hoosiers before the game or something. I understand LC may not fall into this category they are honoring a past schedule and we really appreciate them stepping up and doing that.

Perry Central will be their district also. From what I have heard Bell County will be on the schedule next year and years to follow. I think we have enough quality competition here in the mountains that will agree to play us, but we may have to travel some. Lee County VA could turn into a good rivalry game also the middle schools played for the conference championship last year and have already played this year. I'm guessing eventually M'Boro will drop out. As for having a good offense I think putting up 32 on Letcher Central shows we can score (if I'm not mistaken the defense scored only one TD so that would actually be 26 points) Getting Green back and having a good rotation will keep our backs fresh. Also I don't think they need to be developed into football players this is a first year team not the first year of playing. Although I do believe they need time to adjust to a completely new system to which I think they are coming along nicely. Not trying to trash Lynn Camp or anything (Don't really know a lot about them) Could someone tell us what quality teams they have played in the past that would be comparable to the Black Bears? Just trying to get a feel for them.

The Bears looked awfully good against a quality Letcher Central team, Lynn Camp should provide another test for them but I think the Bears should win. But I have preached on here using the phrase "That is why they play the games" wouldn't it be boring if we just got together on here on Fridays and picked winners? I also hope to cut down on some of the mistakes, we had 15 penalties at Letcher Central, I'm sure Coach Larkey has reviewed them and may already have the kinks worked out!

Sorry someone else must have been hiding behind you I was crossing the street to Alumni in '97. That Pig was really good a few weeks ago, we had a good time before and after the LCC game was you there?

I think Harlan County's defense looked pretty good against LCC. I hope HDE is right and T.J. Green will help by providing some FIRE! It will take a little while to develop a leader, I know the boys are a team and that showed agings LCC, but I would imagine their is still a little animosity between having leaders. It will work itself out if it hasn't already. If the Bears play like they did against Letcher Central I think they should win. They will be hungry for that first win after coming so close last week.

The Bears should have a pretty good showing against LC. They scored 32 on Letcher Central. Coach Larkey will have some kinks worked out so I look for for a more productive game with less mistakes on Harlan County's side. Don't know enough about LC to really predict a score, but how does anyone ever decide on a score anyway. So heres my guess; HC 42 LC 21

The Black Bears looked really good for a first game against a quality LCC team. Coach Larkey now has a good idea of what he has and what needs to be done. Look out for better team then the one that could have beat Letcher Central. We will have Green back so the defense may benefit a little from him being in at linebacker, he should provide the enthusiasm that we were missing in the second half last night. He should also see some time in the backfield. We have several quality backs with a good rotation they all should stay fresh throughout the game. Go BEARS!

Our boys from Harlan County have no reason to put their heads down! This was an awesome game. I was very impressed, a few plays here and there and we could have won. Excellent facilities and exceptional mountain hospitality I look forward to traveling over to LCC every other year. I think playing against that caliber of a QB will only make us better. We probably will not face anyone better than him. Back to the waiting game until next week, but there will be some JV and Freshman games. By the way the middle school team will play LCC middle this Thursday. And yes that was a late hit!

There are a lot more 1A schools that challenge quality competition in the state then what we have here in the mountains. Belfry and Breathitt are smaller schools that could challenge anyone (I think). I guess that it my problem that a lot of times when I talk or think football I just think of the mountain teams and don't even relate to other areas of the state. I'm thinking that is because I couldn't tell you a thing about State Champions even last year unless they were a mountain team or close. I just can't buy into the fact that just because a team has so many players that they are automatically better than a smaller program. You can still put the same number of players on the field and if they are good they play both sides of the ball, so I really don't see it except for the argument that you have more to pick from, but still it is the same number on the field as the other team. I could talk about this for days, but we have a ballgame to get excited about. Go BEARS!!!!

I have to respectfully disagree with 5A being a different world, a lot of smaller teams around could beat some 5A schools (Bell County for one), plus I think all of this 5A, 3A, 1A stuff goes out the window when the game starts. Cawood wasn't very good at all last year but when they played Harlan and Cumberland they played with a lot of emotion and played well and won, as for Evarts they had the upper hand against Cawood and also beat Harlan, but they are now all on the same team. The emotions will be a factor. I believe Coach Larkey will have them ready to play and the few times I have been around him I can guarantee he will not let these boys drop their heads.

From what I hear HC looked like they needed to work on pass defense at the scrimmage Friday, So I'm guessing Coach Larkey knows how good a passing team he will be up against and they will work on that all week. Should be interesting. Realizing they need to work on pass defense may be a blessing in disguise, but that is what scrimmages are for. I'm predicting Harlan County winners 28-21. They play an almost scoreless second half until they claim a victory on a last second punt return by Dylan Smith. I'm also guessing it will not be a to hostile environment with all of the Black Bear fans that will be there.

Seriously we need to set a time and place to meet to head across the mountain to tailgate. Game starts at 7:30, I'm guessing school gets out or at least the parking lot is clear by 3:30 or 4:00. What time do we need to get there? Remember on the game thread the LCC people said the parking lot feels up pretty quick! I think it will get the team fired up if when they arrive they see a bunch of Black Bear Fans already in the parking lot! Lets get serious and plan this.

As far as I know their first scrimmage isn't until Friday the 22nd at Knox Central, but I have been caught up with middle school football this weekend.

Thank You all for your support and good luck to your schools. Like I have said before a lot of the people complaining probably don't play us or have the chance to play us. Excellent point about if it were their kids they wouldn't be screaming ban them from the playoffs. All they can say to us is if you were a smaller school playing this big school (Harlan Co. High) you would feel like we do.

Give the Black Bears a little time and they should be playing Bell Co. pretty tough. Larkey/Hilton will always be a good rivalry.