ATLCat

That Top 5 in 2A is very, very good. Feel like the drop is pretty precipitous after 5. RPI is going to be a huge deal to follow this year. When your Top 5 stretches from the furthest ends of the State West to East and North... you don't want to be the team on the end of a 4+ hour road trip. Every single non-District game is going to have a high level of importance as a result and each of the Top 5 plays a good deal of those games against very good teams. I have a feeling this class will be the golden example of the merits of neutral site playoff games in the late rounds.

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.

I am leaning Belfry by a couple scores. Belfry is a team essentially in tact from 2024 and Central is a team having to play 7-8 new starters each way. Central has also historically struggled a little when they trek far from home. It's going to be a long trip to Pond Creek and with this being the second game of the PCB there will be a substantial lag between when they arrive and the ball actually kicks off. Having to ask that many new starters to pick up the reads for Belfry's offense is a pretty tall task. With all that said, Belfry has some big work to do. Most games Belfry's speed and explosiveness outside the hash marks are going to be something the opponent simply can't keep up with from a speed and athleticism standpoint... Central will be able to negate some of that advantage. Belfry will need to rely on their bread and butter between the tackles and then look to strategically pick their spots to pop the big one. Central traditionally has strong backs who can make you pay for missing tackles. This will be a test for Belfry as Yoak from East Carter carved them up on yards after contact last week. If Belfry can establish the tone early and gut punch Central I ike their chances to win... but if Belfry comes out too amped up for what will be a super emotional night and they lay the ball down then they could get in trouble quick. I am leaning Belfry 35 Central 21.

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.

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.

Around 4:00 to go Dante Davis breaks for a TD run. Belfry takes a knee on the conversion. 55-21 Belfry

As odd as it seems Belfry really goes to their base power offense for the first time all night riding Austin down the field for a long drive. Austin only had maybe four carries prior to the drive. Austin caps it off from 8 yards out. Conversion fails. 7:26 left 49-21 Belfry

Goal with over 200 yards on the ground. Very good player!

Yoak breaks a big run for a TD. 43-21 Belfry End of 3rd

EC has a very impressive drive and Yoak was fighting hard into the red zone but is stripped by Belfry’s Muncy and then he returns it 80 yards for a TD. Belfry 43-14 :21 left in the 3rd.

35-14 Belfry

Varney 5/8 201 yards 2 TD Belfry as a team 8 carries for 94 yards 16 total plays for 295 yards

Wildness ensuing. Belfry’s defense is exhausted because they have only ran maybe ten plays on offense. EC had a huge return on the kickoff and then Woolum intercepts a pass for a pick 6 of 90 yards, a flag behind the play negates the TD though.

35-14 Belfry :48 in 2nd

Easy Carter with a good drive for a score, Belfry returns the kickoff 80 yards for a TD. Belfry 28-7 in 2nd.

Belfry offense looking lethal early on. three scores on like maybe 7 plays. 21-0 Belfry

Belfry 14-0 in the 1st.

Speaking from when I was a kid in the late 80's and 90's before the internet age. I couldn't wait to get the newspaper(s) every day during football season. Between Saturday and Sunday you could piece together a scoreboard. You had the Cantrall Ratings in the LHL and the AP Poll. Mike Fields always was talking football and doing a great job of giving people love across the State and not just in his backyard. WYMT still does a good job but back in those days it just hit differently. Sports Overtime could not be missed! Then when you got the random full game broadcast on top of it! Brian Milam was a legend. I remember as a kid seeing guys with the long neck extender or the guys playing in cut off shirts or taped up facemasks and thinking they must be good to pull those looks off! HAHA Another core memory as a kid would be listening to the radio coming back from an away game and catching the end of a game between two teams you never followed because they were running late. The best was early in the season when it would be a late starting bowl game. Even the radio broadcasts were different. I vaguely remember Allen Central and Paintsville games where the cheerleaders were louder than the play by play guy and you could hear every momma in the fans lighting up the ref over calls or yelling at their own coaches LOL. The rankings are the one that hurts the most these days. The RPI is a flawed system, the AP Poll still exists but it is a mockery, and there isn't any more surprises. I remember seeing teams like Ryle enter the Top 10 or receiving votes and having no clue where that school even was. That or seeing Caldwell County and pulling out the ole Rand McNally road atlas to see where Caldwell County even was. I felt like the BGP rankings have always been the best around because they actually had people who cared to take it serious and learn about teams around the state.

AMEN! There is an entire spring season and tournaments specifically for these type of teams. Now if it is a strategy to try and get exposure for some of the guys looking for even lower level offers...maybe... but I still don't get it. This point in 7 on 7 should be about timing reps with your teammates you are about to play a full season with. It's like an AAU team choosing to go play at the Martin County Fast Lane Tip-Off Classic!

I edited my post after immediately researching and included the tryouts above! Thanks for posting. After thinking on it, I have one other exception that I would applaud a travel 7 on 7 like this going to these type of "Summer play with your local program to get geared up" based tourneys and competing instead of sticking to a specific spring schedule against like constructed travel teams. I could also see a scenario where you are taking players from urban public school systems where the program may not have the means to travel to multiple tournaments but this gives the opportunity to do that. I would applaud this...just not sure that's actually what is happening. Macon Northeast is a god example just ten minutes from where I sit. They made a run to the State Finals last year and I could see travel 7 on 7 being an excellent path for those kids to get noticed or for their skills to get better displayed. Northeast wasn't exactly running a "high level" scheme on offense. Their line wasn't really good at protecting their QB and they were far better equipped at blocking for the zone read than pass blocking. If I am a WR at that school, there is no denying travel 7 on 7 would allow coaches to see and better evaluate your route running, quickness, and ball skills. Once again, I don't want to make assumptions without a roster, but my guess is for every kid that this applies to you probably have two kids who are there simply because it let's them win more games and each of those spots is probably a kid who could use this exposure that is cut.

I have mixed feelings on this. One one hand, if my kid is a WR/TE/QB or even a HB trying to showcase his versatility and my home school is more rural and not catered to the finer elements of the passing game then I can see a travel 7 v 7 team as a great way for exposure. On the other hand, that's a LOT of time, chemistry hours, and reps you aren't getting with your team. Additionally, if I had to venture a guess... if I got my hands on a roster of this 7 on 7 team I am going to guess a fair share of these players are not from rural "run only" schools but instead are from noted strong programs or programs around a metro Georgia area like Atlanta, Columbus, Savannah, Macon, Valdosta, etc. Which tells me getting attention and getting noticed is not that difficult at their home based school.. maybe I am just turning into an old man... but that ain't for me if that's the case. Then again I also struggle with what travel baseball is these days as well. **EDIT** Consider I found this video and their tryouts were at Collins Hill High School, I feel even more confident in my statement above. Collins Hill was our old school district in Gwinnett County before we moved and confirms to me that a lot of these players are not coming from rural small areas of Georgia like a Brooks County, Swainsboro, etc... but are probably coming from areas that college coaches are already recruiting hard. Let's put it this way.. Collins Hill is where Travis Hunter played and they play against noted programs in GA's largest classification that have had national success like North Gwinnett, Grayson, Norcross, etc... college scouts are on those fields multiple times a year.

Might be interesting to see if a college weight program can bulk him up to take on more of that power back role or if he can develop the hands to be a 3rd Down back. He had great natural instincts and great pad level but you are 100% accurate he was truly a tweener. There are plenty of backs who have had very successful college careers without breakaway speed, but you have to be able to break a lot of contact or have to be an extension of the passing game. He has the explosive first step you look for, but there are probably 200 kids from Florida, Georgia, and Texas you could find that fits that bill in any given Senior class.

You know what I like about thinking about these kind of jerseys? It reminds me of when the local news channels do their team by team capsules to preview the season and 75% of the players they are interviewing has torn up practice jerseys or mesh jerseys like this. Those capsules mean that football season is coming in a couple weeks or sooner. I associate these jerseys with some Senior linemen from a school that went 4-7 telling everyone with a sense of bravado how good they are going to be this next year and that optimism is pretty awesome.

Here is the Belfry vs. Lloyd Semi-Finals game. My butt was still cold 24 hours later.

Belfry vs Lloyd is without a doubt the coldest I have ever been at a football game. So cold, so windy.