AtlPirateFan

I know Sacks are not an officially tracked stat as far as the KHSAA record books go but I would love to know what Rays final sack count was. I know at one point he was averaging 1 sack per game or something crazy like that.

It's really funny because my wife, who is a Pike Central graduate, made the comment on the way home Sunday that she just didn't understand the desire to drive 5 hours to watch High School Football. " That's because you went to Pike Central, had you gone to Belfry you wouldn't even question it, there were people who drove farther than us.." Was the reply I gave her. My earliest memories are of Belfry Cheerleaders tossing out little red footballs in what I believe was the game against Danville in 86. We just a different breed of fanatic lol.

We are kinda nuts, not so sure there are many of these out there :-P

Here is a list o the schools with 3+ runner up trophies, there are 26 schools with 2 and 46 with 1 not included in the list. Interesting note, all but 1 team to have 5 or more runner up trophies have won multiple titles. [table][tr][td]Mayfield[/td][td][/td][td]9[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Newport Central Catholic[/td][td][/td][td]9[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Belfry[/td][td][/td][td]7[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Franklin-Simpson[/td][td][/td][td]6[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Highlands[/td][td][/td][td]6[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Beechwood[/td][td][/td][td]5[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Paducah Tilghman[/td][td][/td][td]5[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Somerset[/td][td][/td][td]5[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Bellevue[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Boone County[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Bowling Green[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Corbin[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Danville[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Elizabethtown[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Glasgow[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Lafayette[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Lynch East Main[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Owensboro[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Owensboro Catholic[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]St. Xavier[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Trinity (Louisville)[/td][td][/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Bardstown[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Butler[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Cumberland[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Harrodsburg[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Hazard[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Madison[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Male[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Middlesboro[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Pikeville[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Pulaski County[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Russellville[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Shelby County[/td][td][/td][td]3[/td][/tr][/table]

On a bright note the issues are being caused by WKU being successful (with 39 boys from the Bluegrass on their roster), not a lot of people expected them to be playing for Conference Titles just 8 years ago when they came up with intentions of joining the Sun Belt. I for one expected perennial mediocrity with a "good" season here or there. Rumor has it the American Conference is watching the BIG 12 closely and is ready to raid CUSA (with WKU on its radar) if any AAC schools join the Big 12, now while the AAC isn't the former power (if you can call it that) as the BEAST was it still has a little prestige left. Its a hassle sure, but WKU isn't going to start a run of Conference titles and hosting them all for years to come, with Brohm gone it's almost certainly a step back for the Hilltoppers. There may be other issues that warrant moving the games, but I think the two biggest strawman arguments are travel time and rescheduling due to WKU winning. Someone is always going to have trouble with the travel arrangements, moving it out of WKU just changes who that is. WKU winning should be enjoyed and not looked at as a burden.

I did some research on that lol, apparently the school is a private school founded by John Curtis Sr, the coaches father. All of his siblings also work at the school.

A quick glance back at the book and I found a page where he states he was 26 years old in 1976, his second year at Pburg

For a little more detail according to his book, while it doesn't list his age I can guesstimate that he was 24-26 when he started at Tates Creek 1972 Tates Creek Assistant, Coached Tackles,Won State Championship (Student Teaching) 1973 Meade Co Assistant, Coached RBs and DBs, Meade made Playoffs 1st time in school History (also his first encounter with the Wishbone and for the most part the offense he still runs today with some tweaks over the years) 1974 Meade Co Assistant, Coached RBs and DBs 1975 - 1983 Prestonsburg Head Coach, Led PBurg to First Playoff appearance. 4 District Titles, 3 Regional Championships. 1984 - Present Belfry High School Head Coach, 27 District Titles, 16 Regional Championships, 5 State Championships (5-6)

I have an "Every Friday Night" Belfry T-shirt that I have had since week 7 2013 when Belfry travelled to Christian Academy of Knoxville, it was the first game I had gotten to see the Pirates play live since the 2006 Russell lose. I wore it every Friday for the remainder of the season and we won it all. I decided to keep wearing it every Friday regardless of football season (have it on right now). It has become a superstition at this point, anytime I spill something on it the Pirates lose (2014 Pikeville, 2015 Cabell Midland, 2016 Knox Cath).It has gotten to the point that I made my wife wash it this year when I got home from work prior to the JC game kickoff because I had gotten some pizza sauce on it. It is showing its age. All the letters on the front are cracked like shattered glass and it can't handle too many more washes at this point. Today is sadly its final day of regular wear, win or lose tomorrow this shirt will retire to my bottom drawer as an honor to these seniors who have given us fans so much of the past several years. It will become my "Special Big Game" t-Shirt in the future.

Not sure of his age, his first HC job was at Prestonsburg, he came to Belfry in 1984 if I remember that correctly. I think he started at PBurg in 76 or 77. He was also an assistant coach on the Tates Creek team that won a state title.

I am more interested in where Coach Haywood ends up on this list when all is said and done. This was pre-season: Top 5

I have pretty awesome internet. Get about 750mb download on average. I had tons of issues with the 1A game last year but only a small hickup at half time of the 3A game. My biggest gripe was that for 9.99 subscription I expect better presentation, it felt amateurish with delayed score overlay updates, constant corection of down and distance and scores posting for the wrong team and then corrected. It may be that I also have gotten spoiled by GA.

Since 2003 Belfry Fans have been experiencing what could be described as the best stretch in school history. Tonight they face the Russell Red Devils and I got to thinking earlier this week how they have held up against only their in state opponents in that time frame. I took only the data against their KY opponents since 2003 to compile this infographic. The left side only contains data from losses and the right only data from wins. From all the data crunching I came away with a few takeaways. 1. I did not expect Lawrence Co to be the lead in teams Belfry has a streak against. I expected this to be PCC, I did not realize LC had their last win against the Pirates in 2002. LC takes the nod due to the many times the two have met a second time in the playoffs. 2. 2016 has a smaller and incomplete data set to pull from but the numbers show them to be hands down the best team of the bunch against KY opponents in the time frame. 3. In terms of Win Margins, Shutouts, Pts for and against Avgs I would have to say that the teams would rank in this order. I purposely do not consider State Title wins and only the only field performance in a win to compile this ranking, If I considered State Titles it would most def have to change: 2016, 2004, 2012, 2008, 2015, 2014, 2003, 2007, 2005, 2006 2011, 2009, 2010 4. 2003 and 2004 get a lot of Nostalgia for their great backfields but the 2007 team put up the most points at 610, 54 more than the 2004 team scored, initial instinct was that this was due to weaker playoff competition due to reclassification in 07. This turned out not to be the case as the 04 team outscored the 07 team in the playoffs. 5. Prior to the the 2016 defense that has only given up 62 points to in state competition the best Belfry in state defense was the 2012 State Runner ups who only allowed 105 (8.75 ppg) against in state teams. Barring a meltdown the 2016 team should take that spot over hands down.

One thing I saw in the game last week that and I noticed in the PCB at times too was how the d-line seemed to be a little slow off the snap. Was this because they knew they would be dealing with double teams? Am I just seeing things? Was it the level of competition? I won't name players but one in particular seemed to be less explosive off the line. Maybe due to increase in size?

And Haywood usually makes great adjustments at the half. I don't see them stopping Rogers but they need to get more pressure on the QB, when hes under pressure Rogers becomes less of a threat. All those running clocks have our dline looking a little out of game shape for this kind of opponent.

WATCH: PrepXtra Game of the Week - Belfry at Catholic | WBIR.com

Since this is a home game for Knox Cath it will likely be streamed on their website The Irish Streaming Network - Knoxville Catholic High School

Looking at the history of this award you have to look as the possible winner through the eyes of a scout in some terms. Since 1986 23 of the winners have played D1/FBS football, 13 out of 24 of them have had pro careers of some sort, 7 in the NFL for at least a small stint ( this excludes the 5 who are still in college). Using those historical stats you pretty much know that Mr Football is going to be a kid who is an FBS talent with a pro football upside. I have not had the pleasure of watching any of these young men personally so I can't tell you who may qualify under the above mentioned criteria but some of you much smarter than I am should be able to use your knowledge and analyze just who of these young men best meets the "eye" test. I also believe that is why someone like Pugh isn't on this list. He was a heck of a High School running back and might get an offer from an FCS school but like most great high school players from EKY his ceiling may be NAIA or maybe a DII/DIII. I believe most end up with NAIA because they have better ability to offer full athletic scholarships compared to none by DII and few by DII.

It's hard to debate best team ever. This run has been special and while not trying to steal Centrals accomplishments the last two times they beat Belfry (2011,2012) I believe that Blefry should be 5/6 in this run of six title appearances. The '11 and '12 games were won everywhere but on the scoreboard (and yes that is all that matters). What I am getting at though is that this Belfy run has produced teams that are increasingly better than the last. With each passing of the torch they improve. As Pirate fans we will always hold the 03 and 04 teams in a special place. The 2013 team as the one that overcame the hump. This team (until next year possibly) is the best complete team to wear the red and white in my opinion. Everyone they put in the backfield is dangerous. The defense was astounding and the schedule they navigated may go down as legendary. Defeating the Ky 1A state champ, 2A and 4A runners up and a State Champ from Tennessee is an impressive slate and unrivaled by any schedule they have played in the past.

Unfortunately for Mills this could get really bad fast. There is precedent set in the courts that mooning can be considered a sex crime. If someone saw his backside and wants to push it this could land him on a sex offender registry for life and cost him his ability to work in the school system at all, his career could be over. All for something as silly as a mooning incident. My guess is that this is why it's in federal court and why Bell Co board is behind the plaintiff. The school board likely has been advised of the possible outcome by their counsel and have chosen to save face by siding against Mills. All speculation of course.

I am excited to see what the Pirates can do against what seems to be their most formidable foe to date. I'll take the Pirates by 10.