Waggle_12

It is all according to how Harlan bounces back from their first loss. If they choose to lay around and sulk about being 4-1 all week at practice then this week will be an ugly one for them. I guess it was about three years ago when Lynn Camp had a very good team that had just beaten Somerset the week before and Harlan had a good team that was just coming off its first loss of the season when they were upset at Cumberland. Harlan took the loss as a wake up call and came out and smacked Lynn Camp 43-6. If Harlan chooses to take the Breathitt Co loss as a wake up call then they will win this game by a couple touchdowns. If they choose to feel sorry for themselves over loosing a hard fought game to a good ball club last week then they will loose by a couple of touchdowns. I will have to listen around to see how Harlan is practicing this week, if they practice well and have a good attitude then I will pick them. We will just have to wait and see.

I expected this to happen. I commend Harlan for sticking with Breathitt as much as they did. However, this can all go back to a comment I made earlier this week. Harlan's offense has a little bit of a big play threat but for the most part it isn't much better than it has been in years past. Lundy is a hard nose kid that plays with a lot of heart but he can't get it done all by himself every game. He has carried this team so far this year but carrying a team against Hazard, Evarts, Cawood and Cumberland (some what) isn't the same as carrying a team against quality opponents. Up until this point, Breathitt had let up an average of 28 points per game. Harlan's offense is going to have to get better. The passing game is better than in years past, but as you can tell, it isn't going to work against good athletes, it is just too slow developing and Will Pope isn't doing what he needs to do to get in the end zone. I would say it is time to go back to the drawing boards and see what can be done to move the ball against a good pass defense. I can't say it is the coach’s fault or the players, but it has got to improve or this could be another 1st/2nd round exit year for the Dragons... (Somerset is going to be just as good and so is M-boro). Keep your heads up though Harlan, the defense played well.

Bell County I believe.

Keep the updates coming as much as possible. I couldn't make this game but I am very interested. Thanks for doing this!

I think Cawood has improved this year. They already have doubled their win total from last year and they whipped Evarts last week. Harlan and Knox Central are there only two losses. HOWEVER, from what I have watched, there is no way I would expect them to be this close with M-boro. Good job by Cawood but I think this is a case of the "overlook syndrome" by M-boro.:sleep:

Yea, keep it coming. Sounds dissapointing for M-boro so far..

I wouldn't have a problem with that, but you might......(nothing like a good riddle hu? You won'figure out who I am so you might want to quit tryin'...)

Yea, and I'll pay the postage.

Well I think that you really need to quit worrying about political correctness when it comes to people saying stuff like "throttle/destroy." Not only are you playing nursery and sheltering these kids from what people think about there schedule, but you are also taking away locker room material. I know when I was playing I loved seeing people make comments about how easy our schedule was and how bad we were going to get beat. All that does for a football team is get them fired up to play on Friday. Also, since it isn't a direct attack on the quality of the football team but instead a simple way of saying "you’re going to get blown out", I don't see it as being a big deal. I know I have been told a lot worse things that that I was going to get leveled in a football game. I guarantee that those few kids who are checking this thread will only enjoy what other people say negative about them, and regret that you are going to make them look like they can't take a somewhat negative comment.

I know I have already posted this elsewhere in another thread about this game, but since this seems to be the active one I will place it in here as well. "Dragons Suffer First Loss" This will be the headlines this Saturday in the Harlan Daily Enterprise. Harlan is going to get their first taste of real good football this week. I know Breathitt Co. 2006 isn't the same Breathitt of old but I don't see them loosing this one. I know Harlan is 4-0 and #8 in the state or something like, that but Breathitt is a traditional 2A powerhouse, not 2A Cawood. I see Breathitt having little to no trouble picking the Dragon secondary apart in this one. Also I know Harlan is more balanced this year than they have been in the past but it sounds to me like the passing game isn't all that great for the Dragons. It does give them a little bit of a big play threat but not enough for this one. If Cumberland can shut down Lundy (60 yds rushing or something like that), I don't see Breathitt having a problem doing it. Also, I know Will Pope was rated one of the states best receivers coming into the year but he hasn't seen the other side of the goal line yet. For Harlan to win he has to step it up and play. Harlan will have to bring its “A” game to this one if they want to win. Breathitt Co. : 42 Harlan: 21 I hope to get proven wrong, but I doubt it will happen....

"Dragons Suffer First Loss" This will be the headlines this Saturday in the Harlan Daily Enterprise. Harlan is going to get their first taste of real good football this week. I know Breathitt Co. 2006 isn't the same Breathitt of old but I don't see them loosing this one. I know Harlan is 4-0 and #8 in the state or something like, that but Breathitt is a traditional 2A powerhouse, not 2A Cawood. I see Breathitt having little to no trouble picking the Dragon secondary apart in this one. Also I know Harlan is more balanced this year than they have been in the past but it sounds to me like the passing game isn't all that great for the Dragons. It does give them a little bit of a big play threat but not enough for this one. If Cumberland can shut down Lundy (60 yds rushing or something like that), I don't see Breathitt having a problem doing it. Also, I know Will Pope was rated one of the states best receivers coming into the year but he hasn't seen the other side of the goal line yet. For Harlan to win he has to step it up and play. Harlan will have to bring its “A” game to this one if they want to win. Breathitt Co. : 42 Harlan: 21 I hope to get proven wrong, but I doubt it will happen.

I'm going to call this one in favor of Harlan. Cumberland finally gets to play a team that wouldn't loose to a good middle school team. This could end up being close though if Harlan can’t put together a complete good game and not just one half. However, I don't see Harlan coming out flat in this one. Harlan: 35 Cumberland: 14 :jump:

Well, there is some hatred involved between these two teams and seeing that Harlan just came off of a big high beating Hazard the way that they did, and Evarts is hurting early I see a twist in this one. While Harlan will come out on top, I think they will come out of the gates kind of slow and maybe a little bit over confident from last weeks win. Evarts on the other hand hasn't beaten Harlan in quite some time so I know they hate Harlan up there and will bring there "A" game. However, I don't think their "A" game will match up with Harlan. This will be a slow start for Harlan who will pull away big in the end. Harlan 42 Evarts 20 Could be a BIG night for Chase Jones, Jon Lundy (both on the ground AND through the air) and Will Pope. If Jones makes good reads, and it is dry (always rains when these two play) he could easily have a 250+ yard game.

Well, lets talk about Evarts since you already brought it up. This will definitely be a battle for the dragons. I see their passing game being a huge advantage in this one. After all, the QB for Clay Co. had a career performance last night throwing for over 500 yds and I think 6 touchdowns. However, it is important for Harlan not to over look this dangerous Evarts football team. Evarts has their best game year in and year out against Harlan. The same can be said for Cumberland. This will be Harlan's first test against a good ground game. Evarts is always very physical and they will bring lots of heat against Harlan's passing game. If Harlan can capitalize on the pass rush with some screens and quick passes this could be a great night to showcase that new system. However, don't count on Lundy not getting his well deserved touches/yards this week after two unexpected 150+ yd performances. This has the makings of a good district game which it is every year between these two teams.

Okay....they were horrible enough to beat PCC at PCC last week and you among everyone else was singing their praises. While they may have had a bad night, they are still pretty good. Give credit where credit is due. After all, it isn't like it is their first year playing football over there.

Wow, all I can say is that Harlan absolutely shocked me and a lot of other people with this one. I just talked to someone who was there and found out that Harlan looked the best they have looked in quite some time. Good win for the green dragons and I know it shocked everyone, especially some of the critics of Harlan back in the county.

While Hazard is going to have a lot more speed than Harlan, if Harlan can get a pass rush on the QB and not sit back and get sniped all night, they have a good chance. If Harlan stays back and doesn’t bring some extra people, as they have in the past, I see this one going to Hazard…..big. I don't see Harlan's passing game doing too much in this one due to the fact that it is so slow developing still. However, I am going to go out on a line here and go with my heart instead of what my head is telling me. Harlan wins this one close. Harlan - 27 Hazard - 21 :sssh:

Well, welcome to the site. It sounds like there is some controversy on the team. But I agree, I think they are better than a lot of people give them credit for. Good luck this season.

How is the playoff system going to work since you only have approximately 40teams in each class?

Don't get me wrong my friend. I wasn't trying to start arguments on the web. And being from Harlan, there is nothing I would rather see than Harlan beat Cawood. However, from what I read (Coach Donahue in the paper), was told and the stats I saw (Wasn't able to make it to this one) I would argue that things could have been better. However, if you take the time to read some of my posts on both this page and the Cawood/Harlan page, you will see that I do not have a personal vendetta against you and that I think you do have great potential. However, I will say something about your comment you posted on here. There is a fine line between cocky and confident. Don't compromise your reputation as being a leader (by example hopefully) on your team by letting players that are younger than you see posts like this one. Believe it or not, the freshmen and sophomores and maybe even some of your own classmates look to you to set the example, and they read this site too, it's not brand new. Talking as if you just beat the Danville Admirals on here, when you only beat a team that was coming off of a 1-11 season by less than two touchdowns, doesn't set a good example to follow. You're not a freshmen anymore; you’re supposed to be a leader. Don't let your teammates/coaches see this kind of talk on line because if you end up setting the tone in your own locker room that you are unstoppable, Harlan may be the ones being referred to as the team that went 1-10. Keep that in mind. Good luck on the rest of the season though and remember that my comments are meant to be taken personal, only to be constructive.

I understand what you are trying to say. But as far as the gun goes, JB has tried to put that in since 3 years ago when Donnie Clem was his QB. Due to the fact then that he couldn't get a good snap back to him before Donnie got crushed led to him taking it out. Also last year he experimented with it some, but much of the same occurred. And here is a complete throwback for you. If you go back to when Steven Brock was his QB in the early to mid 90's he did have some what of a pass-happy offense. I am just going to be interested to see how long this air raid offense lasts before he goes back under center with 2-3 men behind the QB. As far as Jones goes, I agree. He is going to come along eventually. However, if he is going to be a good high school QB he is going to have to become somewhat multi-dimensional. I'm not saying he needs to be Vince Young and run the ball every play because that would defeat the purpose of having a passing game. However, if he is reading the defense and deciding to run the ball, he needs to get a little more bang for his buck than 8 yards on 10 carries. While I understand some of those rushing attempts were sacks, he is going to have to move a little more effectively because I've got a news-flash for you... M-boro, Breathitt, Hazard, Lynn Camp, Evarts and Somerset are all going to have faster secondaries, more effective D-Lines and more blitz packages coming his way than Cawood did. But I am not being critical of Chase by any means. He only has one game under his belt and like JB said in the paper Saturday "he made a few bad reads, slow reads, but for his time out in this offense, I think Chase played a solid game." So all I am saying is much what JB is saying. He needs to improve but it will come with time. The biggest thing I can say that he needs to gain is his composure. If he gets some more of that, he has a bright 2 years in front of him.

Yea...I respectfully think you are wrong on this one big guy. I mean it’s obvious. When you have a school that has under 250 kids like Harlan compared to a school which has a lot more than 250 (Not sure on the exact numbers, but the difference now is less than it was 7 years ago) it is obvious that you are probably going to have a larger talent base to choose from. I mean look at it this way, if I was to give you 500 high school kids and you gave me 200 kids, you are far more likely to get a higher number of high caliber athletes out of your group than I am. I mean it is just blatantly evident. That's why you have different class championships in football. I think it is fair to say that Harlan, Cumberland or Evarts (or Cawood for that matter) wouldn't have the number of athletes needed to compete with a Rock or Trinity on a year in year out basis. That's why you have a class system. All states with the exception of maybe one other besides our own (correct me if I am wrong HDE) play class championships in basketball now due to this same reason. This is the same reason why a lot of county sports fans are big proponents of the Harlan Co. High School idea. I mean you would have at least a large 3A or small 4A institution and then of course you would have a larger talent base. So to say that class doesn't matter is completely out of the question. Also, while you say there aren’t as many people "wanting to play ball like there used to be" that varies from school to school. I mean with all do respect, if you have a good season the year before, then you are probably going to have a lot more people out the next year because everyone wants to be a winner at heart. However, if you have a 1-11 season the year before, then it is going to be hard to get kids out to play for you. It’s like this at pretty much every state in the union with the exception of maybe Texas where they are going to play regardless. So until you get your program up and going then you are right, there aren't going to be as many kids interested in the program as a 2A school would normally see. I've seen 1A schools dress 40+ before and then I have seen schools like 2A Betsy Lane (just an example) 3 to 4 years ago who may not have had enough to have an inter-squad scrimmage. It is all rides on that one independent variable which is your schools record. If you get that going then the number kind of becomes a dependent one. But don't be so down on your team man, IT IS ONLY ONE GAME!

Sorry about that. I realize that now. Two great coaches got me confused. Thanks for spotting it, I'll correct.

I agree with everything except the Ashland comment which I already know you have gotten drilled about. However, I will agree that Hillard Howard (Belfry) and Dudley Hilton (Bell Co.) wouldn't dodge JC either. Got to like how the coach for JC motivates his players though!:dancingpa

They might be looking, but they wont be finding. I know JB pretty well, and to say that he is going to coach in the county school system is outside the lines big time. He has had some opportunities to go to some bigger and better places before but he is true to his Alma Mater. No questions asked, he will die bleeding green and possibly still coaching. Also adding to your comments from earlier, he has not only beaten Cawood many times as a 2A school, but he also did it when they were 3A including the first 2-3 games out of the last 7.