Bluegrassrivals

Where do you think belfry and hazard stand for the next scrimmage? This always nice to watch i think.
Also game has been changed to thursday @ 6

Scrimmage is at 630 Thursday at Belfry.

bucslover68 Wrote:Scrimmage is at 630 Thursday at Belfry.

Someone's emerging from hibernation on here

EKUAlum05 Wrote:Someone's emerging from hibernation on here

what i was going to say there EKU..

Plan to take this scrimmage in tomorrow evening. I will try to post a summary when I get back in tomorrow night.

I am really looking for a several things.

1) Will there be 2 guys who step up and become "the guys" on the o-line to compliment Taylor, Jude, and May?

2) Secondary - Hazard is gonna sling it a bit and has really solid personnel outside. Olinger is as good as they come. I have an expectation of Robinson and Thacker, but will C. Johnson, Huddle, or whoever plays back there be able to up their game?

3) Backfield - overall good reviews from the first scrimmage. I'm looking forward to seeing the 3 guys run FB, especially Carr after the early indications. But maybe more importantly, I hope to come away with the impression that JJ and Robinson (or Carr is he plays there) can be explosive in the running game and be gamechangers. Really want to see some good hard running between the tackles too. Will be keeping an eye on Sani's role in the running game as well.

4) Not that it is a concern, but I will be watching the LB'ers with great optimism. My expectations couldn't be higher for Ghormley;Mullins;Messer;Fransisco/T. May. Messer/Mullins/Ghormley are all starting for the third year. I think Mullins even played a lot as a Frosh. These guys are big, physical, and experienced. I know I expect ALOT. I hope they come to play.

5) WR - probably the most chatted about early concern. Drops. Sounded like our guys got clear of the defense and just didn't haul it in. Howie Dotson became a weapon last season and made plays in the big games, not just against cupcakes. We need a guy or 2 to develop that same sort of ability.

Hope a bunch of Pirate fans show up to support them.

If the BHS defense brings the heat like they did last week, the Bulldogs better get ready to be HIT. Sani Warren and Zack Francisco both laid two massive shots last week and I think it's very symbolic of what to come. At linebackers you have Ghormley, Mullins, Messer, and Francisco. Four best friends, all of them bringing something... Ghormley has his quickness, Payton has the sheer ability to read an offense, Francisco offers speed and strength, and Messer is a massive human being. The offensive line will need to come together. Belfry should be able to go with a stable of backs (and even more than one quarterback, Keaton Taylor is no slouch and a kid Coach Haywood thinks VERY highly of because he is athletic, smart, and talented... oh and FAST.) more than one fullback (Hatfield, Carr, May), a few halfbacks (Robinson, Johnson, Carr, Dari), and a few receivers (Johnson, Huddle, Francisco, Thacker, Bostic) ... deep team, so we'll see who gets in where and earns their way on the field. We have alot of guys who look so we'll see who looks good against a quality team like the 1A state champ.

Oh, and if the DBs aren't ready it'll be a looooong night.

Belfry is always solid.Scrimmages are fun to watch.Austin Johnson from Hazard and the Jones kid are exciting to watch but Belfry is always loaded and they hit hard.Should be a very exciting evening for football fans.

Hazard return that QB from last year?

Yes, Whitaker is back and so is all of their skill players. The one area we were concerned with was the line, but those concerns were erased when we saw them scrimmage South Laurel last Friday night in London. The defense looked really good for Hazard and South Laurel was never in the game. Whitaker really stands out, is real smooth in his passing and running, and Olinger and Johnson always comes to play...should be another exciting year for the dawgs.....

I'll be in the area in a few hours, might stay around to watch this.

Will be interesting to see how Belfry Handles the air assult Hazard is bringing,Belfry will have to step up in the secondary or it could end up being a long night.

belfry pulls this one out by 7 at the end

cardfan1398 Wrote:belfry pulls this one out by 7 at the end

No score will be kept. Turnovers don't count. There will be no chains and no clock. Belfry scrimmages follow the 10 play format, regardless of scoring. One team could score 3 or 4 times on the same possession or you could run 10 plays and finish on the 3 yard line and get nothing.

It will resemble an organized practice with coaches on the field, lots of subs learning assignments, plenty of instruction. The object is to evalate yourself against live bodies that don't have your same color jersey on. It may be boring to the fans, but it will pay dividends for both squads.

Looking forward to hearing what happened tonight.

Anyone got any updates on how it went?

I was there and IMO, Belfry was clearly the better team. Belfry moved the ball well in the run game and hit some pass plays also. Scored on the 1st ten play series. It was the only TD from either school in the varsity action. I did not stay once the little bitties went in.

Belfry marched the ball down the field and IMO, had they stuck to their bread and butter - would have scored another time or two. Just better up front.

Hazards first 10 plays offensively netted 20 yards. Never really came close to threatening against Belfry's 1st string D.

More detailed info to come a bit later.

BELFRY, Ky. (WYMT) - The high school football season officially kicks off tomorrow, which means later tonight we will release our initial Alice Lloyd College mountain top ten.

One team that could potentially find themselves on our list is the Belfry Pirates. Now Belfry doesn't open their season until next week, and that's just fine with head coach Philip Haywood, who says his team is not ready to play right now.

"We're better. And I mentioned previously that I kind of tell our kids, 'I'm glad we're not playing tonight. We're not ready to play anybody.' But we're better than we were a week ago or better than we were the day before. And that's our goal, to get a little better each day. A lot of people are saying, 'You've got this, this, and this.' What I realize, and what our team realizes, is we lost some pretty good players, and we graduated a lot more people than a lot of people realize. We do have some young players coming up but it's going to take us a little while," says Haywood.

cuppett777 Wrote:"We're better. And I mentioned previously that I kind of tell our kids, 'I'm glad we're not playing tonight. We're not ready to play anybody.' But we're better than we were a week ago or better than we were the day before. And that's our goal, to get a little better each day. A lot of people are saying, 'You've got this, this, and this.' What I realize, and what our team realizes, is we lost some pretty good players, and we graduated a lot more people than a lot of people realize. We do have some young players coming up but it's going to take us a little while," says Haywood.

For those that can understand the language known as Haywood Coach Speak... this is what all that translates to:

"We are loaded this year, we will also be loaded next year as well. If I keep these guys humbled we are going to be very, very good by season's end."

Wondering if anyone from Hazard is gonna hop on tonight and post? They had maybe 50 fans there.

Suprised no other Belfry posters have said anything. I don't want to dominate the thread.

Was at the scrimmage and will post a more detailed report in the morning. One highlight was X Willis ripping off about an eighty yard TD run in JV action.

^ Com'on man. Post it! EKU and Cuppett and them guys are dying for it. I know how they feel, as I have been there.

We can wait...bucs has to get his land legs back.... he's used to be at water level in a bass boat and all those steps at the stadium may have gave him altitude sickness We'll give him time to acclimate.

bucslover68 Wrote:Was at the scrimmage and will post a more detailed report in the morning. One highlight was X Willis ripping off about an eighty yard TD run in JV action.

hes going be a good one

I know it was just a scrimmage, but the Pirates looked dominant on both sides of the ball.

^^^
That's a scary thought this early in the season. Typically Belfry is a rough canvas until about Week 3 when you start seeing it all come together. In year's past you would see signs of how good they would be, but typically at the expense of the other unit.

Belfry will always graduate 4-5 starters on each side of the ball that have to be replaced. In year's past this would often leave huge holes that a player would have to develop into that role. With this team, you don't really have these big holes.

Most of the graduating players were at very deep units (OL, DL, DB) for Belfry with guys who saw a ton of game action do to injuries and/or substitutions.

Usually losing a multi-year staring QB who ran the offense with precision like Williams would be a huge obstacle, but instead you have a guy like Sani tailor made to run Haywood's offense who has just been waiting his turn sort of like Aaron Rodgers.

The one blaring question will be FB, and the emergence and renewed focus of Trenity Carr has given Belfry new options, if not help answer that question.

Odd that you used that Rodgers comparison. I did the same just a few days ago. Our score in this game came on a Sani Warren TD pass in which both halfbacks streaked down the middle, Sani stared at Justin Johnson, cocked his arm back still staring and threw it to Josh Robinson. Wonderful look off. There is no more Dustin May or Ivan Lee, but now you have some quicker guys in a new mold. Trenity Carr is simply too athletic to not use at halfback. Fullback almost compresses his ability. Austin Hatfield is a straight up the field runner, natural fullback. No reason that he shouldn't start fullback with Carr splitting handoffs with Robinson and Johnson. JJ looked crazy quick last night, no surprise. The Belfry Pirates seem to look pretty good going into Week 1. Perhaps some offensive concerns early, but I'd MUCH rather have offensive concerns early than defensive. Offense wins games, but defense wins those shiny things we've been chasing since 2004 and haven't quite gotten yet ... yet. (:

Just hope Hazard and Belfry both avoided any injuries. Good luck to both teams

Didn't see anyone suffer an injury. Not even minor.

Belfry was pretty darned big on the online.

Belfry always has a good team, saw Hazard and South Laurel scrimmage. Hazard will be really good by mid season, after the line gets some experience, they have a lot of athletes.