[Hurricane Storm]

Once again these rankings don't mean a lot... but Calpreps has updated Belfry's national ranking now that they know how many starters are back and have received information about other teams.


The BELFRY PIRATES from tiny Belfry, KY are the Pre-Season #85 team in AMERICA!

Tweaked again. Now up to #83 as of yesterday. Sure, it means nothing, but it is fun to see.

[Granny Bear]

Well is certainly DOES mean something. They may be the 80th or the 90th in talent, so the placement doesn't mean much but the recognition of this team on a national level means a great deal!!

Great job to the Pirates and Coach Haywood!! I hope you guys win all but one game this year!!

[99PIRATEFAN]

Well is certainly DOES mean something. They may be the 80th or the 90th in talent, so the placement doesn't mean much but the recognition of this team on a national level means a great deal!!

Great job to the Pirates and Coach Haywood!! I hope you guys win all but one game this year!!

This means something to the fans not to the team there focused on
bringing another championship home to Pond Creek thanks Granny
I always love reading your post

[EKUAlum05]

Those green LB'ers better be ready Friday 99PIRATEFAN... going to be three really good Offensive teams.

Richlands has everyone back on Offense, George Wythe has a really good Dual Threat QB, and the Pulaski team has a 1700 yard rusher with 4.5 speed at RB. With Wellman out those Backers going to have to grow up quick Friday.

[OutlawJoseyWales]

Those green LB'ers better be ready Friday 99PIRATEFAN... going to be three really good Offensive teams.

Richlands has everyone back on Offense, George Wythe has a really good Dual Threat QB, and the Pulaski team has a 1700 yard rusher with 4.5 speed at RB. With Wellman out those Backers going to have to grow up quick Friday.

Lb's are gonna be green no doubt. If there is a potential weakness on this team it would be at the LB spot.

However, with that being said......the learning curve will be much easier with the big defensive line Belfry will put on the field. Big, strong and fast. Their ability will allow some "learning latitude" for the next wave of Belfry Linebackers.

[OutlawJoseyWales]

As I have done before, it's not just 51PirateFan being an excited dad. Ethan Wolford is a big tough offensive lineman who will be a stud for us... He's really blossomed in his last few seasons. He's not the 6'6 monster we are accustom to (spoiled by) right now but a VERY good lineman.

From what I'm hearing.....the staff is high on several young lineman. Definitely opportunities for the Pirates to continue their dominant track throughout 3A......My biggest concern is the economy. IMO....it's the only thing that can derail Belfry continuing to be a major force throughout the state.

Unfortunately, if the economic trends continue....I can see the Pirates dropping in class.

[99PIRATEFAN]

You guys are right but you know coach is he just wants these guys to get reps in
he knows there will be other teams there watching so he might not even have
the starters in at the same time but I guess we'll see

[Belfry0304]

From what I'm hearing.....the staff is high on several young lineman. Definitely opportunities for the Pirates to continue their dominant track throughout 3A......My biggest concern is the economy. IMO....it's the only thing that can derail Belfry continuing to be a major force throughout the state.

Unfortunately, if the economic trends continue....I can see the Pirates dropping in class.

Sophomore class has a stud in Barker who has grown and two big bodies that we will see how they develop in Austin Lawson and Dagen Rash! Not to mention Austin Fields...

Hurts to lose Nate Helton from that freshman class though.

[PaytoPlay]

^ How big I Barker now?

[COACHITALL]

Sophomore class has a stud in Barker who has grown and two big bodies that we will see how they develop in Austin Lawson and Dagen Rash! Not to mention Austin Fields...

Hurts to lose Nate Helton from that freshman class though.

Rash has been getting reps at center, guard, and tackle.

[proud44pirate]

Got a couple of freshmen that decided not to play this year.

[OutlawJoseyWales]

Sophomore class has a stud in Barker who has grown and two big bodies that we will see how they develop in Austin Lawson and Dagen Rash! Not to mention Austin Fields...

Hurts to lose Nate Helton from that freshman class though.

Appears like the Helton's have relocated out of the area. Unfortunate. Nice people....Nate's a very nice kid and a great student. Definitely be missed.

Hearing good things about multiple lineman in the Fr and Soph class. In terms of Varsity playing time however......IMO, the Freshman that will see the most time will be Hensley at RB. Kid definitely has skills and the speed to compete. Wouldn't be surprised to see Fr DB Birchfield getting a few reps here and there as well.

[OutlawJoseyWales]

Got a couple of freshmen that decided not to play this year.

Besides Helton moving....who else isn't playing? Just curious

[99PIRATEFAN]

Well toworrow is our first scrimmage pretty good last couple days of practice
see ya in Richlands

[Belfry0304]

^ How big I Barker now?

I give him 6'3 230 or so.

[Belfry0304]

Besides Helton moving....who else isn't playing? Just curious

Yeah seems to me I've seen most of the kids from the freshman class out.
Heard Hensley has been getting reps as a fullback.

[Belfry4life]

Not to bad of a scrimmage game for belfry. Had 3 or 4 I think sitting out then had Dotson hurt left knee. I think he'll be ok tho. Their was no running the ball on us but the got a couple good passes off against our D. But know one want anything easy anyways. They'll pull together and be fine I'm sure.

[99PIRATEFAN]

Not to bad of a scrimmage game for belfry. Had 3 or 4 I think sitting out then had Dotson hurt left knee. I think he'll be ok tho. Their was no running the ball on us but the got a couple good passes off against our D. But know one want anything easy anyways. They'll pull together and be fine I'm sure.

It hurt our pass defense Woolum was out and Wellman put those two in and it's a big difference but it went just like I thought it would but all in all not a bad night

[PaytoPlay]

The SW Va football sites had Belfry with a pretty poor showing.

[bucslover68]

The SW Va football sites had Belfry with a pretty poor showing.

What site you looking at? Only things I saw was the comments about the Richlands matchup.

[proud44pirate]

Was the best our defense has ever looked at Richland. Belfry moved the ball well on offense but averaged 3 fumbles every 10 play series. If it was a game Belfry would've been beaten by every team considering the fumbles, unless our defense stayed strong having to be on the field 95% of the night. Take away the fumbles Belfry steam rolls all of them.

[99PIRATEFAN]

We had made one of our lineman playing last night the rest was what I consider JV
and he just had kids all mixed in together it hurt not having our center playing we had
a kid that never played center in his life but if we had played everybody it would have
ugly but all in all it sill was a productive night

[Belfry0304]

Jordan Scott, Brayden Preece, Derek Wellman, Austin Woolum and Chase Runyon DNP.

Austin Hall, Austin Dotson played minimally (Dotson played like one series), Ray didn't play a whole lot either. This was a GREAT opportunity for some of the younger guys to get high level reps. As bad as a lot of those guys still need to get work, it's not worth chancing an injury further.

[PaytoPlay]

That's helps illuminate some stuff. Who ran the ball from RB other than Catron? How did our RBs look?

[VHSL-helper]

Here's the main board for SW VA
http://www.swvasports.com/ipb/index.php?...-football/

Plus a couple of stories from out Pulaski way...

http://pcpatriot.com/?page_id=18359
http://www.southwesttimes.com/2016/08/co...scrimmage/

[Real Badman]

How did Belfry and George Whyth look?

[OutlawJoseyWales]

How did Belfry and George Whyth look?

.

IMO.....Richlands looked the most ready at this point. However....Belfry moved the ball at will against everyone. No one stopped their running game....other than Belfry with their fumbles/bad snaps. Difficult to evaluate fully with so many starters sitting out/getting minimum time. Devin Varney looked strong...as did Catron. Hunter did some good things as well. Defensively....no one could move the ball on the ground. What we gave up with via the pass....and again a lot of starters were not available. Belfry has some real players in the underclassman group. Belfry will take a step back next year....especially size and experience.....but.......it will be a fight to get them out of the championship mix. Team is brimming with talent. Back to this year...As long as we can limit the injury bug..Belfry will be fine

[bucslover68]

That's helps illuminate some stuff. Who ran the ball from RB other than Catron? How did our RBs look?

RBs ran fine behind the makeshift line. Starters were Catron and Hunter at HB with Fletcher at FB. Second line was Varney and Adkins at HB with Peyton(sp) Hensley at FB. So with Wellman out, there are 7 quality backs. All ran well. Hunter has really good athletic ability. IMO, he needs to get upfield a little bit sooner, but he has the wheels and first team reps will help. Varney, Adkins and Catron all had nice, long TD runs. Fletcher is solid as always and dependable and will team great with Wellman.

Other thoughts: Hensley will be a star. Maybe not this year but his speed is very underrated. He is a beast up the middle, but it is his speed to the corner that surprised me.
Cook will get some snaps. Hard to keep 6'3" and 200lbs off the field with his instinct and big play defensive ability. Can run and kick also in reserve.

Barker is off to a good start. 6'3" 230 will help him alot. He will fill a guard spot.

Woolum and Wellman have to be on the field. LB is sparse behind Wellman. Fields will help but needs some more reps and Woolum at DB is a must. I say rest him on O with Jesse and Browning and Blankenship playing WR.

Great experience in reserve for some of the lineman. They got a lot of reps with most of the starters out. They struggled some, but the experience will provide depth and make the learning curve a lot shorter for next year.

[99PIRATEFAN]

Well I guess we got to work on our passing game Rockcastle put 10 guys in the box
that's about the way it went I'm not sure how many times we scored but Rockcastle
didn't score on us I wished they would have played there regular defense so we could
have worked on some other stuff but Coach didn't play Wellman,Woolum,Dotson,and Hall
They will all play next week but we did get to hit against someone besides ourselves.

[64SUR]

Lord help us all in 3A this year against belfry irateSho