[EKUAlum05]

"No respect"

I don't think it was back handed. Its just a fact that many from the mountains are more familier with Belfry's history than they are with Russell's.

In all honesty they are about even historically speaking. Both have 300 win coaches. Both have been very good consistantly for a long time.

Russell
2 State Championships
1 State Runner up
10 Regional Championships
18 District Championships

I think Both of these schools expect to be playing this far in the playoffs.

And lets not forget that they were both in the same district for a good number of years when only the district champ went to the playoffs. Those were some real battles as well.

Russell leads the series with Belfry 12-9.

Yep..as I said it was an unintentional on the poster's behalf. Russell's tradition speaks for itself and they are far from a "new face" to make a deep playoff run. There are a lot of parallels between these two programs, and also a lot of mutual respect.

It is shame that Russell will be moving to 2A... it took a great number of years for these two programs to rekindle the rivalry and it will be sad to see them have to wait a decade or more to further play games. It is conceivable that this will be the last time Haywood and McGlone ever go head to head again.

That's why I am not sure the "no respect" card will fly this week against Belfry. Haywood's respect for McGlone and the Russell program will be strongly conveyed to his team by gametime, and the fact Russell took care of two district teams in PC and SC who were in all actuality Belfry's equals, will also resonate.

I expect a back and forth slugfest and will be shocked to see this game decided by double figures.