[HDE]

I think even you will be surprised this year HDE. You quoted some names and they were good players,but I don't think any of the teams of the names you mentioned could have even come close to standing up to the teams of the early 80's. T.j. Dunston,Goss,Greer,Shope and Noe together couldn't have stopped the '80,'81,'82 and maybe even the '83 teams that Harlan had.Imo,those were the best teams Harlan ever had. I'd put Duncan Jacobs up against Dunston any day and Vic Mills against Thomas Goss and John Lutrell or Tony Noble against Frank Shope and Timbo Noe and all those guys,among others to numerous to mention, were on the same team. Those were the days when you didn't get a chance at the playoffs if you didn't win the district. Harlan played for a regional title in '80 and in '82 and '83 lost to Cumberland by very slim margins in absolute dog fights and cumberland went on to be runner's up in the state. During that 4 year stretch Harlan only lost 3 regular season games. All 3 against great Cumberland teams. Respectfully,HDE,I don't mean to give a history lesson,but, I think this years and next years teams may just rival those teams of the early '80's. I could be wrong,but I played on those early teams and know a little something about it. Enough to compare. We'll just have to see as the season goes.

I'm pretty good with history, too, and I agree those were great teams. I didn't mention those teams though because we were talking about the past 20 years. I agree that the 82 and 83 teams were the best I've seen. I think the 68 team may be as good or better though because I think they tied Lynch that year and Lynch won the Class A state championship. It was brutal just getting to the playoffs then.
I think this could be a good Harlan team, but I don't know if it's a good idea to put that kind of pressure on them. Just winning six or seven games would be an improvement.