[UKFan8]

The bottom line is to win and go deep in the playoffs you must be able to run the ball and stop the run period. Harlan didn't do either of the two and never really tried to run the ball until they started having offensive problems. Look at the mnt teams that make runs to the finals. Belfry, Bell, Johnson Central, all run the football and all are pretty good against the run. The only other team would be Halcomb and the bobcats and the 2 titles those teams ran the ball pretty darn good and had great defenses. Stats are great but winning is better?

True in most cases, but being good at running the football and stopping the run doesn't always ensure victory. I'm pretty sure that Alabama is pretty solid at stopping the run, but that didn't equal victory against LSU a couple weeks ago.

Furthermore, I agree that Johnson Central has a pretty good running attack as well, but having said that, they went out in Rd. 2 to Ft. Thomas Highlands by giving up 67 points last week.

I agree that Harlan didn't establish themselves quite as much as they probably would've liked with the run, but at the same time, Williams was plagued by injuries the last half of the year and in my opinion, that hurt Harlan more than anything from the Leslie Co. game to the end of the season. So yes, ground game is important, but you run the ball and stop the run with good offensive and defensive lineman, which was the point that I eluded to in my previous post. That's where the Dragons need to improve, and if they do, look for Harlan to make a deep run with that Senior Class in 2012!