[PHSFAN]

Their pass defense was horrible last year against good teams, however their run defense did pretty good in most of the games. Belfry and NCC had success against the Panthers on the run but they were just better teams. Somerset and Hazard had some success also on the run but I think a lot of that was set up by their success in the pass game. Pikeville's defense should be much improved this year. Their LB corps will be one of the best in the mountains regardless of class. The Dline will be very experienced and tough to run on. The secondary has to get better and I'm sure Coach J and staff are addressing that. The offense should be pretty good and is going to have a very good run game. If Pikeville's secondary is able to improve they will be tough for any team in class A region 4 to beat but if it doesn't teams like Paintsville, Somerset, Lynn Camp and Hazard should have the athletes to beat the Panthers.