[AtlPirateFan]

One of my favorite games of the year coming up Friday night.

So far this season I have seen a Belfry offense trying to find it's footing post Warren, Carr and JJ. For the most part they are coming along nicely and weapons are emerging each and every week. Offensively the Pirates will be fine and they have a secret weapon that is allowing them to make mistakes and learn from them. It's that nasty defense.

The Pirates D is scary good, they look almost as good this year as they did last year in early November. They are not only allowing the Pirates Offense the opportunity to learn from their mistakes they are doing so in convincing fashion. They held Henry Clay to 7 pts, since that game HC has put up 113 points. They dominated a young Harlan Co team that struggled to get points on the board until the reserves came in and finally they held Jordan Doan in check allowing only 98 yards for the young star, with 77 of that coming on a single play. You take away Doans loan bright spot and he goes 14 carries for 21 yards. 28 - 7 is a great win but it could have easily been a whole lot more points on the board with better execution.

The Panthers come into this game not having faced a Defense anywhere near this caliber. Pugh will get his first real test of the season but much like I have said every other game this year, if the Panthers rely on Pugh alone then it's going to be a long, long night in Pikeville.

Belfry - 42
Pikeville - 20 ( with a TD coming in garbage time)