[Hoot Gibson]

Paintsville is more than an one man show like Letcher Central and Pburg.... they definitely have supporting characters.

With that said Daniel is a freak. The fact he can hurt you passing, running, or playing Defense makes him the exception. Pikeville has to honor Phelps whereas so far they could simply contain he one guy.

I still think the Panthers are way too well coached and too quick,, but wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Kash cause a few Costa visors and croakies to get slammed to the bleachers on the Pikeville side

I think that you are not giving the Paintsville coaching staff the credit that they deserve. Joe Chirico took over a Paintsville program that was in danger of disappearing. What he has done with the program in such a short time is nothing short of amazing. Paintsville did not just beat Pikeville in the second meeting last year, the Tigers soundly beat the Panthers.

I don't know about you, but I have never seen such a big swing in a team's fortunes in a single season. Paintsville rebounded from a 62-8 loss to Pikeville to post a 30-6 playoff win only 10 weeks later.

Both of these teams are very well coached but I certainly would not give the coaching edge to Pikeville in light of last season's results. I am no Paintsville fan but Coach Chirico has made me a believer in his program. Nobody in the state has turned in a better coaching job over the past two years. It takes a special coach to turn around a dying program to field a top 5 team in just over two seasons.

I give the edge to Paintsville because of the home field advantage, but nothing would surprise me. Paintsville embarrassed Pikeville last season and that can be a powerful motivator.