[EKUAlum05]

One last thing on 87 and 88 then I will let it die:

88 team barely beat Pineville at Pikeville in the playoffs. Pineville had a TD pass called back in the 4th, their coach said he would have gone for 2 pt conversion to win the game. 87 team put 63 on Pineville to win going away, 89 team in the much anticipated "rematch" won 49-0 or 49-7 at Pineville.

87 team beat Belfry 39-14 at Belfry in a laugher, 88 team beat Belfry 26-14 at Pikeville in a tough game.

88 team trailed 10-0 in the state championship game before coming back in the 2nd half to win going away. 87 state championship was men vs boys and was never competitive.

87 team crushed everyone in their path. Every game was a bloodbath.

What hurt 87 the most was that Beechwood game to open the season that was called due to weather and the win awarded to Beechwood 21-20. Pikeville got vengeance and then some when those two met in the Semi's, but that Pike County Bowl will always go down as a blemish on an otherwise perfect season.

The other argument for 87 to make is they defeated Henry Clay 28-15 in 87. That Henry Clay team wasn't exactly a juggernaut, but they did win a playoff game. Pikeville beat Henry Clay again in '88 21-6, this time on the road, but that Henry Clay was very pedestrian finishing 6-4 and missing the playoffs. It is worth pointing out that Henry Clay's worst defeat in '87 would come against Boone County 34-0. Boone County went on to lose to Shelby County 17-14.



FWIW:
1987 Pikeville only played one team in the regular season who would reach the State Semi's or further in Beechwood, that was the 21-20 shortened loss. Henry Clay was the only other regular season opponent to reach the 2nd Round. Belfry and Johns Creek each reached the playoffs but lost in the 1st Round.


1988 played no teams who reached the Semi's or further in the regular season. Belfry, NewCath, & Fleming-Neon all lost in the 1st Round. Paintsville was a solid team but lost the tie-breaker to Raceland who made the playoffs instead.

1989 was the only other time in that span they played a Semi-Finalist. Belfry defeated Pikeville in the regular season. Paintsville reached Round 2 and Virgie & Pburg bowed out in Round 1.

If there is one critique you can definitively make about the greatness of those Pikeville teams, it was the lack of playing other elite teams. Due to that Beechwood shortened loss the Panthers were 0-2 in the regular season against team who advanced to the Semi-Finals and played no teams who went on to reach the State Finals themselves. This was the days of 2-teams advancing per District though, so their three wins against teams who reached the 2nd Round should be viewed as if those were teams who reached the Regional Finals today.