[Orange Blaze]

My biggest take aways from this game:

We have a very good run defense that is going to be hard for anyone to be successful against.

Our run game can be explosive, we are growing, but still lack consistency. I look for Heighton and Wallace to see time in the backfield together as the season goes on. Thats a tough 1-2 punch.

In the 2nd quarter we simply got caught on our heels by a football team with 3 or 4 WRs that were on a 3rd place state track team. That WR group may be the best I have seen outside of the St X group a few years ago.

We showed alot of heart and battled. But we cant get caught on our heels like that. We also need to find a little bit of depth on the OL. Couple of times last night we looked gassed at the G position and Lundy got blasted a few times on blitzes.

We had a TD called back on a hold (it was legit) but im not sure how many pass interference penalties were missed. One negated another likely score. That being said, you gotta play above it and cant let things like that dictate the outcome.

This game goes right along with the Corbin and Cov Cath losses for Pikeville. Teams will be better for them. Hazard is right there with them but I dont think Hazards defense is as good as Raceland or Pikevilles at this point.

I looked it up and Highlands was actually the state runner-up in their class last track season.  I’ve always said track is the best sport for football players to build their athleticism with and last night was a good example of that correlation. We will not see another team with their team speed again this season and it was good for our guys to play a team with a different level of athleticism. 

For the rest of the way, the schedule isn’t very strong and now is the time time to fine tune some things.  Outside if LC and possibly Greenup it looks like running clocks until at least round 3 of the playoffs.