[OutlawJoseyWales]

Belfry losing didn’t surprise me but getting a running clock on them absolutely did. Ashland struggled with Russell and lost to a not very good Hazard team. Thought it would be more competitive. Even on Belfry’s “down” years they have a couple studs who can carry them farther than they probably should go aka Isaac Dixon last year. If he wouldn’t have got his 5th season last year would have been similar to this year. Belfry should be improved next year but this year was disappointing. Really only beat 1 decent team in Central and weren’t even competitive in most others besides the Pulaski game. This Belfry team just didn’t improve like we see most Belfry teams and you could easily make the argument they actually got worse throughout the season.

Agree 100%

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So I’m a little perplexed by this game, Ashland loses to Hazard who I’m going to be honest is not very good and then Belfry gets clocked by Ashland. So my question is this, I’ve heard all year well Belfry’s just young, well I’m pretty sure Ashland may be young as well or even younger, so is Ashland just better than Belfry or with Coach Haywood on the mend is Belfry’s staff just outmanned compared to Ashland with the boss laid up?
This score is very surprising. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised that Ashland won but a complete beat down is. Someone has some explainin to do…..

Really nothing to explain.  Belfry has been mediocre at best all season.  Heck they didn’t even win their district….which I’ve said all season was WEAK.  This Belfry.squad was just   Very, very young and inexperienced.   Freshman QB says enough.   The Belfry offense may look simplistic in form….but executing from the QB position is difficult.  So much that Dixon couldn’t handle it last year.   Lost their best player very early on in Stanley..then lost their starting fullback Dre Young a few weeks ago.   Hey….these things happen.  14 trips to the state championship and 8 Titles in the last 20 years.  What goes up must come down. This team never matured like other Haywood teams have in the past.  No shame in that.  Different learning curve.  They’ll be fine.  Talent is there and more is coming.   It is what it is.

So you think over the next year or two or three that Belfry makes up this losing margin? I sure hope so, I’m a Pike Co fan just really thought they’d win this game fairly comfortably.

Comfortably?   You must not have followed the Pirates closely this season.  This has been the worst road team Belfry has fielded since the early to mid 90’s.  In road games …..they had to average anywhere between 4-5 turnovers per game.  Just a struggle from the jump.   Yes….I feel very comfortable in saying that Belfry will be much closer to form next year and beyond. The sky isn’t falling.

I didn’t mean to sound like the sky is falling. I followed Belfry pretty closely and yeah I get they’ve struggled on the road but mostly against pretty good teams like Johnson Central,LCA,  Pikeville and Lawrence Co. I just really didn’t feel like Ashland was very impressive especially from a physical standpoint but obviously I was wrong. My point is do you think it was mostly Belfry’s youth or Haywood being sidelined that led to this large of a losing margin tonight? You’d have to agree that this deficit tonight is not what most expected.  And do you think Belfry will progress more than Ashland over the next couple years to overcome what occurred tonight?

The margin of victory may be surprising to some…..but….when u turn it over as often as Belfry did this season……margins can get out of control quickly.   

I can’t  speak to how Ashland will develop going forward.  Seem to have some great pieces in place.     I can  assure you Belfry will be fine.  Will they replicate 2015-2016 talent?   No they won’t.  At least not in my opinion.  But the pieces are there ….albeit raw right now…to push Belfry back to form….whether that’s in 2A or 3A.    Patience will be a must.