[Micro-Brew]

I’m curious….

Is there any thing to the fact that Belfry has dropped in numbers while Pikeville has continued to steadily rise in numbers? I’m not just speaking in football terms I’m speaking from a school wide standpoint. The pirates had a strong hold on Pike County for a good while, to the point that Pikeville beating them meant something. Now it seems to have shifted the other way around and while Belfry isn’t the Belfry of old, Pikeville seems to be stronger year in and year out than they were when Belfry was on their run. No im not talking about transfers and crap either. Just seems like Belfry is losing STUDENTS, not just atheletes, to other schools.

A lot of it has to do with the coal industry’s decline. As a whole Pike CO’s population has been on a decline for quite sometime, the economy just isn’t what it once was. The city of Pikeville is a little protected from that due to the huge medical center and the University. There’s always new people moving in or around the city and most try to get their children in the Pikeville school system. But like Redneck noted Belfry isn’t getting as many WV kids. Pikeville has actually gotten a couple of those kids and also gotten a few kids the last few years that would’ve been Pirates which never used to happen.