[HatfieldMccoy]

‘23 title game:

Anthony responsible for 3 scores. DNP in the regular season match up in which Raceland won.

‘22 Title game:
Birchfield ran wild, scored 3 TDs
Weight had 1 rushing TD
Duty a TD pass

Take away 3 scores and that’s a much closer ball game that gives Raceland more possessions and chances at it being competitive.

Pikevilles defense has been remarkable the last 3 meetings. They made our offense completely stagnant at times and we have not been able to produce many points. I am not disputing that. But without  Birchfield and Anthony, two of the last 3 games are toss ups that could have gone either way.

The two meetings prior to those  am not talking about. Pikeville was better and more balanced across the board. Pikeville was the better team in the last 3 meetings, not disputing that either. What I am saying, and backing up wi the facts, is that AGAINST RACELAND, offensively the Panthers have had the best player on the field and those two guys were the difference in the game. If you take Birchfield and Anthony out of the equation, all of those games look very similar to the game at Pikeville in the regular season last year.

The lack of Anthony on the field defensively in the regular season made a huge difference last year as well.

I’m not saying Raceland has been better…we haven’t. But what I am saying is Pikeville has been blessed with two guys in the last 3 games vs Raceland that have pretty much carried the offense to n their own.

All this being said, Duty impressed me against LCA as he was really the guy that stepped up and shouldered the load. While it was in a loss, from the outside looking in, that’s a very good improvement for Pikeville.

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Anthony was also 2nd in tackles, TFL, and Sacks in the title game last year. For me it’s very hard to see any other view than Pikeville being about on par with Raceland and Cville last year if you remove Anthony.

None of this truly means anything lol it’s just a discussion and a way to keep the thread going and let me and JP get as many posts as possible lol

I see what you are saying but why not utilize him if you have the best player in the field.   I think that Pikeville had the top three players on the field the last couple of years.  Not just Anthony.   The Pikeville LB was better in the championship game than any Raceland player 

Carson Wright would also have been the best player on Racelands roster.  So I don’t think that the scores or outcome would have been much different.  Either kid could have carried the load if Anthony wasn’t needed.  

as for the regular season loss, Pikeville was very mundane with the play calling and didn’t want to show Raceland anything.   I still believe Pikeville is two scores better than Raceland even without Anthony