[EKUAlum05]

Bell was being beat out by Highlands and CovCath. While Belfry was beating Russell and other 2A opponeents. Not to hate on Belfry but the arguement over playoff wins is misleading. Belfry was helped a lot with the move to 2A.

The counter point to this arguement is Belfry won both State Titles during the old 4 Class System..unlike Bell who had to win their's in a 6 Class System once they moved to 4A.

It's not that Belfry chose to play down... they also enjoyed a ton of success while being mainly 3A as well. In fact, Belfry has had their fair share of playoff runs in the past end at the hands of Highlands (Belfry, like Bell, would have a biger trophy case from the 80's and 90's if not for the Birds), as well as Ashland Blazer during their glory days. In fact, Belfry actually reached the State Finals 3 times (79, 85, and 86) in 3A prior to moving to 2A, Bell only did that once with their 1991 State Championship team.

To further this arguement, although Belfry has moved down in class it is not as if they have ducked competition condusive to their size. The mountains are loaded with top programs in the 2A/3A ranks. Comparative to Belfry's enrollment they have actually had a more difficult playoff run (not talking about overall how goo the teams are they have been facing, but more as on a pound for pound basis). Since 2001, Belfry has been elimiinated by the following teams:

2001- Pburg (State Runner-Up)
2002- Breathitt County (State Champs)
2005- Russell (State Champs)
2006- Russell (State Runer-Up)
2007- Central (State Champs)
2008- Breathitt County (State Runner-Ups)

I will call it like I see it and say in terms of the modern era of mountain football, say the past 25 years, I would give Bell a slight advantage over Belfry because they lead the all-time head to head series. That in itself ends the debate IMO. But, in terms of this decade there is no doubt in my mind Belfry has been the King of the Mountains.