[EKUAlum05]

Lots to discuss here...great game and the Final Score is misleading as Belfry was deep in Tomcat territory and driving for potentially the game tying score when a costly penalty and subsequent scoop and score happened to ice it.

All in all a great game as Ashland come sup with the big plays on offense and get key defensive stands when they need them.

[tomcatfan722000]

Great game cats especially without baker. Hope he is ok. I predicted 40-20 I was close. Massey and Salow also had great games as I thought they would. Sorry for bragging on myself This is just the closest I've come to predicting a game.

Good job pirates way to not quit and get back in the game. Good luck to both teams

[MtnHSFootballFan]

I would like to have been there. Of course, I was rooting for Belfry but I have to say, Congratulations Ashland!

[tomcatfan722000]

Belfry should have 20

[Crossbones]

Congrats to Tomcats. Great ballgame, from listening to it. Good luck to you all the rest of season. Keep moving forward Pirates.

[EKUAlum05]

A few very key notes:

- Both teams lost their star HB's early in the 1st. Baker suffered a lower leg injury and was on crutches for Ashland. Justin Johnson suffered an apparent concussion. Lets hope both return to the field as soon as possible.

- Pirates completely shut down the Tomcat running game............... UNTIL... the Tomcats broke a long run with Massey for a critical TD with around 3:00 left in the game. Massey also had a long TD catch and several catches to convert 3rd Downs in the 1st Half. He really stood out.

- Ashlands holds Belfry to 181 rushing yards, Pirates added 143 in the air.

Ashland 101 rushing (66 on the Massey carry, 194 passing.

- Perhaps the key play of the game was completely unintentional. Pirates were in the Tomcat redzone and Ashland was visibly fatigued and all the momentum was with Belfry. The Tomcats were suffering minor cramps and one player cramped up pretty bad taking about a 3-4 minute injury timeout. Tomcats then came up with a key stand to turn Belfry back with the breather. Definitely not intentional, but fortuitous and possibly game changing.

[HarleyD]

Great game....sorry I was lazy tonight and did not make the trip to Ashland.

Sounds like Belfry finally woke up in the second half and wanted to play some ball but tonight Ashland wanted it more. Good game by the Tomcats.

I really hope that Johnson and the back from Ashland are both okay and ready to go before too long.

Pirates keep your heads up and get ready for next week. This is exactly what you needed. A game that you had to play for 48 minutes and had to have players step up after Justin was knocked out of the game. The win would have been awesome but this will help and Coach Haywood will use this as a teaching tool as you march back towards Bowling Green.

Very proud of the Pirates tonight. They knew what they had to do but sometimes it just doesn't go your way. Rest up and get ready for Lawrence Co. Good luck to Ashland the rest of the year!

[tomcatfan722000]

A few very key notes:

- Both teams lost their star HB's early in the 1st. Baker suffered a lower leg injury and was on crutches for Ashland. Justin Johnson suffered an apparent concussion. Lets hope both return to the field as soon as possible.

- Pirates completely shut down the Tomcat running game............... UNTIL... the Tomcats broke a long run with Massey for a critical TD with around 3:00 left in the game. Massey also had a long TD catch and several catches to convert 3rd Downs in the 1st Half. He really stood out.

- Ashlands holds Belfry to 181 rushing yards, Pirates added 143 in the air.

Ashland 101 rushing (66 on the Massey carry, 194 passing.

- Perhaps the key play of the game was completely unintentional. Pirates were in the Tomcat redzone and Ashland was visibly fatigued and all the momentum was with Belfry. The Tomcats were suffering minor cramps and one player cramped up pretty bad taking about a 3-4 minute injury timeout. Tomcats then came up with a key stand to turn Belfry back with the breather. Definitely not intentional, but fortuitous and possibly game changing.

To me calling a timeout then missing a extra point cost a timeout and a tie was huge

[EKUAlum05]

To me calling a timeout then missing a extra point cost a timeout and a tie was huge

I agree... left Belfry with only one TO. Belfry is good for a missed XP every game..this one just happened to be huge.

A few players really stepped up tonight:

For Ashland..

Massey was a game changer. He had the long TD reception and the long TD run..but more than that e had several 3rd Down conversions in the First Half that allowed Ashland to either continue drives that they scored on, or at the very least helped them keep the edge in field position. He also had a long return.

Shannon Justice was everywhere and deserved the scoop and score. he was playing with cramps and onstantly was disrupting the Pirates or saving long runs with a key tackle.

Elam didnt have an eye popping 2nd Half, but in the 1st Half he was near perfect not only hitting the long boms, but also converting those key 3rd Downs.


For Belfry...

Thomas Varney,err, I mean Keaton Taylor stepped up huge. He had several key runs, a couple nice returns, and made a handful of catches. The Pirates seemed to be in dis-array when Johnson went down, Taylor offered stabilization and proved QB and WR aren't the only positions he is dangerous at.

Sani Warren. I feel sorry for poor Sani as he will be sore tomorrow. He was rocked every time he dropped ack, but he hung in there and made big play after big play to get Belfry back into a position to win.

Tony Messer- Hopefully this was his breakthrough game as he had a long TD catch and some key grabs in the late stages to keep Belfry alive.

Trenity Carr- Kid banged and grinded his heart out and was the anchor for Belfry to stabilize off of in the 2nd Half.

[PirateInAshland]

Go Cats!!!

[WideRight05]

Hahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahah how bout them pirates???

[School Admin.]

Hahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahah how bout them pirates???

What about you? Please tell me, did you ever play for or with anyone or anything besides yourself?

[cuppett777]

congrats to Ashland,hold ur heads up Belfry,u be just fine...

[Elm street]

Congtatulaions cats! fun game to watch, that trinity kid from belfry is one heck of a downhill runner. seemed like he was guaranteed 5-6 yards a carry.

[PirateNation1971]

Congrats Ashland!


Belfry you needed this and you boys played a great game,dont get down on yourselfs just learn from this and move on.You have nothing to hang your heads about.The big picture is still to come for you belfry so like i said learn and move on):1:




Go Big Red!

[skully03]

Game was closer than what the final score turned out to be. Few more games to go and then the records are back to 0-0. Good luck pirates the rest of the season

[BADCAT74]

Good game Pirates good hard fought game as expected. Didn't expect that many points. But I figured Ashlands D would be the key to this game.

Final score was 35-20

Running back #5Baker will be fine just a mild sprain look much worse at the time. Dr said 3-4 days rest an treatments he will be back to full speed. With greenup next week hell get 2 weeks to heal up if needed to get ready for JCC. Elam , obryan, justice, Massey, Salow, Johnson
All these guys stepped up an made HUGE plays both sides of the ball to seal this game. Great job TOMCATS
The only negative I saw during the hole game was from some of the Belfry fans yelling getem off the field at the Ashland kid #70 Ellis in 4 the quarter who was down on the field unable to even stand up due to severe cramps.
Totally uncalled for. Imo. it was just a few but not in good taste.

[WideRight05]

Good game Pirates good hard fought game as expected. Didn't expect that many points. But I figured Ashlands D would be the key to this game.

Final score was 35-20

Running back #5Baker will be fine just a mild sprain look much worse at the time. Dr said 3-4 days rest an treatments he will be back to full speed. With greenup next week hell get 2 weeks to heal up if needed to get ready for JCC. Elam , obryan, justice, Massey, Salow, Johnson
All these guys stepped up an made HUGE plays both sides of the ball to seal this game. Great job TOMCATS
The only negative I saw during the hole game was from some of the Belfry fans yelling getem off the field at the Ashland kid #70 Ellis in 4 the quarter who was down on the field unable to even stand up due to severe cramps.
Totally uncalled for. Imo. it was just a few but not in good taste.

A few of my friends and were in the area and went to watch you all play this time last year. What you wrote wouldn't surprise me, good Lord those people are crazy lol. I typed about my experience (It was you or another of your Ashland friends I think that replied to it) in a thread about the best/most obnoxious fans...but seeing this does not surprise me in the least.

I do hope, the star RBs that EKU mentioned have a speedy recovery.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Boom!

This killed your alls arguments about Bell County.

However, Ashland is a good ball club.

[Leonidas]

Boom!

This killed your alls arguments about Bell County.

However, Ashland is a good ball club.

Who and how?

[long_time_pirate]

One of the poorest officiated games (on both sides) that I've witnessed. Twice when Belfry was ready to score OR moving the ball and close to the endzone flags were thrown like crazy. I counted 6 facemasks that Ashland commited and only 1 was called. There were also a couple of calls made against Ashland that were questionable as well. I hate when the adults (cough-cough) officials just don't let the kids play.

Overall this was a great game and the Pirates now know what they need to fix or work on. They will be fine and move on to the next challenge.

As for fans being rude- yes I heard them myself but let me ask: How many Belfry players did you see laying on the field for more than 30 seconds (other than Johnson when he was injured) for cramps? Maybe Ashland needs to give those boys some pedalite the day before and day of the game and it would tremendously eliminate those cramps. I seem to also recall a Belfry player trying to help one of Ashland's players when he was down and cramping. Class, you better know it!

[Panther Thunder]

How many Belfry players did you see laying on the field for more than 30 seconds (other than Johnson when he was injured) for cramps? Maybe Ashland needs to give those boys some pedalite the day before and day of the game and it would tremendously eliminate those cramps. I seem to also recall a Belfry player trying to help one of Ashland's players when he was down and cramping. Class, you better know it!

Wow.

[red&white]

Wideright you need to try topix it suits you better.I will say it I in all my years watching high school football never ever seen a kid have cramps that long or get back on the field the very next play without anymore problems.It was funny to come at a time when Belfry had Ashland on their heels and gasping for air.It killed the drive as Belfry was going to score.Belfry may have got beat but they fought hard to get back in the game and had a chance to win.Say what you want but Belfry played better but unfortunate they also made more mistakes.

[BelfryPirates]

Typical Putnam Stadium officiating, numerous no calls on late hits to the quarterback, facemasks, etc. The penalties might have been Ashland- 2 Belfry- 12.

Belfry had their good spots but it seemed like a lot of the momentum was stopped by well timed "cramps" from the Tomcats. Nevertheless, a loss is a loss, congrats to Ashland, and a lot of promise was shown from a beaten up Pirate team, and it's on to next week and Lawrence County.

[crazytaxidriver]

I hate that these two teams lost some key players, and I hope they both make it back alright..

I was wondering though, is there any kind of rule now with concussions?? I know the NFL and college are pretty hardcore about them now. Is high school different? Or do the players have to go through a bunch of tests to get cleared??

[Title town 3]

A few of my friends and were in the area and went to watch you all play this time last year. What you wrote wouldn't surprise me, good Lord those people are crazy lol. I typed about my experience (It was you or another of your Ashland friends I think that replied to it) in a thread about the best/most obnoxious fans...but seeing this does not surprise me in the least.

I do hope, the star RBs that EKU mentioned have a speedy recovery.

I also seen them do the same thing at Breathitt Co. A kid was hurt for the bobcats and the Belfry fans were saying"hit'em again ", Get him off the field. I mean have some respect that is someone child. I'm not saying that all the Belfry fans are rude and dis respectful but alot are. But with saying that, the players and Coach Haywood are very respectful and they run a classy program. I just it would rub off on some of their fans.

[PaytoPlay]

Congrats to Ashland. I went to the game last night and it was a really good game. A few observations.

The margin -- Belfry trailed 21-7 at halftime. In the first half Ashland benefited from a muffed punt on about the 15 yard line of Belfry. After two stuffed running plays, Elam found the TE over the middle on a nice play for a score. The other two first half Ashland TD's came as a result of two long bombs from Elam of Ashland. The first was a great throw and Massey ran under the ball when Belfry's defender sorta lost his man while looking up for the ball. The second bomb was a blown coverage. Guy went about 50+ before getting pulled down at the 1 and they punched it in. Other than those three pass plays, Ashland really didn't do anything offensively.

Belfry dominated the second half up until ~ 3:25 to go in the 4th quarter when they made the game 21-20. Haywood called a timeout to consider going for two or the tie. He chose to kick - and it was no good. Again, with 3:25 left in the game, Belfry had a chance to tie or take the lead.

To Ashland's credit, Massey broke the long run when the Pirates needed a stop the most. With about 2:15 to go, on 3rd and 5, Massey went off tackle for about 65 yards. I listended to the stats from 97.1 (Ashland's broadcast) on the way home. Ashland had something like 117 yards on 24 carries. Prior to Massey's 65 yarder, they had ~50 on 23 carries. Belfry's D stuffed Ashland at the LOS basically all night. Two (granted well executed) deep balls were the difference in this game.

The last TD came with 1:10 to go when Belfry was down 8 and out of timeouts, trying to throw the ball down the field. QB was crushed and fumbled, scoop and score. Ball game.

Belfry had 19 first downs to Ashland's 10. Belfry outgained Ashland something like ~355 to ~305. Someone can post the article from the Daily Indpendent later to get the exact numbers.

This was a tight, good, hard fought game. Ashland deserved to win. They saw Belfry was selling out to stop the run and hurt them deep a couple times early, and made the big run to put the game on ice late when they had to. That is what good teams do.

As a Belfry fan, I love this game. I said before the night, win or lose it was going to be a important test. I think Belfry got a lot out of the game, including some experience for Keaton Taylor and Sani Warren. They also got exposed a bit on the deep ball. Breathitt Co. has to take notice of the secondary weaknesses.

[cuppett777]

Wideright you need to try topix it suits you better.I will say it I in all my years watching high school football never ever seen a kid have cramps that long or get back on the field the very next play without anymore problems.It was funny to come at a time when Belfry had Ashland on their heels and gasping for air.It killed the drive as Belfry was going to score.Belfry may have got beat but they fought hard to get back in the game and had a chance to win.Say what you want but Belfry played better but unfortunate they also made more mistakes.

my thought 100 percent..

[Elm street]

Typical Putnam Stadium officiating, numerous no calls on late hits to the quarterback, facemasks, etc. The penalties might have been Ashland- 2 Belfry- 12.

Belfry had their good spots but it seemed like a lot of the momentum was stopped by well timed "cramps" from the Tomcats. Nevertheless, a loss is a loss, congrats to Ashland, and a lot of promise was shown from a beaten up Pirate team, and it's on to next week and Lawrence County.

Typical excuse. I saw a good football game where big plays made all the difference.

[THE Whole Truth]

The score in thread title is incorrect....should read 35-20