[Real Badman]

I'm from the Elkhorn City area. Our football tradition has vanished in the last few decades, but we still have a few teams who could beat anyone in the mountains in a given night.

1) 1964 State Champs. This was the first state championship brought back to Pike County before Belfry or Pikeville even played in a championship. Beating Russellville 30-6 and finishing 11-1-1 this team has been honored many times as the best squad to come out of EC.

2) 1973 State Runner-Ups. The 73 squad finished the season 13-1 losing to Paris, 21-12, in the 1A championship game.

3) 1975 State Semi-Finalist. Lost to Ludlow, the eventual state champion I believe, A very good cougar team who was a few points of going back to the championship.

4) 1979. The 79 team went 9-2 being edged out by Paintsville for a chance to go to the playoffs. Probably one of the biggest letdowns in Cougar history

5) 1985. Team led by SV head coach Eric Ratliff. This was the last Elkhorn City team to beat Belfry. Cougars would go 7-4 losing to Paintsville 21-14 in the first round

Honorable Mention: 1963, 1974, 1991, 1992, 1997

I didn't include any East Ridge teams (for obvious reasons) but one day I hope I will be able.

the 64 team was really good. They ran a 4-3 Defense with man coverage. Way ahead of the times. Beating strong opponents like Pikeville, Paintsville, and Prestonsburg, while only losing to Fleming Neon 14-13.

[EKUAlum05]

I was hoping someone with more history with Bell Co would post since my knowledge is limited to the 90's and current teams but I'll throw some teams out there

1991 State Champs Reggie Robbins and the boys were really loaded
2008 State Champs had one of the most balance teams ever seen at Bell

now to mention some teams that didn't win a state champioship but were loaded and either ran into Boyle Highlands Cov Catholic or Lou Central who eventually went on to win a state title.

2004 will lead the charge with Shawn Robbins and a team that lost to a Highlands team who eventually forfeited every playoff game but the state title, they went undefeated with a kid who holds just about every record in Bell co...... great team

1996 Another loaded team from top to bottom Great line both offensive and defensively with Scott Chaney at Rb lost to Highlands who went on to win it all

2009 A balanced state championship team that returned just about everyone powered by a fast Rb in Davenport lost a close one to Boyle again who won it all

2004 Bell County was not undefeated outside the loss to Highlands, they also suffered a loss to a very strong Pburg team in the regular season 27-24 in a bit of a controversial game. Lots of flags between two pretty evenly matched teams.

[Big Five-0-]

the 64 team was really good. They ran a 4-3 Defense with man coverage. Way ahead of the times. Beating strong opponents like Pikeville, Paintsville, and Prestonsburg, while only losing to Fleming Neon 14-13.

Who was HC at that time? I was thinking Jack Hall, but that was probably before his time. Jim O'Quinn maybe?

[EKUAlum05]

Belfry

1. 2004 State Champs- Possibly the greatest rushing offense to come through Kentucky
2. 2003 State Champs- Didn't have the defense of 2003 but basically the same team
3. 1989 State Semi-Finalist- Lost at Highlands by literally inches... great team who just came up short
4. 2013 State Champs- Excellent defense with a solid offense and a smooth operator at QB
5. 2014 State Champs- Probably equally as good on defense, but not nearly as efficient on offense
6. 2007 Runner Ups- Absolutely demolished everything in their path until laying an egg in the Finals against a Central team they may have overlooked.
7. 1985 Runner Ups- If memory serves they played the Finals battered, bruised, and sick missing several key players
8. 1986 Runner Ups- Lost a tough game to a very good Owensboro team
9. 2012 Runner Ups- Lost a heart breaker in overtime to Central. An all around solid team.
10. 2008 Semi-Finalist- Give them the edge because it was a very good team with a pretty balanced offense who was 13-0 and looking like they were ready to avenge the fate of the 07 team... completely got blindsided by Breathitt in a Semi's game the Bobcats executed to perfection.


Notable teams:
1979 Runner-Ups- Admittedly I don't know a ton about this team, but they set the tone for the growth of the Belfry program despite getting spanked by Joker Phillips and Franklin-Simpson in the Finals

2011 Runner Ups- Really atoned themselves well as a young team began growing. Pushed a heavily favored Central team to the max.

2010 Runner Ups- To be honest not a very good team, the most over achieving Belfry team of all-time. Super young they got hot at the right time and knocked off two of 3A's top teams in the playoffs before Central crushed them. Though a Runner-Up..probably not even a Top 15 or Top 20 Belfry team of all time.

2005 Semi's- On the note of over achievers, Belfry was expected to take a major step back after back to back titles and a stellar Senior class... instead they pieced together a team who beat some good teams and nearly pulled a comeback win on the road to eventual champion Russell. A false start away potentially.

1990 Regional Finalist- Very good Belfry team who destroyed Highlands early in the season but ran into the Ashland buzzsaw led by Juan Thomas

[samson81]

Who was HC at that time? I was thinking Jack Hall, but that was probably before his time. Jim O'Quinn maybe?

According to the records I found, the coach in '64 was Jack Hall. In the playoffs they beat Paris 7-7(EC won because they had better stats*), Lynch 19-7, and Russellville in the final 33-7.

*That's a strange way to determine a winner.

[samson81]

Belfry

1. 2004 State Champs- Possibly the greatest rushing offense to come through Kentucky
2. 2003 State Champs- Didn't have the defense of 2003 but basically the same team
3. 1989 State Semi-Finalist- Lost at Highlands by literally inches... great team who just came up short
4. 2013 State Champs- Excellent defense with a solid offense and a smooth operator at QB
5. 2014 State Champs- Probably equally as good on defense, but not nearly as efficient on offense
6. 2007 Runner Ups- Absolutely demolished everything in their path until laying an egg in the Finals against a Central team they may have overlooked.
7. 1985 Runner Ups- If memory serves they played the Finals battered, bruised, and sick missing several key players
8. 1986 Runner Ups- Lost a tough game to a very good Owensboro team
9. 2012 Runner Ups- Lost a heart breaker in overtime to Central. An all around solid team.
10. 2008 Semi-Finalist- Give them the edge because it was a very good team with a pretty balanced offense who was 13-0 and looking like they were ready to avenge the fate of the 07 team... completely got blindsided by Breathitt in a Semi's game the Bobcats executed to perfection.


Notable teams:
1979 Runner-Ups- Admittedly I don't know a ton about this team, but they set the tone for the growth of the Belfry program despite getting spanked by Joker Phillips and Franklin-Simpson in the Finals

2011 Runner Ups- Really atoned themselves well as a young team began growing. Pushed a heavily favored Central team to the max.

2010 Runner Ups- To be honest not a very good team, the most over achieving Belfry team of all-time. Super young they got hot at the right time and knocked off two of 3A's top teams in the playoffs before Central crushed them. Though a Runner-Up..probably not even a Top 15 or Top 20 Belfry team of all time.

2005 Semi's- On the note of over achievers, Belfry was expected to take a major step back after back to back titles and a stellar Senior class... instead they pieced together a team who beat some good teams and nearly pulled a comeback win on the road to eventual champion Russell. A false start away potentially.

1990 Regional Finalist- Very good Belfry team who destroyed Highlands early in the season but ran into the Ashland buzzsaw led by Juan Thomas

EKU, do you think either this year's or next year's Belfry teams have the potential to dethrone the '04 squad?

[Big Five-0-]

According to the records I found, the coach in '64 was Jack Hall. In the playoffs they beat Paris 7-7(EC won because they had better stats*), Lynch 19-7, and Russellville in the final 33-7.

*That's a strange way to determine a winner.

Thanks for the information. Agree. Strange way to determine. Seems they were leap years away from making a sensible determination at that time.

[samson81]

This is the site I go to for Kentucky high school sports historical info:http://www.kyhssports.freewebspace.com

I'm sure I'm not the only poster here at BGR that knows about that site, but I thought I'd share it anyway in case some didn't.

[Real Badman]

Who was HC at that time? I was thinking Jack Hall, but that was probably before his time. Jim O'Quinn maybe?

It was Side Saddle Jack.

[Big Five-0-]

It was Side Saddle Jack.

Side Saddle. When you heard the name Coach Jack Hall, the word "side saddle" was always synonymous with it. He always got the best out of his teams with that offensive formation. Great coach !

[EKUAlum05]

EKU, do you think either this year's or next year's Belfry teams have the potential to dethrone the '04 squad?

Offense is the big key.

Defensively they have a chance to be all-time good with many three and four year studs.

Special teams has potential to be an X factor as well with a very good kicker and punter that most Belfry teams have not enjoyed the luxury of.

One thing is for sure this will be the toughest two year stretches of scheduling Belfry has ever had.., if they can win a title and navigate the schedule it will leave little doubt... But those are both very tall tasks.

[BFritz]

Highlands I'd say 1998 and 2009 are the two tops

1998 : Jared Lorenzen/ Derek Smith 15-0 State Champs *Put up some crazy stats
2009 : Austin Collinsworth / Pat Towles 15-0 State Champs *Beat Cincy St X (ranked 3rd in nation at the time)

2000, 2011, 1996 and 1981 guys might have something to say about that though.

Was unreal to watch Lorenzen just run around in the backfield and then watch him launch the ball 60 yards downfield. It was also impossible to cover (I started the playoff game at free safety my freshman year *not the first game because I didn't start starting on defense until the last few games of the regular season*).

We might have had a chance to upset them again, just like in '97, if I hadn't slipped and fell on a fake punt :HitWall:

[charlie22]

Highlands I'd say 1998 and 2009 are the two tops

1998 : Jared Lorenzen/ Derek Smith 15-0 State Champs *Put up some crazy stats
2009 : Austin Collinsworth / Pat Towles 15-0 State Champs *Beat Cincy St X (ranked 3rd in nation at the time)

2000, 2011, 1996 and 1981 guys might have something to say about that though.

I'd go with the 98 and 04 teams also and would give the edge to the 04 team. The 98 team had an awesome O (obviously), but the 04 team had a pretty darn good O also. One can wonder how good it would have been had Bardo not got hurt against Cincy X. No disrespect to Patrick, but his contribution after replacing the hurt Bardo that year was to simply hand the ball off cleanly to Collinsworth and Fennell and then get out of the way. Birds attempted only 2 passes in the state game against John Hardin because the run O was that good. And John Hardin entered the state game with the state's best rush defense. 3 first team all staters on the 04 O (2 of them o linemen which should tell you something).

But what gives the 04 team the edge was their D. Better than the 98 D. Shut out the Cincy X O until the last minute of the game playing prevent D. Roller was an absolute stud at middle LBer. Only 2 other players that I'd put on his level at Lber are his Uncle Bill (still one tough hombre) and perhaps Marty Moore (who became a much more dominant LBer in college than he was in high school but was very, very good in high school nonetheless).

Kicking game was better on the 04 team also.

[Hatz]

This is the site I go to for Kentucky high school sports historical info:http://www.kyhssports.freewebspace.com

I'm sure I'm not the only poster here at BGR that knows about that site, but I thought I'd share it anyway in case some didn't.

Had it bookmarked for a while now. Great site. :Thumbs:

[Hatz]

I'd go with the 98 and 04 teams also and would give the edge to the 04 team. The 98 team had an awesome O (obviously), but the 04 team had a pretty darn good O also. One can wonder how good it would have been had Bardo not got hurt against Cincy X. No disrespect to Patrick, but his contribution after replacing the hurt Bardo that year was to simply hand the ball off cleanly to Collinsworth and Fennell and then get out of the way. Birds attempted only 2 passes in the state game against John Hardin because the run O was that good. And John Hardin entered the state game with the state's best rush defense. 3 first team all staters on the 04 O (2 of them o linemen which should tell you something).

But what gives the 04 team the edge was their D. Better than the 98 D. Shut out the Cincy X O until the last minute of the game playing prevent D. Roller was an absolute stud at middle LBer. Only 2 other players that I'd put on his level at Lber are his Uncle Bill (still one tough hombre) and perhaps Marty Moore (who became a much more dominant LBer in college than he was in high school but was very, very good in high school nonetheless).

Kicking game was better on the 04 team also.

The '04 HHS team was a beast on Defense. But they weren't the one's that played John Hardin Charlie. I think your post mixes between 09 and 04. Or maybe I'm just confused. :biggrin:

[Objective]

2004 Bell County was not undefeated outside the loss to Highlands, they also suffered a loss to a very strong Pburg team in the regular season 27-24 in a bit of a controversial game. Lots of flags between two pretty evenly matched teams.

I Stand corrected missed that one

[Leonidas]

EKU, do you think either this year's or next year's Belfry teams have the potential to dethrone the '04 squad?

I'd say no, but I'd like to be wrong.

[Maroon State Champs]

2016 pulaski count maroons. Coming off a state title in 2015 we return 18 starters from that team this year so 2016 will be our best team, to date though it is the 2015 state champion team.

[charlie22]

The '04 HHS team was a beast on Defense. But they weren't the one's that played John Hardin Charlie. I think your post mixes between 09 and 04. Or maybe I'm just confused. :biggrin:

Nah, you're not confused. I botched my post. I meant the 1998 and 2009 teams. All references to the 04 team in my prior post are hereby amended to mean the 09 team.

The 04 team (and I mean the 04 team this time) had an outstanding D. You are certainly right about that. The 04 O (and I again mean 04) was pretty average. Put the 98 O and the 04 D together and you'd have the best team.

Since that's not realistic, I'll stick with the 09 team as the best.

Sorry for any confusion created by my prior post.

[birdman44]

I'd go with the 98 and 04 teams also and would give the edge to the 04 team. The 98 team had an awesome O (obviously), but the 04 team had a pretty darn good O also. One can wonder how good it would have been had Bardo not got hurt against Cincy X. No disrespect to Patrick, but his contribution after replacing the hurt Bardo that year was to simply hand the ball off cleanly to Collinsworth and Fennell and then get out of the way. Birds attempted only 2 passes in the state game against John Hardin because the run O was that good. And John Hardin entered the state game with the state's best rush defense. 3 first team all staters on the 04 O (2 of them o linemen which should tell you something).

But what gives the 04 team the edge was their D. Better than the 98 D. Shut out the Cincy X O until the last minute of the game playing prevent D. Roller was an absolute stud at middle LBer. Only 2 other players that I'd put on his level at Lber are his Uncle Bill (still one tough hombre) and perhaps Marty Moore (who became a much more dominant LBer in college than he was in high school but was very, very good in high school nonetheless).

Kicking game was better on the 04 team also.

I think you are pretty far on the 98 Defense.

D. Smith......D1
B. Grover.....D1
B. Scott.......D1
J. Meloche...D1
B. Hamblen..D1
R. Smith......D1
B. Ulbricht....Ivy League
N. Gibson.....UK/Georgetown

Pretty Good... Numbers might not be as good because they probably averaged kicking off to the other team 11 times a game.

In the Male (who won 4A) game they won 51 - 41 but Male returned two kickoffs because a bunch of sophomores made up the kickoff team because everyone played both ways. that was fixed at half time.

The Offense stole the limelight but that was a pretty tough def. In the state game that year the birds won 56-7 and the 7 points scored by Waggoner (who upset BG) were late in the 4th. Freshman were in the game

The '98 kicking game also broke national records that year so im thinking the kicking game goes to '98 as well.

[samson81]

For a Highlands fan, choosing between all of their great teams must be like choosing between your own children. All 23 of them.

[charlie22]

I think you are pretty far on the 98 Defense.

D. Smith......D1
B. Grover.....D1
B. Scott.......D1
J. Meloche...D1
B. Hamblen..D1
R. Smith......D1
B. Ulbricht....Ivy League
N. Gibson.....UK/Georgetown

Pretty Good... Numbers might not be as good because they probably averaged kicking off to the other team 11 times a game.

In the Male (who won 4A) game they won 51 - 41 but Male returned two kickoffs because a bunch of sophomores made up the kickoff team because everyone played both ways. that was fixed at half time.

The Offense stole the limelight but that was a pretty tough def. In the state game that year the birds won 56-7 and the 7 points scored by Waggoner (who upset BG) were late in the 4th. Freshman were in the game

The '98 kicking game also broke national records that year so im thinking the kicking game goes to '98 as well.

No doubt that the 98 D was very good. I'm just of the opinion that the 09 D was better.

Several of the players you listed were sophomores on the 98 team (Grover, Hamblen, Ben Scott and perhaps Maloche although I'm not certain about him) and went on to become dominant players by the time they were seniors. But as sophomores, I didn't consider them to be really, really good. Heck, if by R. Smith you mean Rob Smith, wasn't he a frosh on the 98 team? Went on to become a stud high school player, but as a frosh wasn't a consistent impact player. Of the players you listed, Ulby was by far the best defensive player on the 98 team. Loved watching that kid play (on D and on O). Derek could be a dominant defensive player at times, but he was much more "focused" when he was on O. Noah was a much greater contributor on O than he was on D from my recollection.

The national record Jones broke was for extra points (90 I believe). Admittedly extra points in high school can't be taken for granted, but his national record had as much to do with the number of TDs the O scored than the quality of the kicking game. On the 09 team, Weinel consistently made it to the endzone on kickoffs and Hogue averaged over 40 yds per punt. Weinel didn't have near the number of extra points as Jones did but that's only a result of not having near the number of opportunities. The O wasn't the same and Dale by then had "mellowed" and wasn't running the score up the way he did in 98.

That's what makes these types of threads fun. Just opinions with no right or wrong.

[birdman44]

No doubt that the 98 D was very good. I'm just of the opinion that the 09 D was better.

Several of the players you listed were sophomores on the 98 team (Grover, Hamblen, Ben Scott and perhaps Maloche although I'm not certain about him) and went on to become dominant players by the time they were seniors. But as sophomores, I didn't consider them to be really, really good. Heck, if by R. Smith you mean Rob Smith, wasn't he a frosh on the 98 team? Went on to become a stud high school player, but as a frosh wasn't a consistent impact player. Of the players you listed, Ulby was by far the best defensive player on the 98 team. Loved watching that kid play (on D and on O). Derek could be a dominant defensive player at times, but he was much more "focused" when he was on O. Noah was a much greater contributor on O than he was on D from my recollection.

The national record Jones broke was for extra points (90 I believe). Admittedly extra points in high school can't be taken for granted, but his national record had as much to do with the number of TDs the O scored than the quality of the kicking game. On the 09 team, Weinel consistently made it to the endzone on kickoffs and Hogue averaged over 40 yds per punt. Weinel didn't have near the number of extra points as Jones did but that's only a result of not having near the number of opportunities. The O wasn't the same and Dale by then had "mellowed" and wasn't running the score up the way he did in 98.

and they didn't run up the score the back-ups were just really good too. I think Zenni the junior running back that relieved Noah and Ulby after halftime was the leader in rushing for part of the year. The younger guys would come in and the scoring continued... you cant tell them not to play well. That's why they won state two more times after that.

That's what makes these types of threads fun. Just opinions with no right or wrong.

No, I can totally understand the opinion that 09 was the best. I just think the '98 team's defense got overlooked because of the O. Noah actually was one int away from getting the Highlands int record that year and returned quite a few picks and kicks for TDs. Meloche was one of the few juniors on that squad, and was probably was the hardest hitter on that team. There were a ton of great sophs on that team that got better but hamblen b scott and grover looked like seniors as sophs. Add that to Ulby, D Smith and Noah Gibson... that's a pretty good D. Josh Hasson was another pretty good DB with cray speed. And yes it is a lot fun talking and comparing Highlands teams through the years.

[FootballGuy]

Raceland 1. 2008/2013 2. 2014/2006 3. 1996

[specialteams5]

I'm from the Elkhorn City area. Our football tradition has vanished in the last few decades, but we still have a few teams who could beat anyone in the mountains in a given night.

1) 1964 State Champs. This was the first state championship brought back to Pike County before Belfry or Pikeville even played in a championship. Beating Russellville 30-6 and finishing 11-1-1 this team has been honored many times as the best squad to come out of EC.

2) 1973 State Runner-Ups. The 73 squad finished the season 13-1 losing to Paris, 21-12, in the 1A championship game.

3) 1975 State Semi-Finalist. Lost to Ludlow, the eventual state champion I believe, A very good cougar team who was a few points of going back to the championship.

4) 1979. The 79 team went 9-2 being edged out by Paintsville for a chance to go to the playoffs. Probably one of the biggest letdowns in Cougar history

5) 1985. Team led by SV head coach Eric Ratliff. This was the last Elkhorn City team to beat Belfry. Cougars would go 7-4 losing to Paintsville 21-14 in the first round

Honorable Mention: 1963, 1974, 1991, 1992, 1997

I didn't include any East Ridge teams (for obvious reasons) but one day I hope I will be able.

1979....Boatman Clipped

[specialteams5]

Jack Hall who had previously and would later coach at Fleming-Neon.

[Old Jumper]

Somerset

1. 1916 (7-0-1) - Won at Lou. Male H.S. 51-6; tied Lexington H.S. for "shared" state title
2. 1982 (10-1) - Lost District Title Game at Boyle County (28-27); no playoff berth
3. 1983 (14-1) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 19-14 to Fort Knox)
4. 1984 (13-1) - Class AA State semi-finalist (lost 17-0 to Newport Catholic)
5. 2009 (14-1) - Class AAA State Runner-up (lost 21-0 to Paducah Tilghman)
6. 1978 (9-4) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 22-6 to Mayfield)
7. 1988 (11-3) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 45-21 to Fort Knox)
8. 1949 (9-2) - Recreation Bowl Champions
9. 2010 (13-1) - Class AAA state semi-finalist (lost 28-23 at Belfry)
10. 1981 (11-3) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 20-6 to Bardstown)

[Maroon State Champs]

Somerset

1. 1916 (7-0-1) - Won at Lou. Male H.S. 51-6; tied Lexington H.S. for "shared" state title
2. 1982 (10-1) - Lost District Title Game at Boyle County (28-27); no playoff berth
3. 1983 (14-1) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 19-14 to Fort Knox)
4. 1984 (13-1) - Class AA State semi-finalist (lost 17-0 to Newport Catholic)
5. 2009 (14-1) - Class AAA State Runner-up (lost 21-0 to Paducah Tilghman)
6. 1978 (9-4) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 22-6 to Mayfield)
7. 1988 (11-3) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 45-21 to Fort Knox)
8. 1949 (9-2) - Recreation Bowl Champions
9. 2010 (13-1) - Class AAA state semi-finalist (lost 28-23 at Belfry)
10. 1981 (11-3) - Class AA State Runner-up (lost 20-6 to Bardstown)

who cares, win a state title than post something on a thread like this. somerset football the best bridesmaids in Kentucky football history.

[FootballGuy]

It clearly says who's your schools greatest team

[pjdoug]

who cares, win a state title than post something on a thread like this. somerset football the best bridesmaids in Kentucky football history.

:lame: