[Belichick]

First off, give credit to Hazard for playing hard last night. The game was never really close or in doubt but the Bulldogs played hard. As far as the Corbin game, they got the benefit of playing against some kids who usually do not start or play much. I don’t know if it was senior night or their was something else behind it but Corbin came out with their starters second half and ran off 30-0 before subbing again and giving up a late score. No doubt Hazard has improved greatly this season and they stayed composed and didn’t get a lot of stupid penalties last night. Staff and players deserve credit. They will continue to get better this year and years to come I think.

For Pikeville, I don’t get the feeling it is the score that bothers them. This team and maybe the staff too is Jekyll and Hyde. Flashes where you think no one in 1A has a chance and other times where a decent team can beat them on any given night. The play calling is frustrating and there has been a dynamic there known in Pikeville circles for a long time. I’ve followed them closely for the last 10 years during their amazing run and that situation seems worse than ever. One game they will go almost strictly run and then the next throw it all over the field with some balance. I understand game plans for certain teams but it seems with Pikeville the plan doesn’t always fit the opponent. They tried to run against Johnson Central when everyone knows they don’t have a pass defense. The staff is obviously incredible and has won multiple championships including the last 3 in a row. So the play calls, clock mismanagement all year, and special teams disaster is head scratching. That team oozes with talent. They had a huge return of players from last season and are as talented or moreso than any recent Pikeville team. So I get it. I think the expectations were high and results are unsatisfactory to the fans. Injuries aside, they haven’t been fun to watch outside 2-3 games where they had spurts. I think it’s getting too late in the season to see a change and I really expect a new champ in 1A this season.

[RAMDAD50]

First off, give credit to Hazard for playing hard last night. The game was never really close or in doubt but the Bulldogs played hard. As far as the Corbin game, they got the benefit of playing against some kids who usually do not start or play much.  I don’t know if it was senior night or their was something else behind it but Corbin came out with their starters second half and ran off 30-0 before subbing again and giving up a late score. No doubt Hazard has improved greatly this season and they stayed composed and didn’t get a lot of stupid penalties last night. Staff and players deserve credit. They will continue to get better this year and years to come I think.

For Pikeville, I don’t get the feeling it is the score that bothers them. This team and maybe the staff too is Jekyll and Hyde. Flashes where you think no one in 1A has a chance and other times where a decent team can beat them on any given night. The play calling is frustrating and there has been a dynamic there known in Pikeville circles for a long time. I’ve followed them closely for the last 10 years during their amazing run and that situation seems worse than ever. One game they will go almost strictly run and then the next throw it all over the field with some balance. I understand game plans for certain teams but it seems with Pikeville the plan doesn’t always fit the opponent. They tried to run against Johnson Central when everyone knows they don’t have a pass defense. The staff is obviously incredible and has won multiple championships including the last 3 in a row. So the play calls, clock mismanagement all year, and special teams disaster is head scratching. That team oozes with talent. They had a huge return of players from last season and are as talented or moreso than any recent Pikeville team. So I get it. I think the expectations were high and results are unsatisfactory to the fans. Injuries aside, they haven’t been fun to watch outside 2-3 games where they had spurts.  I think it’s getting too late in the season to see a change and I really expect a new champ in 1A this season.

As far as the play calling goes ….im gonna piss people off but ohh well. Last years Pikeville team was one of the most one dimensional teams I’ve seen Pikeville have for a long time. It’s been simply hand the ball to 35 for three years now. Raceland done the same thing with Lundy for three years and it cost them badly in big games cause there was no passing game development during the year. I believe what you are seeing is a coaching staff at Pikeville realizing they were getting to complacent in play calling and they made it a goal to break the mold this year. Raceland fans have seen the same thing this year with the play calling. If we would’ve ran some of the stuff we are running now last year it would’ve made us a much better team. I believe the Pikeville coach’s and players will be at their peak when it counts and that’s all that matters

[RAM-A-DEVIL]

Pikeville like Raceland has trouble scheduling games because nobody will play them. The teams in their class won’t play them and a lot of the bigger teams won’t play because they don’t want to lose. Hence you get schedules with Highlands LCA and Corbin and Ironton on them. Wouldn’t be so hard to schedule if local teams had the balls to play either team.

[jetpilot]

Pikeville has a month to clean up the persistent mostly unforced errors.
They have Anthony
They have the best defense in Class A by a good margin.
They are getting healthy.
They have the best coaching staff despite the highly questionable play calling at times. Hopefully it's experimental.
Class A is the weakest it has ever been and I mean ever.

Four-peat is there. They just have to take it.

Anyone know status on Stevens? He is a great player and difference maker on both sides of the ball.

[Khalisimo]

im not saying pikeville is one hundred percent winning class A....... but ill just about bet raceland does not have a prayer in it

[Micro-Brew]

Pikeville has a month to clean up the persistent mostly unforced errors.
They have Anthony
They have the best defense in Class A by a good margin.
They are getting healthy.
They have the best coaching staff despite the highly questionable play calling at times. Hopefully it's experimental.
Class A is the weakest it has ever been and I mean ever.

Four-peat is there. They just have to take it.

Anyone know status on Stevens? He is a great player and difference maker on both sides of the ball.

Great post Jet! All facts. LFG!!!

[Bluecat]

14-0 at halftime, Hazard with the onside kick recovery to start the 3rd and they scored a TD. Then Hazard stopped Pikevill on their drive and marched down the field killing most of the time. It was 14-6 and Hazard could't score. Pikeville then broke one on the opening play of next drive late in the 3rd to break it away. This game was not out of reach for Hazard until that TD. For Hazard to be able to knock of Pikeville and/or Raceland in the playoffs they must find a a way to score. Their Defense has been good all season. At the beginning of the season Hazard seemed to be scoring at will, not sure what has changed. However, Hazard is not a team I would want to play in the playoffs. They are capable of winning if they put it together.

[bac2369]

Hall, Stanley, and Anthony play tonight?

Yes all those kids played. Hager and Stevens didn’t play. Which ive heard or read somewhere that Hager may not be back this season but who knows. Stevens got hurt on kick off at Paintsville at the beginning of the game and he didn’t return.

But I went back and watch this one again to see what I missed from getting to Pikeville late. But first off Congrats to Pikeville on a hard fought win. Anthony run hard all night. My question for Pikeville in this one is why don’t you pick on the Hazard DB who had a club on? I think you only took 1 shot at him.. if he didn’t have the club then he possibly takes a pick back for a touchdown because it was a terrible thrown ball. All he could do it bat it down. The Pikeville I watched before is thrown at that kid all game. I believe if I’m Pikeville these next few games I’d be working more on the passing game. To me it seems there not too in sync as normal past teams. Now for Hazard
Hazard is gonna have to avoid these mistakes giving up short fields with stupid mistakes. First pick on camera the kid isn’t even looking for the ball. Turnover lead to a Pikeville touchdown.
Hazards second INT the Pikeville kid made one hell of a play and took it. I think also needs to throw the ball a little more down field. Hazard likes the screens and you can’t blame them when you have a Gavin Johnson who could break one at anytime. But I’d like see him catching those passes in space more. Running game is getting a little better at hitting the middle of the field. I think they need to get back to get Memphis some tosses to the outside and then coming back later and pounding the middle. Defense is getting better and the only real thing I wanna see is that defensive front get more pressure besides Kenyon and blitz a little more. The secondary seems to have shaped up, but not sure if they’ve seen a team who is gonna pass a lot, unlike they will see in a couple weeks in the playoffs. But overall I’m satisfied with the dawgs play as they are getting better just before the playoffs like they should, and I think one of these games in the future is gonna go Hazards way because they are due.

The only thing I saw last night and also after rewatching this one is the officials seemed lost and clueless at times. To my knowledge when a player is tackled, a 40 second play clock starts after the refs have blown the play in over and the ball is being spot as the time is running. But just before halftime Hazard make a tackle on Pikeville making it 4th and long with 47 seconds left and the clock runs out. There wasn’t going to be a flag thrown, then it was called , and then Hazard declines in and they go to half. Hazard or Pikeville should have had to either punt/go for it. But a plays has to be run when there is supposed to be time on the clock. Technically there should have been atleast close to 7 seconds.

[bac2369]

Here is the picture from rewatching the game. The ref has it spotted and halfway to the players. There is 47 seconds and I’m sure it took atleast 1/2 seconds to get to that far from the sideline on the field.

[Belichick]

14-0 at halftime, Hazard with the onside kick recovery to start the 3rd and they scored a TD. Then Hazard stopped Pikevill on their drive and marched down the field killing most of the time. It was 14-6 and Hazard could't score. Pikeville then broke one on the opening play of next drive late in the 3rd to break it away. This game was not out of reach for Hazard until that TD. For Hazard to be able to knock of Pikeville and/or Raceland in the playoffs they must find a a way to score. Their Defense has been good all season. At the beginning of the season Hazard seemed to be scoring at will, not sure what has changed. However, Hazard is not a team I would want to play in the playoffs. They are capable of winning if they put it together.

They started playing teams with actual defenses.

---

Here is the picture from rewatching the game. The ref has it spotted and halfway to the players. There is 47 seconds and I’m sure it took atleast 1/2 seconds to get to that far from the sideline on the field.

That’s not the official clock.  That is on the Facebook broadcast.  There was 1-2 seconds difference between game and play clocks.  There should have been a play.  Pikeville could have just snapped it and kneeled or whatever.  The officials were going to make them snap it and Hazard declined.  Really don’t understand why there was even a conversation. Should have been time on the clock and Pikeville should have had to snap the ball there regardless of whatever time was on the clock.

---

Hall, Stanley, and Anthony play tonight?

Yes all those kids played. Hager and Stevens didn’t play. Which ive heard or read somewhere that Hager may not be back this season but who knows. Stevens got hurt on kick off at Paintsville at the beginning of the game and he didn’t return.

But I went back and watch this one again to see what I missed from getting to Pikeville late. But first off Congrats to Pikeville on a hard fought win. Anthony run hard all night. My question for Pikeville in this one is why don’t you pick on the Hazard DB who had a club on? I think you only took 1 shot at him.. if he didn’t have the club then he possibly takes a pick back for a touchdown because it was a terrible thrown ball. All he could do it bat it down. The Pikeville I watched before is thrown at that kid all game. I believe if I’m Pikeville these next few games I’d be working more on the passing game. To me it seems there not too in sync as normal past teams.  Now for Hazard
Hazard is gonna have to avoid these mistakes giving up short fields with stupid mistakes. First pick on camera the kid isn’t even looking for the ball. Turnover lead to a Pikeville touchdown.
Hazards second INT the Pikeville kid made one hell of a play and took it.  I think also needs to throw the ball a little more down field. Hazard likes the screens and you can’t blame them when you have a Gavin Johnson who could break one at anytime. But I’d like see him catching those passes in space more. Running game is getting a little better at hitting the middle of the field. I think they need to get back to get Memphis some tosses to the outside and then coming back later and pounding the middle. Defense is getting better and the only real thing I wanna see is that defensive front get more pressure besides Kenyon and blitz a little more. The secondary seems to have shaped up, but not sure if they’ve seen a team who is gonna pass a lot, unlike they will see in a couple weeks in the playoffs. But overall I’m satisfied with the dawgs play as they are getting better just before the playoffs like they should, and I think one of these games in the future is gonna go Hazards way because they are due.

The only thing I saw last night and also after rewatching this one is the officials seemed lost and clueless at times.  To my knowledge when a player is tackled, a 40 second play clock starts after the refs have blown the play in over and the ball is being spot as the time is running. But just before halftime Hazard make a tackle on Pikeville making it 4th and long with 47 seconds left and the clock runs out. There wasn’t going to be a flag thrown, then it was called , and then Hazard declines in and they go to half. Hazard or Pikeville should have had to either punt/go for it. But a plays has to be run when there is supposed to be time on the clock. Technically there should have been atleast close to 7 seconds.

Play calling has everyone confused. Pikeville has dealt with way too many injuries this season but that’s not any excuse for the play calls. You can blame timing or execution on some kids being out but not the actual scheme. There is no method to the madness. It is not for the sake of not showing other teams plays. It’s just been poor and needs addressed if Pikeville has any shot of winning it this year. Not diminishing the Hazard effort because they played hard all night but a larger margin of victory was there. Hazard played Pikeville like most teams. Cover 3. 1 deep safety. Crash the LBs. Pikeville should pick that apart with their QB and receivers but they continue to run at loaded boxes. Hager injury has turned out to be significant because when they threw, he was creating some scores and big gains on his own. I think the latest is he’s done this season so someone needs to fill that role. Stevens will be back soon from what I understand which helps.

[Gunslinger33]

You all must’ve been watching a different game than I was. 14-6 with a little over a minute left in the 3rd and hazard drives the field after taking the onside kick in for a score to open the 2nd half. Obviously couldn’t score and Pikeville takes a big run back the other way for a TD to make it 21-6. Hazard was in the red zone or close to it seems like with a 14-6 score way late in the 3rd. The defense played good all night. Had several 3rd and 4th down stops the best I can remember. This game wasn’t any means out of reach like people are trying to act like. Anthony is just a load to do much with. Hazard offense has to start doing something and giving the defense some help. Do I think Pikeville is better than hazard? Overall probably so but this particular game was winnable for hazard. Pikeville passing game didn’t look very good to me and if not for Anthony in the backfield this games possibly a different outcome. People seem to be blaming the play calling and that very well could be true but saying this game was never in doubt for Pikeville is a stretch I think. They played a pretty clean game. Not a ton of flags and didn’t do anything foolish to really help hazard case. Hazard just showed up to play. A couple of costly turnovers early in the game set a bad tone for the offense. If those aren’t there maybe the score is flip flopped. All in all good game by Pikeville and they’ll more than likely win another state championship. Big, strong, physical kids who play hard and well coached.

[Belichick]

Hazard had trouble moving the ball all night outside of two possessions and a couple of pass interference calls. That’s why I never felt the game was going any other way than it did despite what was going on during Pikeville’s possessions.

Anyone who truly knows football, like the formations and schemes against those, will be able to understand that the play calls for Pikeville right now are not ok. The talent on this year’s Pikeville team is good, really good for 1A and I’ve argued as good or better than last year’s team who romped through the postseason and only lost 2 games with a difficult schedule. No one is really that close and I’m hyping Pikeville and not trying to disrespect other teams. There is a huge disconnect right now and I’m just not sure it gets fixed. If it does, you’ll see Pikeville roll in the playoffs again. If not, they will take an early seat.

[BlackAndYellow]

I keep seeing Panther fans complain about the play calling. Why do you guys think things have changed for?

[jetpilot]

Was I dreaming that after Hazard fumble Anthony ran over the entire Hazard defense, their coach and several of their fans and drug them all down to the 3 yard line for a first and goal, then didn't get the ball the next 3 plays and Pikeville kicked a FG?
Was that real? If they do that again I'm filing a lawsuit lol.
I would get on the loudspeaker and yell Hey Hazard, 35 is running up the middle on 1st down, to the left on second down, to the right on 3rd down, and if it gets to 4th down, which it won't, you will have to guess which way he is going to run.
I think that's what will happen deep in the playoffs.

[jetpilot]

I do realize he might not be 100% yet and they are probably limiting his carries somewhat

[Gunslinger33]

Hazard had trouble moving the ball all night outside of two possessions and a couple of pass interference calls. That’s why I never felt the game was going any other way than it did despite what was going on during Pikeville’s possessions.

Anyone who truly knows football, like the formations and schemes against those, will be able to understand that the play calls for Pikeville right now are not ok. The talent on this year’s Pikeville team is good, really good for 1A and I’ve argued as good or better than last year’s team who romped through the postseason and only lost 2 games with a difficult schedule. No one is really that close and I’m hyping Pikeville and not trying to disrespect other teams. There is a huge disconnect right now and I’m just not sure it gets fixed. If it does, you’ll see Pikeville roll in the playoffs again. If not, they will take an early seat.

I’m not going to disagree with you but also the same thing can be said for hazard. Earlier in the season we ran a lot of different schemes and plays to a lot of different kids. Offense was putting up a lot of numbers and defense was playing solid ball. As the season progressed we’ve not done so well but I keep holding to hope that the coaches are saving it for the playoffs. Nonetheless I’m happy with our turnaround from last year and hope we can prove a lot of doubters wrong and make a decent run through the postseason.

[Belichick]

Hazard had trouble moving the ball all night outside of two possessions and a couple of pass interference calls. That’s why I never felt the game was going any other way than it did despite what was going on during Pikeville’s possessions.

Anyone who truly knows football, like the formations and schemes against those, will be able to understand that the play calls for Pikeville right now are not ok. The talent on this year’s Pikeville team is good, really good for 1A and I’ve argued as good or better than last year’s team who romped through the postseason and only lost 2 games with a difficult schedule. No one is really that close and I’m hyping Pikeville and not trying to disrespect other teams. There is a huge disconnect right now and I’m just not sure it gets fixed. If it does, you’ll see Pikeville roll in the playoffs again. If not, they will take an early seat.

I’m not going to disagree with you but also the same thing can be said for hazard. Earlier in the season we ran a lot of different schemes and plays to a lot of different kids. Offense was putting up a lot of numbers and defense was playing solid ball. As the season progressed we’ve not done so well but I keep holding to hope that the coaches are saving it for the playoffs. Nonetheless I’m happy with our turnaround from last year and hope we can prove a lot of doubters wrong and make a decent run through the postseason.

I think Hazard is on the right track. Big improvement from last year. The kids played hard and there wasn’t a bunch of stupid penalties. Without mentioning specific kids, there was one player on Hazard who tended to get some dumb penalties likely related to frustration. Haven’t watched it back yet but that young man played very hard and was a factor for them on defense. No stupid extra stuff and seemed to be very sportsmanlike after the game also. Like what I see from Hazard. I’m not sure what they lose this year to graduation but they can get back to being competitive regularly and a factor in 1A if they continue to improve.

[Big Boomer]

Hazard is really good at disrupting and making you play their game, their only weakness is depth. I think Chandler is a really good Coach and has a really good football mind. I can see him at bigger school with a deeper roster having Haddix type success.

[Bluecat]

Hazard is really good at disrupting and making you play their game, their only weakness is depth. I think Chandler is a really good Coach and has a really good football mind. I can see him at bigger school with a deeper roster having Haddix type success.

I think this will be evident more in the next couple years as he continues to build back the Hazard program. This year he already went above and beyond my expectations and has already built the culture back into the program.

[FballFan67]

Offensive play calling this Year has been Pikeville's biggest problem. No sense of urgency and predictable play calling. No tempo and breaking the huddle late. I know we wanted to get rid of Stoops at Kentucky,  but who hired him as the OC at Pikeville this year ???

I couldn't second this enough. Play calling could not be worse. No way the game with Hazard should have been that close this year. Raceland put them away much easier. And if I am Pikeville I don't think I would want to go back to Raceland 3rd round of the playoffs. It just looks like to me that there are just no good teams in 1A. I think any of them can be beat by almost anyone. I think Pikeville's biggest obstacles are Raceland, Campbellsville, and offensive play calling.

[Belichick]

Still missing a couple of kids and as some that have returned get reps, things will be better. I expect some things to get worked out but Pikeville’s biggest obstacle is getting everyone on the same page.

[jetpilot]

Pikeville has given up 19 points in 3 Class A games, all coming off of turnovers. Even with all the other talent they have, which is a lot, another championship defense + Anthony is easily enough to win another title...IF they stop handing out gifts like candy on Halloween and nix the crazy play calling in the red zone.

[The 99]

I feel like Pikeville can adjust and overcome. A good coaching staff like Pikeville, in my opinion, is always striving to improve, and they will find a way to put the pieces together.

The physical talent is there. The mental talent is getting better. Look at all the penalties and mistakes in the first half of the season and compare them to the last 4 weeks. Improvement has come gradually in the second half of this season, especially on defense.

[jetpilot]

I feel like Pikeville can adjust and overcome. A good coaching staff like Pikeville, in my opinion, is always striving to improve, and they will find a way to put the pieces together.

The physical talent is there. The mental talent is getting better. Look at all the penalties and mistakes in the first half of the season and compare them to the last 4 weeks. Improvement has come gradually in the second half of this season, especially on defense.

Totally agree. Pikeville will again be a nightmare for Class A teams very soon.

[Belichick]

I agree defense keeps getting better and I always have thought they are well prepared on that side of the ball. But they aren’t going to be able to hand the ball off to Anthony 20-30 times without any production elsewhere and hope to win against good teams. Different year and different line and other teams have already shown they are going to try to take him away. Boyd is good enough this week to score a few TDs and beat the Panthers. Sayre, Campbellsville, Raceland also all good enough to score a few times. Pikeville isn’t pitching a shutout the entire playoffs. There will be a game when they have to score some points and they do at times but red zone calls and general play calling in the games when they have decided to be ultra conservative won’t cut it. Honestly, it’s just been bad and not like a Pikeville team and I’ll say it, it is not the players. That team has plenty of talent, more than anyone in 1A by a good margin. QB is good. Receivers are good. We know what Anthony is and they have 3 other backs who probably start for most other 1A teams. Their defense is stout. Each game has just looked different and not in a good way. No identity. No game plan. Pikeville teams are usually building and rolling by now. I honestly felt like Hazard was a running clock game after watching them. Raceland was a 3-4 TD game and it was trending that way until 2 turnovers in second half. LCA was winnable and they played it without Anthony, Stanley, and Hall. Ironton I did not feel was winnable but after the Pikeville start and effort, it was. I felt like Pikeville was better than Belfry. Scoring 7 points against Corbin’s defense was a lousy performance. Mind boggling offensive play calling against JC. All of those games had multiple blunders that weren’t player mistakes. It honestly looks like they aren’t prepared at times. It looks like there is no offensive strategy several games this season. Obvious weapons not used or used often enough. I’m just a little shocked in brutal honesty. I think injuries have hurt the growth and they still need all of them back but it still doesn’t account for the product on the field this year. Still time but not much.

[jetpilot]

I hear you but nobody in Class A stops Anthony if they put 11 in the box + the HC and all the refs. Having said that they have the personnel to hurt teams bad that do that but it seems like they haven't utilized it much.

[jetpilot]

Anthony
248 yards vs Campbellsville in semis last year
237 vs Raceland in the finals plus a TD pass
82 yards in 3 carries vs Raceland this year playing hurt
164 yds vs Paintsville 15 carries
211 yds vs Hazard 19 carries

12.4 yards per carry
Nobody stopping it

Having said that mixing it up a little makes the offense 10x  more deadly. I think it will all come together.

[Gunslinger33]

I can understand getting aggravated with things but my god Pikeville has won a billion games and multiple state championships under Mcnamee and staff and you all are cutting them down pretty harsh. What else do you want?

[jetpilot]

I can understand getting aggravated with things but my god Pikeville has won a billion games and multiple state championships under Mcnamee and staff and you all are cutting them down pretty harsh. What else do you want?

Aggravated is the wrong word. Concerned. Everyone has total faith in the coaching staff. Pikeville has a very knowledgeable fan base. Things have been a little off this year. Just some food for thought on here.
To answer your question everyone wants another championship. Looking good but a tad shaky. Total faith Pikeville will be a monster again around Thanksgiving and beyond

[Belichick]

I can understand getting aggravated with things but my god Pikeville has won a billion games and multiple state championships under Mcnamee and staff and you all are cutting them down pretty harsh. What else do you want?

Those coaches deserve all the credit in the world but this year is just a different product. Watch the Pikeville games and you’ll see. I understand the frustration.  Not cutting anyone unless criticizing play calls is cutting.

I hear you Jet on Anthony. Absolute stud and just a fantastic high school football player. He can beat some teams almost by himself. He still needs his line and others to block for him. But there are games he hasn’t been allowed to beat the other team this year. 70+ yards against Hazard was his long TD. Counts on stats but he also was stopped in the red zone and it’s because they sold out to keep him from beating them. Happened several times in other games this year also because teams are keeping 8-9 players up near LOS and he wasn’t 100%. Better defenses have more success doing it than others. Raceland has a good defense. Haven’t watched KCD or Sayre. Campbellsville is decent. But if those other teams are scoring and those teams have potential to score, Pikeville must put up some points. They put up 41 on Paintsville which hardly counts. 33 on Ironton was nice. 28 on GRC. 26 on LCA. 4 highest scoring games of the year. That doesn’t sound like a typical Pikeville offense and they lost a weapon outside. How many running clocks does Pikeville usually put on teams per year? It’s just different but I think they have the pieces to still do that and could have won a few games they lost. Gotta be fixed in my opinion to win it this year. Different team, different line and not many lines or any single running back out there beating 8-9 in the box consistently.

---

Also, against the two decent 1A teams they played, they scored 16 at Raceland and 24 at home in a district championship game against Hazard. I believe they have quite a bit more in the tank. That’s a compliment by the way and not cutting anyone. I also don’t see what the coaches see everyday in practice. So there may be a reason why plays have been called how they were called. Just my observations.