[16BBall Fan]

Final from Union. Not surprised that Union won but am somewhat by the margin.

[CitySlicker]

Travel must’ve been too much for the Pirates. Rough year for the mountain teams unfortunately.

[rrcuppett]

Final from Union. Not surprised that Union won but am somewhat by the margin.

turnovers and  could not get stops.Congrtas to UC.  Belfry will be back next year.Safe travels home

[smoke1015]

Johnson is a pretty special talent but Union has a lot going for them. I will find it hard to believe they can win it all, but it would be a good story.

[Khalisimo]

im gonna have a lot of positives to say later but ill get my negative out to start

i always be the first to admit that the personnel isn’t great but at what point do we need to have talk about the defensive coordinator continuing to call the defense in a way that does nothing to address the talent deficiency in the front 3 and especially 7?????? still the same look with no stunts no wrinkles nothing it was great when you had d1 linemen up front like Horton and Bentley but that’s been 8 years now…… they do nothing to compensate for it……… and then they sit in cover 4 every single play……. Belfry failed to get a single stop tonight. The union county coach said on the radio before the game they aren’t going to change anything on defense they will sit in the cover 4 3-4 and stay in it………… Special teams sucks don’t get me wrong and that changed the game with the early kickoff but at this point the vanilla defense has been a repeated problem almost every single year since Horton walked across the stage at graduation…… gave up 435 yards tonight!!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE

2017 eliminated giving up 60
2018 eliminated giving up 41
2020 only gave up 10 in a loss
2021 won state but gave up 28 and needed Dixon to run for 400 yards
2022 eliminated giving up 48
2023 eliminated giving up 24 never got a stop
2024 eliminated giving up 43 never got a stop

2019 the defense was fine with baisden BUT if this is the guy they are leaving the keys to when haywood retires you might as well consolidate the program with pike central!!!!!!!

btw you have a former college special teams ga on your staff doing very little LET HIM RUN YOUR SPECIAL TEAMS ISNT like he can make it worse!!!! they have sucked all year and the last few years

end on a positive though the team will have plenty of weapons next year in their arsenal……. Thank you seniors!!!!!

[pirateforlife]

Union County is very good. Would love to know how the team I watched tonight lost to Madisonville North Hopkins and Murray. MNH lost to a 5-7 Fort Campbell. Belfry’s defense has not been great all year but the defense has carried them. The muffed kickoff was the play that changed the game. Not sure why you don’t just let it go out of bounds and take the ball and the penalty. Johnson is as advertised. Another thing is this game would have been at Pond Creek if Belfry beats GRC. Will be rooting for Union but going to be a tall task against CAL. Next year in 2A Belfry should have a real shot of going back to Kroger. Hats off to BHS seniors. 1 state championship so there’s that to hang on to. Going to be a long haul back to Pike County

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im gonna have a lot of positives to say later but ill get my negative out to start

i always be the first to admit that the personnel isn’t great but at what point do we need to have talk about the defensive coordinator continuing to call the defense in a way that does nothing to address the talent deficiency in the front 3 and especially 7?????? still the same look with no stunts no wrinkles nothing it was great when you had d1 linemen up front like Horton and Bentley but that’s been 8 years now…… they do nothing to compensate for it……… and then they sit in cover 4 every single play……. Belfry failed to get a single stop tonight. The union county coach said on the radio before the game they aren’t going to change anything on defense they will sit in the cover 4 3-4 and stay in it………… Special teams sucks don’t get me wrong and that changed the game with the early kickoff but at this point the vanilla defense has been a repeated problem almost every single year since Horton walked across the stage at graduation…… gave up 435 yards tonight!!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE

2017 eliminated giving up 60
2018 eliminated giving up 41
2020 only gave up 10 in a loss
2021 won state but gave up 28 and needed Dixon to run for 400 yards
2022 eliminated giving up 48
2023 eliminated giving up 24 never got a stop
2024 eliminated giving up 43 never got a stop

2019 the defense was fine with baisden BUT if this is the guy they are leaving the keys to when haywood retires you might as well consolidate the program with pike central!!!!!!!

btw you have a former college special teams ga on your staff doing very little LET HIM RUN YOUR SPECIAL TEAMS ISNT like he can make it worse!!!! they have sucked all year and the last few years

end on a positive though the team will have plenty of weapons next year in their arsenal……. Thank you seniors!!!!!

Agree with the defensive game plan. Whether Belfry plays a ground and pound team like tonight or an air raid team they play the same defense. Why not bring some extra guys in the box? You know Johnson was running it at halfback. And I would have put Wolford and Marcum out on defense some due to their size. Teams that play Belfry have 8, 9, sometimes 10 guys within 5 yards of the LOS cause they know the run is coming. I would have done whatever I can do stop Johnson and make anyone else beating me.

[ROCKSOLID69]

Congrats to Union county. Surprised like most of you by the margin. Belfry you had a good season. Nothing to hang your head about. But dang that be a long ride home

[OutlawJoseyWales]

I’ll refrain from the negatives. Congratulations and a tip of the hat to Union. Good team….and definitely the better team tonight. Be interesting too see how the championship games plays out. If I’m right….Cal will NOT allow what Belfry did.

[fansville]

Jarren Johnson is a monster and what he has done this season with his Union Co team, he should be in the Mr Football discussion. I know everyone anointed 1 person before the season started but Johnson is playing for a state championship and has performed at a Mr Football level.

[pirateforlife]

I’ll refrain from the negatives.    Congratulations and a tip of the hat to Union.  Good team….and definitely the better team tonight.    Be interesting too see how the championship games plays out.  If I’m right….Cal will NOT allow what Belfry did.

I know they did but it almost appeared that Belfry did not watch film or expect Johnson to run the ball as much as he did. If Union County beats me throwing fine but you can’t let Johnson beat you. Blitz, go to a 5-3, 6-2 something to keep them from running it down your throat every play. Definitely did not understand the defensive game plan.

[truebluefan89]

Congrats Union!

[OutlawJoseyWales]

I’ll refrain from the negatives.    Congratulations and a tip of the hat to Union.  Good team….and definitely the better team tonight.    Be interesting too see how the championship games plays out.  If I’m right….Cal will NOT allow what Belfry did.

I know they did but it almost appeared that Belfry did not watch film or expect Johnson to run the ball as much as he did. If Union County beats me throwing fine but you can’t let Johnson beat you. Blitz, go to a 5-3, 6-2 something to keep them from running it down your throat every play. Definitely did not understand the defensive game plan.

I agree 100%.  I was hoping we would would go to a 6 man front …..but we just never did….and …Johnson is good enough …and has excellent feet and vision in the hole to cut and read.  Very nice player.     In the end….Union had too much speed….and Belfry once again struggled to stop the run.   This is the single most disappointing issue of the last few seasons.  Belfry’s inability to consistently stop the run and get stops on 3rd & 4th downs.    Whatever we’re doing….isn’t  working.     The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.     That’s where we’re at.

[foxbody87]

Pirates should’ve kept their time and gas money and maybe went to Mr Gattis instead

[pirateforlife]

Can someone closer to the Union County program or WKY football tell me how Union County lost to the 2 teams they lost to? Neither team had a very strong resume. If Belfry wants to win a championship in 2A they are going to have to learn to tackle. This won’t work against the LCA’s, Beechwood, Mayfield, Somerset, O Cath, etc.

[Khalisimo]

Can someone closer to the Union County program or WKY football tell me how Union County lost to the 2 teams they lost to? Neither team had a very strong resume. If Belfry wants to win a championship in 2A they are going to have to learn to tackle. This won’t work against the LCA’s, Beechwood, Mayfield, Somerset, O Cath,  etc.

to be fair they havent had much time to work on it
we only learned they sucked at it 14 weeks ago

[Patriot1]

Congratulations to Union County they did what they did all year but Belfry hadn’t made any adjustments all year and again the tackling was terrible

[rrcuppett]

just wanting to know if they all made it back to Pond Creek ok?

[PT*1968]

If there are any Union County people on this site, is Jarren Johnson related to Larry Johnson, the UK point guard from the Joe Hall coaching era?   Younger fans might not know that Union County, a smallish rural school in western Kentucky, produced three UK basketball players in a short period of time.....Larry Johnson (6-3 point guard built like a football fullback), Dwane Casey (6-2 shooting guard), and Freddie Cowan (6-9 power forward).  This is the Dwane Casey who was head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, later the Toronto Raptors, and retired in 2023 from coaching as coach of the Detroit Pistons.  Dwane Casey and Pat Riley should be in any state of Kentucky athletics Hall of Fame as both coached for a long time in the NBA.

[EKUAlum05]

This was all about Union. They dominated Belfry, executed a great game plan, made big plays, and exploited Belfry’s weaknesses. Very impressed by the Braves and pulling for them to upset CAL but it will be a much taller task.

For Belfry, 19 of 22 starters return.

[Senters_93]

just wanting to know if they all made it back to Pond Creek ok?

It'll be Tuesday before anyone arrives across the pacific!!

[Khalisimo]

This was all about Union. They dominated Belfry, executed a great game plan, made big plays, and exploited Belfry’s weaknesses. Very impressed by the Braves and pulling for them to upset CAL but it will be a much taller task.

For Belfry, 19 of 22 starters return.

Over simplification that chooses to ignore problems belfry didn’t even seem to have a game plan it couldn’t have been make them pass it couldn’t have been take Johnson away make the rest beat you and it wasn’t to make adjustments as we go yes Union dominated and deserve a ton of credit but belfry played like they did not prepare it at all

[smoke1015]

Jarren Johnson is a monster and what he has done this season with his Union Co team, he should be in the Mr Football discussion. I know everyone anointed 1 person before the season started but Johnson is playing for a state championship and has performed at a Mr Football level.

Johnson 2000 yards last season, I think tore his ACL his sophomore year. Then this year his numbers actually down slightly, but they have a couple of other RBs who do pretty well, changes of pace, and bigger than him. Belfry continues to be great (compared to 99% of our own teams) even though maybe not up to the standards they've had back in the 2013 to 2018 seasons (not exact on those numbers). I would hate to see them consolidate, but there are some monsters in 2A, maybe more than 3A.

[Senters_93]

Goodluck in 2A Belfry.

[Belichick]

Union looked better than I thought they were on film. Johnson is legit. Congrats to them! I agree about the Belfry defensive scheme. Not sure what the thought process was. Belfry returns a ton and I expect a transfer or two but they’ll go against some unfamiliar foes deep in playoffs of 2A next year. So gameplans will be important. I think Mayfield was young this year. Not sure about Beechwood, LCA, OC, or Somerset.

[pirateforlife]

Union looked better than I thought they were on film. Johnson is legit. Congrats to them! I agree about the Belfry defensive scheme. Not sure what the thought process was. Belfry returns a ton and I expect a transfer or two but they’ll go against some unfamiliar foes deep in playoffs of 2A next year. So gameplans will be important.  I think Mayfield was young this year. Not sure about Beechwood, LCA, OC, or Somerset.

Transfer as in coming to Belfry or leaving Belfry? It won’t matter if Belfry doesn’t learn to tackle

[Belichick]

I expect a transfer or two going to Belfry.

[smoke1015]

Union looked better than I thought they were on film. Johnson is legit. Congrats to them! I agree about the Belfry defensive scheme. Not sure what the thought process was. Belfry returns a ton and I expect a transfer or two but they’ll go against some unfamiliar foes deep in playoffs of 2A next year. So gameplans will be important.  I think Mayfield was young this year. Not sure about Beechwood, LCA, OC, or Somerset.

Somerset is young I believe, we have a couple of former players there now, one is a sophomore and I think their leading tackler. THey have a great 8th grade class coming up as well.

[zangazang]

Pirates should’ve kept their time and gas money and maybe went to Mr Gattis instead

Yeah that was just a big waste of gas money. Atleast they could’ve got something good to eat and play some fun games

[Micro-Brew]

I actually thought Belfry may have a shot this year to at the least make it to the championship game, but I was wrong.
I realize they return a bunch of kids but the teams in 2A are quite possibly even better than the top of 3A so I don’t think they have much shot next year either. But in saying that, if they don’t make a deep run next year then it’s straight downhill for the Pirates because from what I’ve seen the pipeline is drying up quickly and for quite a few years. Congrats to Union Co, that bunch wasn’t one bit intimidated or impressed with the Belfry tradition. They dominated that game start to finish.

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I expect a transfer or two going to Belfry.

They’re going to need some, especially after next year.

[BlackcatAlum]

I know Beechwood, LCA and Owensboro Catholic lose a lot. Mayfield and Murray return a lot, but one cancels the other out since they share districts. Somerset loses their QB, but return their two best playmakers. Breathitt County returns like 19/22 starters. Bracken Co returns their best players and a big offensive line. Prestonsburg return 20/22 starters.

2A won’t be as strong as it has been the last few years, mostly because the COVID holdbacks are gone.

Belfry will be in the mix, but 2025 may be the last Belfry team to contend for a state championship for awhile, because they’ll be graduating a lot next season.