ATLCat

Congrats on the big win Irish! Belfry has to play tonight against their cross county rivals and defending 1A State Champions Pikeville. I anticipate Belfry winning though. This should be a war between two very good small schools! Belfry is the 3 Time Defending Class 3A State Champs from Kentucky and defeated Catholic 38-14 last year at Belfry. Belfry returned 9 starters from last year's team including 4 players with D-1 Offers in some capacity.

I am not sure...but would think the AD would most likely have to reach out. Timing would be pretty good with it being a little earlier in the season... as you get later in Fall ESPNU picks up more college games. I do know that lighting requirements have to be met, but usually if the lighting is not up to snuff ESPN will bring temporary lighting. They also typically only do games that highlight prominent recruits and they usually want multiple recruits so it is able to appeal to more fanbases. With Rodgers and Mays you have your two headliners... I fully expect Belfry to have 2 guys that will have D-1 offers after the summer in DT Horton and TE Bentley. Belfry's T Austin Dotson is the best kept secret in the state and if he focuses on football camps this summer instead of summer baseball (He is a 6'6 275 Pitcher) I have a feeling he could blow up. The fact you will have the fodder of two defending State Champs who are probably both among the Top 500 teams in the country just makes it better.

Congrats to Catholic from Belfry, KY! Just throwing this out there...but maybe the AD's should try to coordinate and get next year's game on National Television. Both are Defending State Champs and will be loaded for bear and with plenty enough D-1 talent to pique some interest.

Wishing Catholic luck from the Pirates of Belfry, KY! FWIW, Belfry is playing for a Region Title and currently is 11-1. Their lone loss to the #1 overall team in WV. Belfry followed up their win against Catholic by also beating the team ranked #1 in KY 4A 41-0 in the regular season finale. Would love to see Catholic win it all in TN 4A

Final 38-14 Just too much Belfry. The option power attack was just too foreign for KC. Pirates roll up 481 total yards. KC hit some big plays and Rodgers was the real deal. Finished with 9 catches for 220+ yards including two or three huge gains where the coverage was perfect. Special player. Belfrys defense by and large played well outside of Rodgers though. KC with negative yardage as Belfrys own stud potential D1 player Ray Horton caused all sorts of trouble. Both teams learned a whole lot from a style of team they aren't used to seeing. Film study will be invaluable for both sides. Wishing very safe travels on this rainy night!

38-14 Rodgers doing his thing

38-7 in 4th Belfry

Belfry 28 Knox Cath 7 HALF KC with a fumble in the redone and a turnover on downs after a Belfry punt miscue . Belfry missed a 58 yard FG and has some sloppy mistakes at the end of the Half

Almost forgot! Not sure if Knoxville Catholic does a radio broadcast of their games live or not... but here is the link to where you can listen to the Belfry broadcast www.wdhr.com For any KC fans listening on the way or at the game it will be 93.1 FM... you should pick it up once you cross over the KY State Line on US-23 A lot of HS radio crews are very biased but the Belfry guys actually do a pretty bang up job! Obviously they will see it with red colored glasses but they try to be purposeful in their broadcast not to be one of those crews you have heard and hated. Bobby Norman does a good job with play by play and actually keeps the time and score updated. Steve Mickey was the Belfry D-Coordinator for years and does a very good job with color. They also try to do a stat recap at the Half for both teams. It is part of a larger radio network and they will do a bit of a pregame show starting around 7:00 EST

Rain Looks like around 50-60% chance throughout the game. Doesn't look like Thunderstorms but just showers varying between light and heavy. Having had a chance to watch a couple KC games on their site I think this is going to be an interesting matchup. KC scares me to death with their big play potential and their receivers are going to be a nightmare for Belfry's young and small secondary. I think Belfry's offense will give KC some troubles as well. Will come down to who holds on to the ball on the slick turf and which pace wins out. Will it be Belfry's pace where they want to eat clock and grind drives and in turn force you to beat them by driving the ball and being patient? Or will it be Catholic with their home run ability forcing Belfry to play from behind and play in a hurry? I will say Belfry gets a couple turnovers that are key: Belfry 28- 24 Safe travels to the KC fans!

For any Catholic fans making the trip: Belfry is located in Pike County about 3 miles from the West Virginia border along US-119. Google Maps estimates the trip at 3 hours and 50 minutes and the route up I-81 and then through Virginia on US23 is definitely the route I would strongly recommend. It should be all four lane Highway at least. You will turn off US-23 just North of Pikeville, KY and turn right onto US-119 North. Once you make that turn it is roughly 25 minutes to the school. Between Pikeville and Belfry there will be little to no options for gas or food. Pikeville has several options between fast food and sit down restaurants. **For those spending the night I also strongly suggest staying in Pikeville as the options in Belfry/Williamson, WV are very limited.** As you come into Belfry you will first pass the Middle School (old High School) just keep driving as the High School is another 2.5 miles or so further and you literally cannot miss it as the school and stadium sit next to the Highway. There is substantial parking at the school if you arrive early. Belfry fans love to tailgate (and they do it well) and if you are pleasant and introduce yourself they will be happy to let you join in and get to know you and share their food. If you want to do your own tailgate or just need some other supplies just a quarter mile or so past the Stadium you will find a Wal-Mart, a Food City, and a handful of fast food places. For late arrivals you can park alongside the highway and walk. Belfry takes a lot of pride in their facility and it is a great place to watch a game. Separate visitor seating and ample. Turf field with no track around it. Nice locker facilities for visiting teams.

You are correct! Fun fact, my mother was a Hatfield and when they rebuilt the famous Court House from the Hog Trial they commissioned one McCoy preacher and one Hatfield. My Grandfather was the Hatfield! Austin Hatfield was Belfry's FB last year and was a beast. I think he is the only player (at least in the past 25 years) to rush for 100 yards in the State Finals in 3 consecutive years. He is one of the Seniors that left.. Belfry lost him, their QB, the Center, and a Guard. This year's roster has one Hatfield and one McCoy but neither really play. Still a fun sidenote. Everyone from Belfry really enjoyed the series with CAK and to this day consider the trip to play down there as one of the most hospitable and genuinely nicest groups of people they have ever visited. We only hope Catholic is from the same mold! The 2013 game for Belfry was tough as the Pirates entered that game extremely beat up and were missing I think 4 starters each way including the previously mentioned Hatfield. That was a nice win because most Pirate fans expected to take a loss and the CAK Quarterback was sensational in his first start. We were all kind of hoping to have CAK back on the schedule just to see him continue to grow. I am worried about Catholic's intermediate passing game. The Pirates lost a Safety and a Corner to graduation and currently start three Sophomores and a Junior in the Defensive Backfield.

If anyone is planning on making the trip I will be happy to answer any questions or assist in any way. Belfry is the back to back Kentucky 3A Champions and return 7 starters each way. Thusfar, they are 4-0 with convincing wins over a couple smaller school powers but have played noone on the level of KC. For comparison sake, Belfry has defeated CAK the past two seasons and won 31-7 in 2014. Offensively: Belfry runs primarily out of the flexbone and if they have success you may not see them even attempt to pass. The strength of Belfry's Offense is an Oline that averages 6'2 280 with several starters back from last season. Belfry's QB and best HB came back from a suspension last week. Defensively: Belfry is very good in their Front 7. They are led by a pair of excellent Junior DT's who have started since they were Freshman. Bentley is 6'4 305 and is getting D-1 attention,,, he is more of the gap filler type and excellent in run support. Horton is 6'2 295 and also getting D-1 attention. Horton is considered one of the top Defensive players in Kentucky and can do it all and has a knack for big plays Belfry plays a "5-2" but it is more or less a 3-4. Against run teams the DE's will play on the LOS but against the spread like you run they will play as LB'ers. Both are 3 year starters though. Thusfar, Belfry's biggest issue has been the secondary. The Belfry staff is notorious for playing ultra conservative against passing teams and giving up lots of yards but forcing you to beat them by scoring TD's and staying patient. They don't give up a lot over the top, but will play a ton of zone. The past two weeks teams had a good bit of success moving the ball in the First half but basically gained nothing after the break. Special Teams: Smaller Kentucky teams are usually neglected in Special Teams but Belfry is pretty solid.Decent return ability and adequate kick coverage. Belfry has an adept punter who has a nice leg for the HS level.. he also is good at directional punting or using the short punt with the roll. Belfry's placekicker is solid. About 75-80% of his kickoffs are touchbacks, he is consistent on XP's, and has Field Goal Range beyond 40-50 yards. This past week he was 2/2 including a 46 yarder.

Looking forward to this one and very glad to see it on the Belfry schedule. What can the Belfry fans expect from the 2015 Catholic squad?

Don't know if it has been posted but Belfry(KY) will play Knoxville Catholic. Belfry has played CAK the past two years and just won their 2nd Straight KY 3A Title. They should have a very strong team next year returning 7 Starters each way including future D-1 Prospect Ray Horton on the Dline.

Belfry played exclusively Cover 2 last week. The Pirates always play a 5-2 that they change to in essence a 3-4 against a spread team. They stand their DE's up and drop them 90% of the time into the flats. On 1st and 2nd Down Belfry only brought 3 linemen and basically invited CAK to throw short accurate passes.. nothing deep...and flares and bubble screens they flew out to. Belfry's DL were asked to contain Smith to the pocket and read run first. CAK did a really nice job of using the Nichols kid and the big TE Pope to move the chains, but once CAK got inside the 30 Belfry became more aggressive. Safeties and CB's played tighter, occasional blitz, bringing the DE's up.. and the Horton kid was given marching orders to get after the QB. CAK can hurt a man defense. The Pope kid is a nightmare of a matchup with his size against a LB. The WR's run very crisp routes. CAK needs at least the threat of running game though to beat better teams. Belfry is very, very good against the run but literally the DT Horton single handily shut down CAK's running game when they used it.

Bell was not a toss-up. Everyone outside of the Pine Mountain area expected Alcoa to win that game.

You shouldn't be so harsh on your team. It would probably take at least 3 Quarters before Belfry would put them away. Seriously though, nothing but respect for Alcoa and I would love nothing more to see a series between the two. Belfry has a hard time filling their schedule due to lack of quality competition in EKY and the 5 or 6 best WV schools won't play them due to their playoff system. I have no doubt Alcoa would be a stiff test and probably would be a couple TD's better, but Belfry has never ran from competition. Belfry is about to be stacked the next 3-4 seasons. Those Bell teams Alcoa pummeled were quality teams, but Belfry has been next level to Bell over the past decade outside of 2009 and 2010 when Belfry was reloading (even still Belfry overachieved in 2010 and found a way to reach the Finals). The team that just handled CAK played a ton of Soph's and Freshmen.

Nothing but respect to CAK. Once again very classy as both teams come together after a hard hitting game for prayer. Smith goes 28/43 for 303. CAK had -12 rushing yards until the last play from scrimmage. Belfry rushes for 347 and 380 Total Yards. As a Belfry fan I will take that and this win considering Belfry lost 2 more HB's from their already paper thin backfield early in the game.Our Soph QB did a great job in his first big start running the offense. CAK actually had a great gameplan against Belfry's mule FB Hatfield..held him to his lowest yardage total. He had maybe 50 yards on 17 or 18 carries and 2 TD's from a yard out. Really hoping this series continues. Belfry and CAK are both extremely young and talented teams and Smith is by far the best QB Belfry will see all year.

FINAL Belfry 31 CAK 7

2:53 Left 31-7 Belfry

Belfry's future D-1 prospect Horton blows up a 4th and 1 at the CAK 35. Belfry gets a 35 yard TD shortly after

Still 24-7 Belfry

CAK living inside the Belfry 30 all night and unable to capitalize. About the 4th times they turn it over on downs. This one was set up by a Belfry fumble deep in their territory

CAK gets a big play with Nichols but Belfry once again turns them over on downs inside the 30