[EKUAlum05]

Central was a tough out for Belfry every year, win or lose.
I just have a feeling 3A will be extremely tougher for Belfry under this format. Theres no doubt that 3A is stacked, and will be fun to watch, but to get through the tough potential games in the East and have a date with Bell or Corbin most years only for the prize to be Boyle or Lex Cath.

Truth be told I don't think Belfry's path has gotten all too much more difficult than in year's past LEADING up to the Championship.

In fact, the addition of Bell and Corbin I think have a Zero net effect.

Let's call it what it is... Breathitt's fall has really been the only thing that has made Belfry's path lighter the past two years. All previous years in 3A Belfry expected to meet a very good team(or two when Sheldon Clark was good) in the Region.

Whether it's Bell or Corbin, you can only play one team in the Semi's... and Belfry has always faced a good team in the Semi's. It's not some novel thing that Belfry now has to beat a good team to reach the Finals

If anything has made the path any more different it will be the inclusion of Russell in the Region.. which IMHO just serves to bring Belfry's path back to where it was up until 2 years ago when Breathitt was strong. In fact, instead of debating how Bell and Corbin made Belfry's life harder, the truth is it is more about how Bell and Corbin just got a lighter path for two teams who have yet to reach a Semi-Finals in the new 3A.


As for the Championship...there is no doubt the 3A title just got a lot tougher for anyone. With that said, I think the thought that suddenly Boyle and LexCath are the favorites...especially in 2015... is wayyyyy off by many.

It wasn't like either team were world beaters in 2014.. both struggled with pretty mediocre teams. Between the two the best win of the lot was Boyle beating a 4 loss Anderson County team in a game Anderson put up a ton of point and yards. LexCath, who won the Region and beat Boyle twice, lost to Lafayette and Bryan Station and struggled to beat a bad Madison Central team... Belfry thoroughly beat Henry Clay who proved the best of that lot. All signs point that last year LexCath and Central were pretty comparable teams and Belfry was the best of the group, Boyle the weakest.

Now if you look at who returns what... neither LexCath or Boyle return the experience of Belfry or Central. Boyle County's defense will improve in year two under Smith, but last year it was their offense that carried them to several of their wins. Boyle lost essentially all their offense save Robbins (who is a great player). LexCath does return offensive firepower but lost their talented QB and took hevay hits on an already spotty defense.

On the other hand, Central returns 8 starters each way... Belfry returns 7 each way including the brunt of one of the better defenses in the state. For anyone to infer Boyle or LexCath are instantly better than Central and Belfry is to take liberties that those teams are hypothetically improving substantially despite returning less experience. Is that possible? Sure... but the safe money would be that all 4 teams are all going to be on about the same level.