[PHSForever]

OMG I cannot believe that post!!!! Cannot believe that!!!!! Belfry did everything they could and played every man on the roster with the freshman team in there and they give a simple handoff and a kid breaks a touchdown probably the highlight of his life and someone says Haywood ran it up...The single most disappointing statement in all my years of BGR and PHS I know you have more sense than that cause all your posts are real legitimate...Haywood has and will never run it up on anyone particularly Pikeville. It just so happened they ran some plays with their freshman and an even more important questions pointed out by our buddies on Pikeville radio right beside us, what in Hillard Howard's name was Randy Maynard doing in the game at wideout, and I understand that is a PHS set maybe they were working on, but why is he out there with 3-4 minutes to go...There is a reason Belfry is good every year and it is because these young players get a chance to play in late game situations..To say you lost respect for Belfry is the worst statement I Have ever heard on hear...extremely disappointed!!!

First, don't let a post in the heat of the moment ruin your day/night/weekend. YEs, Haywood is a classy guy. So I DO regret questioning his classiness, but at the same time, that brings up my next point.

You don't go for it on 4th and 2 with a minute left in the game. Period. If you're on the 10 and want to kick a FG, fine. Looking back thru the posts/updates, I believe you will see that they actually were further back when they went for it, because as I recall, it was a 44 yard run AFTER getting the first down that was the final result. Should have punted the ball away. I don't fault the kid AT ALL for running to daylight for the TD, I fault going for it on 4th and 2 in a 49-14 game. TRUE, as Panther Thunder pointed out (and I respect his opinion very much), it is our job to stop the play, BUT any old school guy will remember that being an unwritten understood rule that you just don't do that in a blowout win.

I'm entitled to my opinion, just like you are. Again, I regret saying Haywood ran it up, because I know he is classier than that. BUT I stand by my statement that you don't go for it on 4th and 2 in a blow out.

As for the game itself, these Panthers showed that they could stand toe to toe against a much bigger and stronger, faster and deeper team for a half. Take away the 21 point swing in 2 minutes of the opening of the 2nd half, and you've still got a real ball game. It's on the Panthers to make sure they learn from this, and I am sure they will. Definitely should not have had Randy in at wideout in the closing minutes either, that's taking a chance on an injury to a key cog on the team. True, it IS a specific package they have worked on several times in all of the games so far this year, but I think it was a risk. We don't have the luxury of having the depth Belfry has, so there will be times in a game like that when Mac doesn't have a choice, but I would have kept him on the sideline and ran that package with Miller, Estep, Pack, etc instead.

Oh well. Not to take anything away from Belfry at all. Class of 3A as far as I am concerned (I've said that all year, BTW), and barring a serious setback, almost a defnite bet to return to Bowling Green and hopefully bring a 3rd championship trophy back to Belfry. Congrats again, Pirates, and good luck on the remaining schedule, I can go back to rooting for you now, and will.