[Hoot Gibson]

You have some really good points that I agree with, but can you imagine in this year 2013 if Johnson Central, Belfry or Harlan Co had a decent pass game to go along with the run games they have on both sides of the ball.

Year in and year out, Johnson Central executes its running game better than any high school team that I have ever seen for a school its size. Developing a good passing attack takes practice time and the more teams like Johnson Central, Belfry, and Harlan County focus on their passing games, the less time that they have to hone their rushing attacks. Over the past few years, nobody in 4A or below has played Highlands any tougher than JC. If running a balanced offense was all that it took to beat Highlands, then the NKY and western Kentucky teams that run balanced attacks would be more competitive with the Bluebirds.

That is what gets me about this kind of criticism of teams that choose to focus on a strong ground game. How many teams running balanced attacks are competing with Highlands?

If this JC is as good as many people are saying - and that is a big if, this team will be the biggest threat to beat Highlands when the playoffs begin. No team in 4A is going to beat Highlands this season playing the same style of football as Highlands plays. Highlands has difficulty with teams that run right at them because it is a style that they do not see very often. Highlands practices against a balanced offense every day and they are not able to simulate the kind of offense that JC runs for the same reason that JC cannot simulate the Highlands offense very well in practice.

It is better to run the ball extremely well than to both pass and run the ball pretty well. Pretty well just does not cut it against a team that has ex-NFL players coaching its quarterbacks and receiving corps.