[PHSForever]

The Pirates have spent more years in 3A than 2A. Plus, with the exception of the two championship years, the bulk of Belfry's success has come while they were 3A.

Belfry's Classification History

AA 1959 - 1974, 16 Years
AA 1999 - 2006, 8 Years

AAA 1975 - 1998, 24 Years
AAA 2007 - 2013, 7 Years and counting

I stand corrected. Pikeville was A in 79 I think. Anyway, my point still is that during the 4 class years, Pikeville did very well also. Declining enrollment has also been a huge factor. With the combination of Johns Creek and Mullins to creat PikeCentral, many who would go to Pikeville now are at PCC. Like another poster said, Pikeville can't help that their district competition is so weak. One of the reasons they play the Middlesboros, Belfys, etc in their out of district games to get better. It results in losses early in the season many times, but prepares them for the deep playoff runs they are accustomed to. Belfry plays a he'll of a schedule too. But no doubt, 2 of the premier programs in the mountains. You just can't use the last decade solely to say Belfry is the best program period. Yes, they have been for the last decade, but OVERALL, I have to go with Pikeville. Both have had down periods, both had/are having a resurgence once they found "the" right coach, etc. I came back right when they had run Coach Mac out the first time, and the consensus of every single person I talked to was that it was a huge mistake. They were right. Chapman, Jackson, and Copley destroyed the pipeline by not encouraging development at the lowers grade levels. That led to a lot of kids transferring schools.