[Panther1]

Well I don't understand how you play a team to a 7 point game and then lose the next time by 44...

...the reasons were stated on here by Panther faithful, but many shouted those people down as "excuse-makers" (as they should have).

Excuses nonetheless, there were valid reasons why the first game was what it was (I was there...some of it was obvious to the naked eye, some not until I watched the video I made of the game and hit the rewind button several times). To point those out after the fact looks bush-league and is disrespectful to the hard-working kids at JHS (the things that happened were OUTSIDE their control other than the blocked punt -- which they did a VERY good job on).

So, PHS's players and coaches were directed not to say anything about what REALLY caused what happened in the first game.

Different philosophy at PHS in regards to what you do in games in the regular season where you are favored to win big. Right or wrong (and sometimes I question it), you won't see as many 60-point margins of victory vs. lesser opponents than in the past. I think the approach is that you do enough to win, but use the game to work on things that you're not as good at but might need later in games with more meaning. Did the same thing last year at South Floyd -- and while the win wasn't "satisfying" to the fans, coaches, or players, it helped them answer some questions about what they could NOT do well with the personnel in the places they had them...it led them to work on different personnel combinations, and more than likely was the reason they beat Paintsville in a close game and then dominated a pretty good Harlan team.

Things aren't always what they appear in the box-score. (And that's not to take anything away from the Jenkins kids' and coaches' efforts in that first game! They took what they were given and made the most of it in about a three-minute stretch of the 4th quarter and got two big scores to make it tighter than it had been the whole game on both sides of the ball. Kudos to them on that!).