[EKUAlum05]

Before any teams in the mountains claim to be "King of the Mountains" they need to play the other top tier teams in the mountains. The only 2 who play each other on a regular basis are Rock and Bell. Understandably JC doesn't play Rock or Bell because of the playoff format where they would meet later in the playoffs. As for Belfry, they don't play any of the 3 teams, no matter which schools decision it is. If Belfry fans want to be considered the top of anything, they need to be considered "King of 2A or smaller (now 3A or smaller) in the Mountains." Year in and year out, with the exception of 1 year or 2 over the last 8 or so, I would take Rock or Bell over Belfry head to head.

Being a state finalist in the previous 2A is nowhere near the same as being a state finalist in the former 3A. Compare getting past Russell, Belfry, Breathitt, etc in 2A to getting past Covington Catholic, Fort Thomas Highlands, or Lexington Catholic in 3A.

And what qualifies Rock and Bell to be the best in the mountains?

Take last year for example, Rock was clearly the class of the two as they were the district champs. That powerful Rock team only bested a "lowly" 2A team named Corbin 2-0....
if Rock is truly the cream of the crop, why did they get absolutely crushed by Johnson Central last season in the Regional Finals?

The best Bell County team the past five years was the team who lost to Highlands in the State Semi's in 2004 featuring Shawn Robbins. That Bell County team LOST in the regular season to another "lowly" 2A team named Prestonsburg. Belfry defeated that same Pburg team twice that season en route to a state title.

I have no problem agreeing that it is alot tougher to beat the LexCath's, CovCath's etc in the state semi-finals.... 3A was by far a superior class than 2A. BUT, only ONCE in the past five years has a mountain team defeated any of those schools listed, in fact, witht he exception of the before mentioned Bell County team (who lost to District runner-up Pburg) and the 2002 Rock team... the other games have been blowouts. So as far as that goes is it really a big deal to play those 3A powerhouses if you get your ehad handed to you? As Isaid, 3A is stronger than 2A,,, but that doesn't mean that the mountain 3A schools over the past five years were stronegr than the 2A schools... 2A Region 4 has been the toughest 2A region in the state BAR NONE... 3A Region 4 has been the arguably the weakest 3A region.