[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

Congrats on an great season Rams! Nothing to hang your heads about!

[bac2369]

Beechwood was the much better team and was very well coached . Raceland had a hell and of a season and I’m very proud of the boys and the coaches . This Raceland team had some obious weakness and They got exposed today , great year to build on and now that you’ve been there next step is to win it all

I don’t agree being 41 points better!!
Score may show it but there not. They would be that much of Hazard, Paintsville and Pikeville either.

Raceland had a terrible offensive game day. If the defense hadn’t of lived on the field and Beechwood having good field position all day.

[Spud6]

I don’t agree being 41 points better!!
Score may show it but there not. They would be that much of Hazard, Paintsville and Pikeville either.

Raceland had a terrible offensive game day. If the defense hadn’t of lived on the field and Beechwood having good field position all day.

Just how it goes some days. Hate to see it go like that though but that’s just how it is in football.

[bac2369]

Just how it goes some days. Hate to see it go like that though but that’s just how it is in football.

I agree it does happen.. It just been nice to see Raceland make it and been in the game... but they had a hell of a season and glad they finally got over the hump.. I’m already working on my rankings for next season.

[Ramcat77]

Proud of this team and the coaching staff. This team far exceeded my expectations this year! I'm gonna try and lay off of Salmons for a while.

[scrappy coco]

congrats beechwood. close enough to westwood. anybody that wipes the carpet with the AMS is a winner in our book. i love that a "Wood' sent yall packing. :redboxer:

[E's Army]

Congrats to Beechwood. Congrats to Raceland on a great season

[ethanball]

Look folks, for a Class A mountain school to beat a Beechwood team you have to be better than very good.... They get in good players, play a good schedule, great history..... Their program turned around back in the late 80's when Pikeville had those kind of teams.... I remember than the staff at Beechwood saying they were going to do all they could possibility do be the same kind of team.... AND THEY DID IT... Pikeville could not sustain it..... But have had their share of very good years, and winning over some really good teams.... Beechwood's mentality is what it takes, however they have a great advantage over most small schools....market they live in produces some really good talent.... But congrats to Raceland on a very good season....

I am with you.I know they have great coaching and great fans but what is really impressing is year in year out is the talent that comes from this class 1a school.I could see it if you were a 3a or larger school.But from a class 1a school all I can say is wow.

[anotherfootballnut]

I am with you.I know they have great coaching and great fans but what is really impressing is year in year out is the talent that comes from this class 1a school.I could see it if you were a 3a or larger school.But from a class 1a school all I can say is wow.

Looking at Beechwood enrollment they won’t be in 1A in a couple of years

[anotherfootballnut]

7193 showed up the watch this game , new record in the 6 class era for 1A and mire than 3000 more than last years game

[E's Army]

4 or 5 players per class in a large metropolitan area is easy to do. In 1A that is enough to make s difference. With Beechwood's reputation for excellence in academics and tradition in football those numbers are easily obtained.

[Orange Blaze]

Congratulation to the Rams for this season. Although yesterday didn't go as we would have liked do not let that take away from all that you have accomplished this season. This community is very proud of you and I think the 3000 people who showed up to support you yesterday proves that. Now that you've been to the stage and know what awaits at the end keep working hard and use this as a stepping stone to win the prize.

Thank you to the seniors for four years of great football. You guys have elevated this program and have set a new standard for Raceland football. Use this as a lesson to carry with you for the rest of your lives and continue to work hard work on whatever you decide to do. Thank you coaches for molding these young men and taking your time to guide them and don't forget that is what it is really all about. Once again thank you to everyone who was involved with this program for a magical season and let's come back next year!

[MtnHSFootballFan]

Congratulations to all at Raceland for the historic season!

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

A few thoughts on the game.
I saw some post leading up to this game that Beechwood had a cakewalk to the finals and didn't have to play anybody in the West.
KCD was the 2nd best team in single A, and I think they proved that by playing Beechwood to their closest game in the post season.
For the people saying that Beechwood wasn't really 41 points better, you may be right, it could have been worse. In the 2nd half Beechwood ran the ball and ran clock, had they chosen to keep throwing the ball, it would have been worse.
Raceland had a great season, and it was good to see them finally get over the hump and get to the finals. It was great for their community and the players, and I have no doubt, that they will get back to the finals in the near future.
However, Beechwood could have played Raceland for 12 quarters and they weren't going to score. They were too one dimensional and were lacking the speed to have any success against the Beechwood defense.

[Texans_99]

Picked my 1A winner right. Holding a team to 27 yards total offense is absolute domination.

[Big Five-0-]

Congrats to Beechwood on the win. Beechwood has always been a force in single A. VERY hard to beat. Just want to say congrats to Raceland for making it that far. That's an honor in itself. Nothing at all to hang your heads about. Looking forward to next season.

[Blue_Bird96]

A few thoughts on the game.
I saw some post leading up to this game that Beechwood had a cakewalk to the finals and didn't have to play anybody in the West.
KCD was the 2nd best team in single A, and I think they proved that by playing Beechwood to their closest game in the post season.
For the people saying that Beechwood wasn't really 41 points better, you may be right, it could have been worse. In the 2nd half Beechwood ran the ball and ran clock, had they chosen to keep throwing the ball, it would have been worse.
Raceland had a great season, and it was good to see them finally get over the hump and get to the finals. It was great for their community and the players, and I have no doubt, that they will get back to the finals in the near future.
However, Beechwood could have played Raceland for 12 quarters and they weren't going to score. They were too one dimensional and were lacking the speed to have any success against the Beechwood defense.

Not too sure I agree KCD was actually the second best team in 1a. They Had a very good season though!

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Not too sure I agree KCD was actually the second best team in 1a. They Had a very good season though!

Without a doubt, KCD was the toughest single A team that Beechwood played. They were multi dimensional and had some speed. Hence the reason they were only down 14-7 at halftime. I saw everyone from the east except for Hazard, and KCD was better than all of them.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Pikeville should have been representing the East, but they made too many mistakes that cost them against Raceland. So hats off to Raceland for winning games against Pikeville and Paintsville when they were the underdogs, but I honestly believe KCD was the 2nd best team, and Paintsville and Pikeville were probably 3 and 4, but Raceland made the plays to beat both of them. Pikeville should be very good next year and will be the favorite to represent the East in Lexington next year.

[anotherfootballnut]

Pikeville should have been representing the East, but they made too many mistakes that cost them against Raceland. So hats off to Raceland for winning games against Pikeville and Paintsville when they were the underdogs, but I honestly believe KCD was the 2nd best team, and Paintsville and Pikeville were probably 3 and 4, but Raceland made the plays to beat both of them. Pikeville should be very good next year and will be the favorite to represent the East in Lexington next year.

Probably , maybe , probably.. how about hell no . Games were won on the field not by your opinion the best teams won in all accounts

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Probably , maybe , probably.. how about hell no . Games were won on the field not by your opinion the best teams won in all accounts

I think I said hats off to Raceland, and that they made the plays to win the games.

IMO, if they played Paintsville and Pikeville multiple times, then they lose more times than they win. They won the ones that counted, and that's all that matters. Pikeville made way too many mistakes that cost them the game. Again, congrats to Raceland on a great season, but everyone was complaining about the "Beechies" having a cake walk to the finals, and my point was that KCD was better than anyone from the east. Also, I saw Paris, and they weren't any better than Frankfort, so the East wasn't quite the gauntlet some made it out to be.

[Scotty_Bronson]

Beechwood is the undisputed best team i have seen in 2 classes all year, hats off to their tradition.

With that out of the way, Congrats o my rams. That got hard to watch yesterday but our boys kept fighting. Our biggest downfall all year was not being able to throw consistently enough. Beechwood was far and away the best team we played all season and they exposed that. Tack on that they were deeper and more mobil upfront and there was just no chance offensively. Our defense was solid enough against the run, but they exposed oyr cushion at the corner position. Their qb was crisp and percise and #8 is a great athelete and an incredible reciever. We beat three teams in the playoffs that no one thought, including me(outside of pikeville), that we would beat. These boys over achieved to the 100000000000000th degree and i couldnt be prouder to eat my crow on my preseason prediction. Thabl you to the seniors, it has been an honor to have helped coach you all in the youth league and watch you all develope into wonderful football players, but top notch young men even more so. Thanl you for this memory, that for me was 29 years in the making and nearly a century for our community.

Dont look for Raceland to go anywhere. Paintsville and Pikeville will continue to be in the thick of it as well, and I expect Pikeville to be very potent next year. But I expect Raceland to poasibly be better and more versatile next year on the offensive side of the ball. You dont replace Cam or Whitmoyer on either side of the ball and Fairchild, Cole, and Ferguson will be big losses upfront, but the Rams will build on this seasons massive succes. Prous of this team from the coaches on down. And i am blown away at our communities support and the hord of orange and black that packed out our side of the stands!!! We need that everywhere we gk for these boys from hear on out!

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Beechwood is the undisputed best team i have seen in 2 classes all year, hats off to their tradition.

With that out of the way, Congrats o my rams. That got hard to watch yesterday but our boys kept fighting. Our biggest downfall all year was not being able to throw consistently enough. Beechwood was far and away the best team we played all season and they exposed that. Tack on that they were deeper and more mobil upfront and there was just no chance offensively. Our defense was solid enough against the run, but they exposed oyr cushion at the corner position. Their qb was crisp and percise and #8 is a great athelete and an incredible reciever. We beat three teams in the playoffs that no one thought, including me(outside of pikeville), that we would beat. These boys over achieved to the 100000000000000th degree and i couldnt be prouder to eat my crow on my preseason prediction. Thabl you to the seniors, it has been an honor to have helped coach you all in the youth league and watch you all develope into wonderful football players, but top notch young men even more so. Thanl you for this memory, that for me was 29 years in the making and nearly a century for our community.

Dont look for Raceland to go anywhere. Paintsville and Pikeville will continue to be in the thick of it as well, and I expect Pikeville to be very potent next year. But I expect Raceland to poasibly be better and more versatile next year on the offensive side of the ball. You dont replace Cam or Whitmoyer on either side of the ball and Fairchild, Cole, and Ferguson will be big losses upfront, but the Rams will build on this seasons massive succes. Prous of this team from the coaches on down. And i am blown away at our communities support and the hord of orange and black that packed out our side of the stands!!! We need that everywhere we gk for these boys from hear on out!

The Raceland community should be super proud of their team and themselves. The turnout from your community was an awesome thing to see, and the Beechwood fans turned out in full force as well. I believe it was the largest single A crowd since 2000.

I agree with you that Raceland should continue to be tough going forward. Pikeville is going to be loaded next year with almost everyone back. I also agree with your assessment about the Beechwood passing game exposing the secondary. IMO, that was the biggest advantage that Beechwood was going to have, was thru the air. The Beechwood passing game was far superior than Pikeville, Paintsville, or Paris.

[Houndlife]

Thought this one would be a little closer. Congrats to Beechwood. Look forward to playing you guys next year in Corbin.

[RAM-A-DEVIL]

Our offense was a struggle all year. It was only a matter of time before we ran into somebody that could shut us completely down and that somebody was beechwood

[bac2369]

The only thing I’d give KCD an advantage on would be offense... Defensively I don’t think they were as solid as 3 or 4 teams in the east.

Different teams match up with each other so different it’s not funny. But I will use my Hazard team as an example. I don’t think they could put up no more than 14-20 points on hazard if that..

[redstone1127]

Agree Bac. Would love to have had shot at Beechwood with a full strength Hazard team.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Injuries are a part of the game, and unfortunately in single A, they are even more devastating. Two years ago, Beechwood lost their starting RB, who was the leading rusher in class A at the time, to a knee injury in the 2nd round. Two weeks later they lost their starting fullback. They were also two of the 3 starting linebackers. The loss of those two was too much to overcome against Pikeville in the finals.
A full strength Hazard, would probably have been representing the East, but the loss of Smith was a major blow.

[bac2369]

Injuries are a part of the game, and unfortunately in single A, they are even more devastating. Two years ago, Beechwood lost their starting RB, who was the leading rusher in class A at the time, to a knee injury in the 2nd round. Two weeks later they lost their starting fullback. They were also two of the 3 starting linebackers. The loss of those two was too much to overcome against Pikeville in the finals.
A full strength Hazard, would probably have been representing the East, but the loss of Smith was a major blow.

Even without the smiths I think hazard was good enough. Sometimes it just isn’t meant to be...but I’m already ready for 2018.

[Scotty_Bronson]

Imo, all 4 of the usual contenders will be better next year.

Raceland will build on this success. The classes before them showed what had to be done to achieve their goals, getting to the title this year (even though we got blasted), showed the unser classmen that that hard work pays off, given the opportunity. I expect a better offensive unit next season, with a great group of RBs returning and Gunner Lewis and the athelete in Dalton Adkins those spots are solid as they come. There are several options at QB that imo, will make us mote effecient in the passing game, which will open things up for the stable of RBs. I expect nothing more than another legit shot at the title.

Pikeville-I walked away femrom the region blown away that those kids were dominated by a roster of Sophs and Jrs. They are goina be an issue for anyone next year. Again, a legit shot at playing at Kroger field.

Hazard-DISCLAIMER...in no way is a season ending injury to a senior a positive. BUT, if there is a silver lining, it allowed them to develop some kids for next year. Dixon always has his kids ready and its hard to go into coal country in late november and come out with a W. Lots of size and depth, again, no reasin a logical individual couldnt see them in the title shot.

Paintsville-Always well coached and over the last 3 or 4 yeara have had an incredible run of atheletes. Strength and conditioning are key for some of their young kids. But their QB has a bright fututer once he holsters his pistol every once and awhile and stops slinging. Has a big arm and tremendous upside. They will lose alot, but so will Raceland and Hazard, but they could very well make it to the carpet as well.

Its been another awsome year fellas. Already lookin foward to next year!!