We have a humorous anecdote for the serious football fan, which are the fans who subscribe to this site. Football is still a game played between bullies and the bullied. The bullies have more fun playing it and the bullies always seem to come out the victor and win all the championships.
Beating a team over the top with a vertical route is the path of least resistance. It is taking the easy way out. Why run around what one can just run-the-Hell-over?
So, KPGFootball went to Lexington to watch the State Football Championships. We were sitting up in the press box when one of our colleagues said, “I am tired of coming to the State Championships to watch a bunch of teams play who never throw a forward pass.” Yes, it was during the Belfry/Bell County game when this was said and yes, this guy is probably covering a sport he never played, but I digress.
I told the guy, “Hey, if you want to see the football thrown, just go to the western end of Kentucky on any Fall Friday night. Those teams fill the air with footballs. There are QBs over there throwing 30-plus TDs every year, throwing for over 3,000 yards each season. They also don’t seem to make it out of round-two. They keep getting eliminated by ‘pound and ground’ teams.”
That is the point, isn’t it? My colleague will probably have to stay fatigued with watching teams run the football at the State Championships. That is the best way to get to Lexington. Some would say it is the only way to get there.
Belfry High School, the consummate high school football bully, has won 7 titles. In those seven titles, they have thrown a total of 22 forward passes combined. At the game in Lexington for all the marbles, they threw it once and it fell harmlessly to the Kroger Field turf.
With everyone in the house knowing full well what was coming, Bell County was powerless to stop it. The Belfry running game looked like high tide….here she comes and there’s nothing one can do about it.
That is why Ethan Wolford, the 6-2, 285-pound all-state, offensive center, and his other four line mates, may really have been the MVPs of the Championship game. Belfry, doing exactly what every person in the stadium knew they would, ran the football (without any tangible passing threat) for 379-yards on 48-carries, averaging 7.9-yards per attempt.
Is Isaac Dixon fast? You better believe it, one of the fastest kids playing high school football in Kentucky right now. Is he explosive? Ditto! Is he a fantastic athlete? Ditto, again! Would he be a star on any team in the commonwealth of Kentucky? Absolutely!
Being able to gain 228-yards on 15-carries with 3 rushing TDs against a Bell County defense which absolutely knew he was going to get the ball? Well, you have got to rear some blue-ribbon Hogs for production on the big-stage like that. You have to have some Ethan Wolfords. Lucky for Belfry, they did.
In a game which will always be about the bully imposing his will on the bullied, Belfry had the biggest bully on the block this year. He went around imposing his will on Bell County and Isaac Dixon was dang glad he did.
Reporting for KPGFootball, this is HB Lyon reminding all our subscribers that WE’RE JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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