 Two years ago, the Panthers celebrated a state championship. Last year, Pikeville fell to eventual state runner-up hazard in the regional finals. Pikeville faces one of the toughest early season schedules in the state, facing five teams ranked in the top ten in their respective classes. Tonight, we take you into the huddle with the Pikeville Panthers. The Pikeville Panthers and head coach Chris McNamee are looking to continue the success they've had over the recent years. He looks to his small group of upperclassmen to show the younger guys how things are done in the Pikeville program. With a group as young as we have this year, it's going to be fun to see where they are now and how far they come towards the end of the season. That's always rewarding as a coach to watch them grow week by week. Got to provide leadership and make sure there's team chemistry, especially on the line. All these young guys, I love to watch them develop. It's different. We're all really young. So we're going to strive for this year, but we're also looking at next year at the same time. You've got to lead by example and push them a little bit. Get better each game, take it week by week. Coach McNamee says competing is the ultimate goal, but he expects to see his young team improve as they gain experience along the way. Well, we just want to come out and compete, show great effort every week. And I think if we do those kind of things, do the right things on not the field, I think the wins and losses take care of itself. The biggest thing is experience. On defense, we don't have any starters returning. I think on offense, we might have three or four starters returning. So just those guys getting in and getting snaps, and I think that's going to be the most beneficial to us, is getting some quality reps against some good people. Take it one game at a time and just win the next game, but I'd like to see us reach 10 wins and hopefully win state. State championship is the biggest, but also even though we're young, I want us to not get overlooked, I want us to be a contender. I mean, I know everybody's talking that we're not going to be as good this year as we've been in the past, but I still think everybody should come out and support us because I think we're going to be even better. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB Sports, I'm Logan Sales.