wooviter

PH has the right man in place to turn the program around.   I think that is pretty obvious just from watching them improve over the past few years.  With that said... You don't go from from 1-9 to 10-0 over night.   Most people think that Battle did but I was there....Let me explain.   We went 0-10 in 2008...3-7 in 2009 by playing a lot of young kids.  4-6 in 2010,  6-4 in 2011 and earned a playoff birth with those same young kids we started in 2009.   Last year those young kids were SR's and had set a great example for the kids that were following them as far as work ethic goes.  They went 9-1 and advanced on to the state semifinals.  That work ethic that they've passed on to the kids below them is showing up this season.
 
It's a process....it doesn't happen overnight.   That's why I hate to see programs fire coaches every 2-3 years.  You never get anywhere, just ask John Battle fans.     Give Palmer time and he'll have PH competing with good teams.    Anyone that is giving PH a hard time over their "weak" schedule is crazy.   You have to start somewhere, you have to build a winning attitude within your program.   At Battle...our 3 wins in 2009 came against Twin Springs, Patrick Henry and Castlewood.  As coaches, we knew we had a long way to go...but it gave our kids confidence that their work was paying off to a degree...and made them want to invest even more into the program.   In 2010..our 4 wins came against Twin Springs, Holston, Patrick Henry and.. Honaker!.  We all remember what happened that year to derail the season...but that Honaker win was our 1st signature win and we built off of that in the off-season.        The next year was a 6-4 year with a playoff loss to the eventual D2 state champion Gretna.  Still not great but we kept improving with each year...... and then Last year they made it all the way to the state semifinals.    
 
All of that, to get to this---- PH fans/players shouldn't get discouraged after this Friday night.  I think that Battle will win this game by 3-4 td's but PH has a shot to win 4-6 games this year.   That is a tremendous amount of progress no matter who the wins come against.     It's a process and can be tough...but you've got to crawl before you can walk.     Be patient and enjoy the process.