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HARLAN COUNTY VS SOUTHWESTERN GAME PREVIEW

Warriors vie for 1st regional crown
By MICHAEL CHILDERS, CJ Correspondent
Commonwealth Journal

Somerset — Southwestern will get a chance to win their first region championship in school history tonight, as they will host Harlan County this evening in the Region 4 Finals of the KHSAA Class 5A State Playoffs.

With a hard-fought, 26-21 victory over Perry County Central last Friday evening, Southwestern upped their overall record to 9-3 on the season, while moving their win streak to eight consecutive games since Andy Stephens took over as the Warriors’ interim coach.

The Warriors, with the victory over PCC, will welcome the Black Bears of Harlan County, who come into tonight’s ballgame with a record of 11-1, to the Reservation. The Black Bears moved into the regional title game with a 55-27 win over Lincoln County last week.

This evening’s contest will be a match-up of two number one seeds, as the Black Bears are the number one seed out of District 8, while Southwestern is the top seed from District 7.

“From the first snap of the season until now, they’ve been the favorite in this region,” said the Warrior interim coach of the highly-touted Black Bears. “They’re still the defending regional champ until someone knocks them off. It was no secret coming into the season that they had a heck of a football team coming back.”

The Southwestern coach feels that his Warrior team is pretty good, too.

“We’re playing pretty good football right now and we’re a heck of a team, too. I think we’re getting better and better each week - this week is no exception. I think we’ve gotten better this week.”

Harlan County went 9-1 during the regular season, beginning the 2011 season with a nine-game winning streak. The Black Bears’ nine wins came against Morristown (TN), Dunbar, Gate City (VA), Lee County (VA), Knox Central, George Rogers Clark, Letcher County Central, Whitley County, and Perry County Central.

Tom Larkey and crew’s only loss came to Bell County in their regular season finale, where they lost to the Bobcats on Log Mountain by a final tally of 25-14.

The Black Bears have rolled through the playoffs so far, winning by double digits in both contests. In the opening round of playoff action, Larkey and company shutout Pulaski County, 20-0. Last week, Harlan County defeated Lincoln County by 28 points.

In fact, none of the Harlan County’s nine regular season victories have been in the single digits. The closest game that the Black Bears have had in a victory was a 15-point win over Perry County Central, the same PCC team that the Warriors downed last week, 26-21. In their 11 victories, the average margin of victory is 30 points.

The Warriors will have to slow down a Black Bear offense that has rushed for 4,508 yards and passed for 806 yards on the 2011 season. Larkey and crew will run the ball the majority of the time, as they average 375 rushing yards a game.

The Black Bears come into tonight’s regional final averaging 42 points per game.

Harlan County will lean on the duo running back system of Marcus McMillian and and Jake Middleton, as the pair have a combined Both are 1,000-yard rushers and have double digits in the touchdown category.

McMillian gets the load of the carries, as he has 1,955 yards and 31 scores on 233 attempts. Middleton, meanwhile, has 150 carries for 1,399 yards and ten scores on the ground.

Quarterback Jordy Brewer is no slouch running the ball though, as he has 530 yards and 11 touchdowns on 99 attempts. Through the air, Brewer’s numbers are 45 of 69 for 806 yards and ten scores.

“Harlan County plays good, physical football,” told Stephens. “We’ve played a lot of teams like that this year. I felt like we’ve done a good job of looking at what they’re going to do. Something that we’ve got to respond to on Friday night is their physical play.”

“The Friday we played Whitley County, it took us a while to respond with how physical they were. I think after we respond to it and get used to it, we’ll be okay.”

Offensively, Southwestern will have to go against a defense known as the ‘Filthy Animal’ defense. On the year, the Black Bears are giving up 16 points per game on the defensive side of the football. Also, Harlan County, on average, gives up an average of 89 passing yards and 120 rushing yards per contest.

However, the Warrior offense has put up some big-time numbers, as well. Stephens and crew come into this evening’s game averaging 37 points per game on the offensive side of the ball.

Look for Southwestern to use a variety of offensive packages in this evening’s game.

Once again, expect to see senior Alan Williams lined up in the wildcat formation. In last week’s five-point win over the Commodores, the senior tight end threw a touchdown pass and scored on a pair of touchdown runs.

The Warriors will use their dual quarterback system of junior Logan Starnes and senior Zack Turpin to their advantage once again. Last week, Starnes threw for 100 yards and hauled in a touchdown pass in the victory over PCC.

Senior running back Dustin Powell will look to increase his impressive numbers with a stellar game this evening against the Black Bears. On the season, the Southwestern tailback has 2,408 yards and 31 scores on 331 attempts.

Tonight’s playoff game will be the Warriors’ second regional championship game in school history, as their inaugural trip to a regional title game came five seasons ago in the year of 2006. In that game, Southwestern lost a overtime heartbreaker to Louisville Central, 47-40.

Stephens is hoping to give Southwestern their first regional banner in school history.

“We’re at home, so I feel really good about our chances,” concluded Stephens, who has led the ‘Blue and Orange’ to only their second regional title game in the 19-year-old program. “I know Harlan County’s a good football team and they are well-coached, but I think we’re a good football team, too. “

“We’re going to play hard, do what we do, and hopefully bring home a regional championship for our school.”

This evening’s regional title contest will get underway at 7:30 p.m. at the Reservation. The winner of this game will play the winner of the Conner-Anderson County on the road next Friday night in the semifinals of the KHSAA Class 5A State Playoffs.