The Harlan County Black Bears and their coaches insist they are not the same team that was blown out 35-8 by Pulaski Southwestern in late August.

The Black Bears will have an opportunity to prove it Friday in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs in a rematch at Pulaski Southwestern.

“We’ve made a lot of personnel changes, especially on offense, and it’s made a difference in how we’ve been playing,” Harlan County coach Tom Larkey said.

The biggest change for the Bears has been the move of senior T.J. Green from tailback to quarterback. Green has rushed for 1,045 yards to lead the Bears’ offense, which also features sophomore tailbacks Cody Taylor and Marcus McMillian.

“This offense I’ve gone to since the Perry Central game, which we call the “gator” offense, started off with nothing but quarterback power. Since then we’ve added a lot of dimensions to the offense,” Larkey said. “There will be a little more added to it this week that hasn’t been seen yet. I try to add a few more things every week to our offense that no one has ever seen.”

The Harlan County offense was also given a boost by the return of senior guard James Ball, the second ranked player in District 8 of Class 5A by the Cats Pause. Ball was out with a back injury early in the year.

“The big thing about our offense is they’ve started to put our philosophy of offense together. They can do things now they couldn’t do before,” Larkey said. “I think our offensive line has gotten a lot smarter in knowing who to block.”

Southwestern coach Dale Anderson expects the Bears to present a tougher challenge in the rematch.

“They’ve changed their offense and are able to get the ball in some playmakers’ hands a little bit easier,” he said. “They’ve moved some people around defensively and gotten a lot better there.

“In the first game, we took advantage of some big plays early, but they are much improved.”

But Anderson knows it wouldn’t be unusual for his team to overlook someone they handled with ease earlier.

“You never know. These are 16 and 17 year olds,” he said. “You try to get them ready so they don’t feel overconfident. I don’t think they will because the first game was a hard, hard physical football game. I don’t see them taking them lightly.”

Southwestern (7-3) has won five of six coming into the game, but fell to Pulaski County 16-6 in the cross-county matchup that gave the Maroons the District 7 title.

“We’ve improved a little bit, too,” Anderson said. “We’ve won some really big games that were important for our future, and we’ve continued to improve as time goes on.”

The Southwestern offense is led by senior tailback Taylor Mote with 1,163 yards rushing, senior fullback John Floyd with 927 yards rushing and sophomore wingback Dustin Powell with 435 yards rushing.

Floyd had 139 yards rushing and Mote had 121 in the win over Harlan County.

“The biggest thing in the first game was the big plays they beat us on and the kicking,” Larkey said. “We haven’t improved a lot in the kicking game, but we got a lot smarter. We’re punting it away from people.

Larkey says a key for the Harlan County defense will be covering tight ends Alan Williams and Zack Fowler.

“Usually in the playoffs the keys are taking care of the football, especially when you have two evenly matched teams,” Anderson said. “These two teams are a whole lot alike. On paper, there is not a whole lot of difference.”

Harlan County teams had struggled in the playoffs, losing 19 straight between 1998 and 2006, before Cumberland broke the skid with a win over Jenkins in 2007. The Bears beat Wayne County in their first playoff game last year, and Larkey says his team isn’t satisfied by just getting to the playoffs.

“I think our attitude is great right now,” he said. “Our kids have been here, and I think they really feel they can win this game and go to the next level and win that game. I really feel our kids have the winning attitude where we can go a lot farther in the playoffs.”