SOMERSET — For the better part of two decades, the high school football playoffs were a lot like a college bowl game for Harlan County teams, who made a habit of playing one game and putting away the uniforms until next summer.

Not since Cumberland in 1993 and 1994 had a Harlan County team won playoff games in back-to-back seasons and teams in the county school district lost 18 straight playoff games between 1998 and 2006.

The Harlan County High School Black Bears are taking a different approach to the postseason, winning their opener the second straight year by dispatching Pulaski Southwestern 20-7 on Friday in the first round of the 5A playoffs.

The win also illustrated just how much the Black Bears have improved since a 35-8 season opening loss to Southwestern in the Ray Correll Bowl at Somerset.

“I guess that shows everybody that when a team gets beat down early in the year they need to keep their chins up and get to working hard, and that’s what our team has done,” Harlan County coach Tom Larkey said. “We’ve improved a lot fundamentally, but our team has also improved a lot with their attitude, and I think that is as big and important as anything.

“I’ve said this a hundred times, but we weren’t ready to play football that first week. They may have had a little more experience than we did coming back from last year, and they also had a game under their belt. Since then, we have improved a lot in every aspect of the game, especially our defense.”

Pulaski Southwestern, the runner-up in District 8, finished the season at 7-4.

“Tom had them ready to play. They played really well tonight,” Southwestern coach Dale Anderson said. “We didn’t play our best game, and the best team moves on.”

Harlan County dominated the game with defense, just like it has done since reeling off four straight district victories last month. The Bears limited Southwestern to only 51 yards rushing on 32 carries and kept constant pressure on quarterback Zack Turpin.

“They had a lot of penetration the first half against our running game and kept tripping up the quarterback,” Southwestern coach Dale Anderson said.

Turpin was harassed by the Harlan County defensive line almost every time he tried to pass as ends Jordan Calton and Dwight Burgan, tackles James Phillips and Jeremiah Eldridge and nose guard Brian Owens applied constant pressure. Turpin completed only six of 17 passes and was twice called for intentional grounding while trying to avoid a sack.

“They got a lot of pressure on him the second half when we were trying to throw the ball,” added Anderson. “They kept us backed up with our butt on the goal line all night long. That was the hard part. We just could not get field position, and when we did we didn’t do anything with it.”

“I think he’s had more time to throw all year than what he had tonight,” Larkey said. “We had several kids putting pressure on him.”

Southwestern running backs Taylor Mote and Jonathan Floyd, who each topped the 100-yard mark against Harlan County in the previous matchup, were held to 41 and 24 yards, respectively, in the rematch.”

“We also contained their speed outside real well tonight,” Larkey said. “We came up on the perimeter and made some good one-on-one tackles.”

Pulaski Southwestern’s defensive front also played well, forcing the Bears to win the game through the air, and that’s just what senior quarterback T.J. Green and the young Harlan County receivers did. Green completed 10 of 12 passes for 55 yards and connected with senior fullback Dwight Burgan and freshman receiver Jake Middleton for touchdowns.

Another freshman receiver, Austin Maggard, led the Bears in receptions with five. Harlan County had success by bunching three receivers on one side and throwing short to Maggard.

“We’re throwing high-percentage passes,” Larkey said. “The one little play, ‘trips right smoke’ we call it,’ Austin Maggard was open all night out there for five yards. The shuttle pass was also a shock to Southwestern.”

The pass gave Harlan County its first touchdown, just after Larkey called a timeout with the Bears facing a second-and-goal on the Southwestern 9. Burgan caught the pass and rumbled into the end zone to cap a nine-play, 34-yard drive after Cody Taylor returned a punt 35 yards. Josh Jenkins’ extra point gave the Bears a 7-0 lead with 3:50 to play in the first quarter.

Southwestern pulled even with its best drive of the night, covering 57 yards in 13 plays. Turpin found Alan Williams with a 14-yard scoring pass with 10:38 left in the second quarter. The extra point by Logan Starns tied the game.

Harlan County’s aggressive defense helped set up the next Bears’ touchdown late in the first half. A fumbled pitch was recovered by the Warriors, but Mote ended up punting from near his own goal line. After the kick covered only 16 yards, Harlan County got the ball on the Southwestern 31.

Taylor went 23 yards on first down. Two plays later, Green faked a run and found Middleton for a touchdown. The Harlan County receiver made a nice catch reaching back as Green threw it on the move. Jenkins’ extra point gave the Bears a 14-7 lead with 51 seconds left in the first half.

“The tight end jump pass worked for us,” Larkey said. “It was a needle throw in there at him. Jake is a freshman, but he’s a good one. I trusted him to catch the football.”

Freshman linebacker Tucker Lewis recovered a fumble on Southwestern’s first offensive play after the touchdown, and the Bears ran out the clock.

The second half was dominated by defense, especially by the Bears, who allowed only eight yards on the ground in the second half as the Harlan County linebackers, Lewis, Green and James Ball, a senior who moved from the line, made several nifty tackles in the open field.

It was the Harlan County defense that put the game away when the offense had trouble completing drives. Sophomore defensive back Jordy Brewer stepped in front of Turpin’s pass on fourth-and-31 and returned it 27 yards down the sideline for the game-clinching touchdown with 2:20 left.

Harlan County (8-3) will travel to Letcher Central on Friday in the second round of the playoffs. The Bears edged the Cougars 12-7 in a regular season game.