When Harlan County High School opened in 2008 it marked the end of several long sports rivalries involving Cawood, Cumberland and Evarts high schools. New rivalries soon developed, beginning with neighboring Letcher Central in the first game ever played by the Bears in Whitesburg. The two teams have played every year since then, including twice in 2009 when the Cougars knocked off the Bears in the second round of the playoffs. Letcher won two of the first three, but HCHS has dominated since with a 9-3 record overall against the Cougars.

“Letcher Central is the only opponent we have played every year since the school opened,” said Harlan County coach Eddie Creech. “We expect a hard hitting fight that could come down to the final possession.

The Bears are off to the second best start in school history with a 5-1 record overall, including a 21-7 win last week at Clay County in the district opener for both teams.

Letcher Central (3-3) also opened its district schedule with a hard-fought win, rallying to edge Perry Central 21-20. The Jaguars are 3-3 overall, opening with a 44-22 loss to Shelby Valley, followed by a 20-19 win over Bourbon County and a 40-36 win over Estill County before falling 42-20 to Union, Va., and 40-35 to Pike Central.

The Cougars are led on offense by senior tailback Hunter Campbell with 677 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. Hayden Brashear and Carson Adams, both sophomores, have added 326 and 226 yards rushing, respectively. Adams has completed 14 of 33 passes for 278 yards. Senior linebacker Jayson Buttrey is first in tackles with 48 and junior Jepatha Griffith is next with 43.

“Letcher is a big, physical football team with a really good running back in (Campbell). They have proven they can win big games on the road. They beat Bourbon County and Estill County on the road already,” Creech said. “Offensively, we’ve got to play a cleaner game Friday or we cannot beat Letcher. We weren’t crisp against Clay. We had too many mental errors and just weren’t ourselves the first half.”

Creech was happy with the Bears’ improvement on defense after falling 55-22 at Wayne County the previous week.

“Defensively, I thought our guys really responded after the Wayne game. We got after Clay and played faster as a unit,” Creech said.

The Bears’ health has improved the past two weeks with Braydon Shanks returning to the lineup last week with a move from linebacker to tackle. Junior guard Lake Caudill remains out with an injury.