Harlan County coach Eddie Creech hopes his Black Bears’ win Thursday in the 4th Annual Air Assault on the Bluegrass at South Laurel is a sign of good things to come, just as it was two years ago when HCHS won that tournament in the summer and then went on to capture the Region 4 title in November.

HCHS took first place out of 24 teams, defeating Woodford County and Madison Central before claiming wins over Lafayette, Breathitt County and Woodford County in tournament action. The Bears rolled past Bell County 28-3 in the tournament finals.

Junior receiver/running back Matt Brown led the HCHS offense with six touchdown receptions and one two-point conversion. Justin Brown had two touchdown catches and three two-point conversions. Elisha Smallwood, Jacob Bailey and Tyler Flanary had one touchdown catch each. Demarco Hopkins had a pair of two-point conversions and Hunter Helton added one.

Brown led the HCHS defense with four interceptions. Bailey, Jayden Ward and Tyler Casolari added one each.

Cody Clayborn and Jacob Wilson split time at quarterback for the Black Bears.

“We’ve got a tough, gritty bunch of mountain boys. Whether we are playing football, checkers, or rock/paper/scissors, our guys are there to win,” Creech said. “I was really proud of them the last two tournaments in the fact that we didn’t back down from anybody physically. We ran our stuff both ways, the Bone on ‘O’ and our base on ‘D.’”

Harlan County will play Southwestern on Aug. 9 at Union College and travel to South Laurel on Aug. 16 in scrimmage action before the regular season opener at home on Aug. 24 against Harlan.