Habersham Central bounced back from a three-point loss to Flowery Branch at home a week ago to pick up a 17-3 win over White County on the road Friday night in Cleveland.
The Raiders (2-1) took control of the game early, keeping the Warrior (0-2) offense in check before pushing across the goal line with a 6-yard touchdown run by senior running back Donnie Warren.
After capitalizing on its opening drive, Habersham Central had to rely on its senior kicker Camden Meads to save a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff.
It took over 11 minutes of gametime before any more points would be added to the board for either side. That score would come with 6 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first half as Warren took another trip to the end zone on a 21-yard run to the right side. Meads was perfect on both extra point attempts.
Poised to take a 14-0 lead into the halftime break, the Raiders helped extend the final drive of the half for White County with three big penalties. Flags for a face mask, a dead-ball unsportsmanlike penalty on a play on the sideline, and roughing the punter moved the ball deep into Habersham Central territory.
Then, just out of field goal range, the Warriors went for it on 4th-and-12 from the Raiders’ 28. A laser from Warriors’ quarterback Freeman found a receiver for 14 yards to set up a 25-yard field goal, which went through the uprights with 2.9 seconds left on the clock.
Neither team came out of halftime lighting things up on the offensive side of the ball. The only remaining points, a 31-yard field goal from Meads, came as time expired in the third quarter.
Habersham Central Head Coach Benji Harrison characterized the game as “sloppy” and, that, it certainly was.
The Raiders intercepted Freeman’s passes twice, once by junior linebacker Griffin Cunningham in the first quarter and once on a nice diving effort by junior cornerback Parks York in the third. Junior CJ Davis recovered a forced fumble in the second quarter. The Warriors had two other fumbles, but were able to retain possession on both.
The Warriors were able to intercept a pass thrown by junior quarterback Paris Wilbanks in the third quarter. Wilbanks was hit as he released the ball, causing it to flail into the sky and into the hands of a White County defender. The Raiders also fumbled the ball three times with two resulting in turnovers.
There was also 20 combined penalty flags between the two squads. Habersham Central was penalized 13 times for 125 yards, while White County was on the receiving end of seven flags for 55 yards.
Despite the sloppiness from his side, Harrison was able to take the bright side into account.
“Winning is hard. Winning is really, really hard, so I’m extremely happy with the win and I’m never going to take that for granted,” Harrison said. “I’ve been doing this long enough where I know this – when you get a win, you celebrate it.
“When you play a team like White (County) and you know how much it means to them, sometimes you have to win a sloppy game and the game doesn’t play out the way you thought you’d get the win,” he continued. “But, shoot, we’ll take the win any day of the week.”
Harrison knows, every time he shows up at Warrior Stadium, he’s going to get a battle from White County. Friday was a test of having to grind out a win on the road when things aren’t working quite so cohesively on the offensive side of the ball.
The offense, which posted 374 and 458 yards, respectively, in the first two contests, was held to 229 yards in Cleveland.
The defense, however, picked up the offense and held strong throughout the game.
The Warriors finished the game with 162 yards of total offense with 93 of that on the ground.
“Things weren’t going our way offensively, but that’s why you play both sides of the ball,” Harrison said. “When one side isn’t clicking like it necessarily has been, the other side has to step up. That’s why it’s a team game.”
Junior linebacker Noah Harkins led the defense with 12 total tackles and four tackles for loss, including a sack. Davis had eight tackles, two tackles for loss and the fumble recovery. York and Cunningham each had seven tackles with York getting two tackles for loss as well.
Harrison said he and his staff are very open with the players and, if they don’t play well, the coaches point it out. That could very well be what led to the defensive effort the Raiders displayed Friday night.
“I think I made them mad this week because I was criticizing how we played on defense (against Flowery Branch). I told them we didn’t play with much effort. They responded,” Harrison said. “They had a great week of practice and, in turn, they played well tonight. CJ, Noah, we could go around the whole list. We got after it on defense tonight.”
The head coach said his disappointment in the game is largely on the mistakes his team made offensively and the penalties it accumulated. He said he didn’t feel there was too much White County did to stop his offense, but more of his offense stalling themselves.
“I would be more concerned if they just shut us down and we couldn’t do anything,” Harrison said. “Whenever you make mistakes, you feel like you can fix those.”
In a game where it looked like it was tough to get the run game started, Warren was yet again a bright spot. After going for 193 yards and a touchdown against Stephens County and 174 yards and a touchdown against Flowery Branch, the senior was able to notch the two touchdowns on 22 carries for 118 yards.
Harrison was vocal about his team’s lack of effort at practice leading up to the Flowery Branch game. That lack of effort and focus at practice translated to the first half of the game and, ultimately, the 31-28 loss at home.
He said the week of practice ahead of White County was much better. Grinding out a win on the road showed that. The chemistry of the team, especially on defense, was evident throughout the game as well with teammates picking others up when they were down and hyping each other up after a big play.
Now, as the team heads into another week of practice before its final non-region contest, which will also be on the road, Harrison said he doesn’t think he’ll have to challenge his team to practice hard after the players saw the effect against Flowery Branch.
“They’re going to practice hard because they know now. That taught them a lesson,” Harrison said. “We’re not going to let them not practice hard, especially Monday. We’re practicing in the morning and, if it doesn’t go well, we’ll practice as long as we need to to set the tone on Monday.”
The focus turns to another Hall County team. This time the Bears of Cherokee Bluff will play host to Habersham Central as the two meet for just the second time. Cherokee Bluff’s program began in 2018 when the school opened.
The Bears are coming off a quarterfinal run a year ago and this year are off to a 2-1 start after a 10-point road win over Lumpkin County in Week 1, a 47-2 drubbing of Apalachee in Week 2, and a 43-31 loss on the road at North Hall Friday.
Last year, the Raiders fell 31-24 against Cherokee Bluff in Mt. Airy as an interception with 33 seconds left ended the threat of coming back to tie up the game and force overtime.
Looking ahead, Harrison said Habersham Central would have to play well, but the opportunity to pick up another win is there.
“They’re going to be good,” Harrison said. “We played them well last year, but came up a little short. We fully expect that, if we go play our game the way we can play it, we’ll be fine.”
The Raiders and Bears will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 5 in Flowery Branch.
***Unofficial stats provided by WCON***
