The day has finally arrived. The wait is over. It’s go time!
The 48th edition of the Battle of Currahee Mountain kicks off tonight at 7:30 p.m. at The Reservation in Toccoa to open up the 2024 football season for both Habersham Central and Stephens County high schools.
The opening game to a season doesn’t spell disaster should your team falter. It also doesn’t outline success should your team emerge victorious.
But in a rivalry game like this, the result matters.
“We’ve not tried to shy away from the fact it is a big game. To tell (the players) it’s just another game? That’s not true,” said HCHS Head Coach Benji Harrison. “Two things: it’s the first game of the season and it’s an opponent that’s right next door to us. Obviously people get up for that game. Even though it’s not a region game, it’s a big one.”
Since the scrimmage win against Oconee, Harrison said his players have responded well to him challenging them to having a week to get miscues straightened out before focus turned specifically to Stephens County.
When it came time to flip the switch to game week, the team jumped quickly into line.
“They know exactly what this game means. I think they flipped their attention quick as we went into game week mode this week,” Harrison said.
In his assessment from watching the film of the scrimmage, Harrison said the Raiders put a focus on tackling better and getting more “hats to the football” on the defensive side.
Despite settling in against Oconee County after its standout running back Caiden Wood broke a long run on the first play from scrimmage, the HCHS defense has also put an emphasis on stopping the run this week.
“You’ve got to get some hats to the ball so we can stop the run. We’ve got to stop the run. We were a little bit disappointed in that (during the scrimmage),” Harrison said. “We’ve done a good job this week in focusing on that and getting that fixed.”
The Raiders will have to be disciplined defensively against the run game Friday against the Indians with three-year starter Javon Gordon back for his senior campaign.
A year ago, Gordon carried the ball 22 times for 123 yards and two scores against HCHS. On the season, the running back had 274 rushes for 1,635 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also caught 19 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns.
“It all runs through him,” Harrison said. “But they can throw the football. I think they have a really good balance.”
Balancing out Gordon in the backfield is his senior partner, quarterback Tripp Underwood.
Underwood was 12-of-26 for 160 yards and two touchdowns a year ago in this contest. He also tossed an interception. He finished the season completing just over 50 percent of his passes for 1,523 yards and 13 scores.
“Obviously Javon is a good player. He has been for several years for them. We’ve got to get hats in the box and tackle him and get him hemmed up because he’s hard to tackles when he gets in space,” Harrison said. “But they can throw the football, so it’s not like you can just sell out to the run because the quarterback is back, he has a good arm and they’ve got some receivers that can make plays.”
The contest in 2013 was frustration to the highest degree as Harrison spoke before the game about needing to close out the game if they had a lead late. The Raiders had just that. Not only that, they led by as many as 16 points multiple times throughout the game and led by nine points with 1:47 left on the clock.
The only span of time the Indians led a year ago was the final five seconds as they delivered a game-winning field goal and then held their breath as the Raiders tossed the ball all over the yard on the ensuing kickoff. The Indians were penalized on that play, which led to an untimed down for HCHS, which ultimately went nowhere.
Harrison said he’s been relentless on pounding the idea of closing out the game.
“Every day,” he said. “Figuring out how to finish the game. It’s one thing to knock on the door, but at some point you’ve got to slam it in. You’ve got to knock the door down. That’s been the message this week. Let’s finish it. I’m tired of knocking.”
On The Reservation
Down the mountain, SCHS Head Coach Wes Tankersley said this game continues to be a big game for his team and their community.
“It obviously is always a big game every year. It means a lot for both communities for their guys to go out there and win and give their best for their community,” he said. “Whether it’s non-region or not really doesn’t matter. It’s one our kids get up for and usually fight, scratch and claw to try to win. It’s definitely a big deal for us.”
The Indians are coming off back-to-back region titles and second-round losses in the state playoffs.
Getting off to a good start with a win on Friday is the best way to continue rolling success.
“You always want to start off right and start off with a win. It gives you a little momentum,” Tankersley said. “With us last year, we had a big senior class the year before and we were able to use this game to help build confidence and make us better as we went throughout the year.
“Winning it is important.”
Tankersley is returning a good bit of production from a year ago and that experience could pay dividends.
The Indians bring back players responsible for 35 of their 51 touchdowns a year ago with Gordon obviously putting up 22 of those scores himself. Assuming the players eligible to return did, they also return over half the team’s tackles from 2023.
“We do feel like we have a good nucleus coming back from last year that had production. Now we’ve got to find those guys that fill in to make up the rest of that production,” Tankersley said. “That’s the thing here early on in the season. What people are going to step up to replace that production?”
Much like the Raiders graduated all five of their starters on the offensive line in the Class of 2024, the Indians had four of their five walk across the stage in the spring. That’s the biggest area for Tankersley to find replacements for, not just the skill positions that produce stats week in and week out.
The head man said, while Gordon will be a huge focal point of his offense, SCHS has a few playmakers on the outside to be able to help take some pressure off the running back. He said with a pair of receivers, a pair of slot backs and a full back on the field, “We’ve got the possibility of four or five people running or catching the ball at any given time with what we’re doing this year.”
Despite the successes of the last three years with a pair of region titles and making it to the second round each year, this team has no choice but to pave its own way.
“It’s just a brand new year, a brand new team. We’ve talked to the kids about that all throughout the offseason. ‘You’re not last year’s team. You’re not the team before that. You’re your team. You’re this year’s team. It’s time for you to make your mark, whatever that mark is.’”
Tankersley said having success the last few years means he has to remind his players that just because they’re wearing the red and black doesn’t automatically hand them success.
“Especially when you’ve had some success the last couple of years, you have to reiterate that that’s not going to keep happening if you’re not doing the right things and not working hard,” he said. “Those guys that won region championships the last two years, when they were freshmen, had some very bad, lean years and they had to go through some trials and tribulations. I think we’re a little bit removed from that, so you have to remind yourselves of what it takes and the hunger it takes to perform at a high level.”
When it comes to facing the Raiders, Tankersley said his team will have to take away the deep threat. Specifically in the scrimmage, the “unscripted plays” were a concern. He took note of what quarterbacks DJ Pass and Paris Wilbanks were able to do when the play broke down before finding receivers, especially “Number 5,” Zeke Whittington.
“Those are things that you definitely worry about because they’re not part of the normal flow of play,” Tankersley said. “Those are definite things we tried to work on in the last two weeks since we saw those guys scrimmage versus Oconee.”
As for his offense, Tankersley said his players are still learning and his coaching staff is still learning about them. The early games and the non-region schedule are a lot about fine tuning within your team on the offensive side.
Tankersley said the motto for this year’s team is “24/7.” For the team, it’s meant a few different things throughout the offseason.
“I think the biggest thing is that they are Stephens County football players 24/7. In everything they do and how they act and the work they put in, it’s always going to be seen,” Tankersley said. “They have to take pride in that and pride in being an Indian and make sure they’re upholding that standard of being a Stephens County Indian, 24/7.”
Note: When the game kicks off Friday, Harrison will have officially started his 10th season as head coach for HCHS football. The milestone takes him out of a tie for second-longest tenured coach and puts him solely in second behind the football field’s namesake, John Larry Black.
“I’ve been fortunate to get to stay at a place that I really like being at. That’s the significance (of the mark) to me,” Harrison said. “I like Habersham. I like this community. It’s been good to me, it’s been good to my family, and to be able to stay somewhere for a while in this profession today is pretty good.
“My job is to do as best I can to make our community happy and I think we can do that if we can get a win Friday night.”
Harrison is a year removed from tying Black at the top of the list of longest tenured coaches in the school’s now-55-year history.
