The train is back on the tracks, but now is when Habersham Central High School’s varsity football team can prove it firmly has both hands on the wheel and is prepared to steer.
The Raiders (1-2) host Cherokee Bluff High School (3-0) Friday night for their final non-region contest of the regular season one week after picking up their first win of the season.
“Practice is always better after a win, especially when you get your first one and it gives you the confidence you need to believe you can do it again,” HCHS Head Coach Benji Harrison said.
The Raiders, who were the beneficiaries of some cooler weather for practices this week, are in preparation mode for a largely unknown opponent.
In the Bears six previous seasons fielding a team, the two have never met on the gridiron.
Harrison said his squad had a good week of preparation before Stephens County in Week 1. Then not as good of a week before Flowery Branch in Week 2.
“I think last week was good just because of who it was and (the players) knew how much we needed the win,” Harrison said. “I would say as far as the flow of things, the energy of the kids, as far as that goes, (this week has) probably been as good a week of practice as we’ve had.”
Cherokee Bluff has started this season on a high with a perfect record off the jump. The Bears opened with a 31-20 win over Lumpkin County, then picked up a 49-7 win on the road at Apalachee, before beating in-county rival North Hall 38-13 at home.
Harrison said in watching film it’s obvious the Bears play with a lot of confidence. The thing that really stood out to him was how hard his upcoming opponent plays.
“They’ve got them playing really, really hard. I know that’s easy for a coach to say, you can say, ‘Oh that’s coach-talk,’ but they do. They play hard and seem to play hard together,” Harrison said. “They seem to have good chemistry on their team.”
Harrison said he expects the Bears’ defense to try to create confusion with multiple looks and movement.
Offensively, the head coach said his team will be able to match up well on the outside, but the Raiders will be leaning on their run game as well.
“We’ve got some pretty good running backs and we want to run the football too,” Harrison said. “Well stay as balanced as we need to be, but, when you need to take shots, you have to take them. Your offensive line seems to be getting better every week, so, with that happening and our running backs running the way they are, hopefully we can find ways to move it on the ground and through the air.”
With Cherokee Bluff aiming to create confusion on their defensive side, that could create some headaches for sophomore quarterback Paris Wilbanks, who will be getting his second start Friday.
“That’s our job to make sure he can (handle it),” Harrison said. “I think we’ve got to do a good job calling plays and make sure we make the game as simple as it can be. He’s a smart kid, he can handle a lot.
“I don’t care who the quarterback is, if he’s a first-year starter or a third-year starter, the better job we can do putting him in a good situation as far as play calls, the better opportunity (Wilbanks) has to just play. You don’t want these kids thinking a whole lot. You just want them to play,” he added.
Harrison said his team has been able to move the ball each week so far with the first week being hindered with lack of success in the red zone and the second week plagued with turnovers.
“Last week, we were just able to finish off some drives a little bit better,” Harrison said. “Hopefully in Game 4 you look better than you did in Game 3 and we play cleaner.”
When the coaches watched the film from the White County win, Harrison said he thought the play on both lines of scrimmage was the best it’s been all season for the Raiders.
That play up front, especially on the defensive side, will be a key to victory against the Bears Friday night.
“Offensively, they like to run the football. They want to run it and will take shots when they get the opportunity, but they’re definitely a team that wants to control the clock and keep it on the ground,” Harrison said. “You’ve got to be good against the run (defensively) every week, but more so when you’ve got a team whose identity is ‘We’re going to run right at you.’”
When this game goes final on the scoreboard late Friday night, the record that matters will sit at 0-0 until the following week when the Raiders visit Loganville to open the region slate.
While the pressure of getting a win against Cherokee Bluff won’t show up in the search for playoff seeding at the end of the year, it can have major implications on how the Raiders start region play.
“I think it adds a little bit more to it, just the fact that you definitely want to be playing as good as you can be playing when you’re going into the region. And you feel like you’re playing your best ball when you’re winning games,” Harrison said. “I think it’s a good game for momentum. It’s another home game and I challenged our kids on that front as well. We always need to be better at home. In front of our crowd, at our place, we ought to be tough to play against at home.”
Friday’s game against the Bears is set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. and will be the last home game for HCHS until October 4 when the Raiders return to Mt. Airy to host Clarke Central.
For the Chee
On Wednesday, a 14-year-old suspected gunman walked into Apalachee High School in Winder, killing two fellow students and two teachers. He also injured nine others who are expected to fully recover from their physical injuries.
One of the teachers killed was Ricky Aspinwall, a defensive coordinator for the Wildcats’ football team. He leaves behind a wife and two young daughters.
The Raiders will honor Aspinwall and the Apalachee community with a commemorative logo sticker on the back of their helmets. Either a pregame prayer or moment of silence will be held with both HCHS and Cherokee Bluff on the field ahead of kickoff.
Apalachee, which is just an hour to an hour and a half away from Raider Stadium, has been a region opponent for Habersham Central every year since 2016, with exception of the 2020 and 2021 seasons when both teams played as non-region opponents.
