Friday night is a clean slate of sorts for the Habersham Central High School football team.
Despite heading into the game with a 1-3 record, those games all came in non-region play, which, essentially, means nothing in the long run.
As competitors, they want to win them all. As Head Coach Benji Harrison put it, “It’s a football game and they were keeping score, so we wanted to win it.”
Now, the Raiders will get a fresh start as they head down the road to Walton County to face Loganville High School and start the region schedule.
Everything from here until the end of the season carries weight. Every play. Every whistle. Every result.
“This one is big because these count,” Harrison said. “When you get in the region, this is when they start giving trophies. These games matter.”
At the beginning of the season, pretty much every team in every sport comes up with their team goals. Every one of those lists invariably mentions a region championship. In that respect, each region game puts pressure on or takes some pressure off the next one.
This one is brimming with meaning for both teams.
Full steam ahead
For the Raiders, a 1-3 record that could easily be 2-2 or 3-1 leaves room for a team to prove something. Region play is the best possible stretch to prove it.
Despite the record, Harrison said there’s not much for him in terms of questions of his team as they head into this crucial slate of games.
“If you’re 1-3 and feel like you’re limping into it… if you’re 1-3 and felt like you haven’t had a shot in those games you’ve lost… if you’re 1-3 and think your team has given up and hasn’t given good effort, then you’re going into region with a lot of question marks,” Harrison said. “I don’t really have a lot of question marks other than ‘are we going to find a way when we have to in the fourth quarter?’”
Coming off a game against Cherokee Bluff High School where the Raiders were stopped on fourth down inside the 5-yard line and ended the game throwing an interception in the end zone, the head coach said his team has had a good week of practice.
According to Harrison, the way the game ended against Bears gave them reason to buy into learning how to finish games and they’ve had that attitude in preparation for this week.
The Raiders have also been practicing that same drive from the same spot they were stopped inside the 5-yard line to work on some things they think could be beneficial after watching the film of the drive.
Harrison said he wouldn’t say that drive cost the team the game because there were other things that added up throughout, but it “prevented us from winning the game.”
After the Raiders had a 10-point lead in the third quarter, then gave up 17 unanswered points to the Bears, “finish” has been a theme throughout the week this week.
The way the game ended was two-fold for Harrison and his sophomore quarterback Paris Wilbanks. On one hand, it was a disappointing outcome. On the other hand, Wilbanks had never been in that situation at the varsity level before and now has that experience.
On the whole, Wilbanks had a great night with 416 yards of offense (126 rush, 290 pass). Then there was the interception and a fumble earlier in the contest.
“As good a night as it was, I think if you asked Paris, it didn’t end the way he wanted it to, so none of that matters,” Harrison said. “I was listening to some of our other players this week talking about (the interception) and they said, ‘Coach, it shouldn’t have ever come down to that play.’ They know that. It shouldn’t have come down to that drive, we shouldn’t have had to make that drive to win that game. But we did.”
Harrison said, at quarterback, you have to have two things: a short term memory and confidence in yourself. Wilbanks fits the bill.
“He’s a guy that, if you gave him the opportunity to be in that position again, he wouldn’t turn it down.”
Red Devils down
Loganville is winless through its first four games. The Red Devils have been outscored 169-53. They allowed just under 1,400 yards in three of the four games (one doesn’t have stats entered).
The Red Devils have some proving to do themselves – maybe even to themselves – and, again, there’s no better place to start than the first region game.
“Yeah, they’ve given up some points defensively, but I’m sure they’re saying the same thing we are, ‘Hey, it’s a clean slate, it’s a fresh start,’” Harrison said. “They look at us at 1-3 and think, ‘Let’s go get one. Let’s get our first one of the year and get our season rolling.’”
Harrison said Loganville, through the first four games, was a team that wanted to move the ball through the air with junior quarterback Brody Hannah.
According to Harrison, watching Hannah on film shows that the quarterback can make things tough for the Raiders, especially if his receivers do a better job catching the ball.
“He will be as good a quarterback as we will see all year and whenever you’ve got a guy that’s in charge of the offense that can play, that’s always scary,” Harrison said. “He can get hot on the right night and, if he does that, it’ll be scary.
“They’ve had some drops. He puts it there. He’s an accurate passer,” he continued. “We just hope they don’t pick this night to start catching them.”
A year ago, Hannah completed 55 percent of his passes for 2,910 yards and 24 touchdowns. He also turned the ball over 14 times through the air.
The Red Devils also returned a pair of senior receivers, who, a year ago, combined to catch 96 passes for 1,771 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Loganville is also dealing with an interesting possible distraction and one that stems from an unlikely source – its head coach.
On Monday of this week, Red Devils Head Coach Gene Cathcart resigned his position citing health issues. Cathcart is a name recognizable to HCHS fans as he led the Raiders from 2003-2008, earning two region titles and two quarterfinals in three state playoff appearances. Steven Smith, a long-time assistant at Loganville, will take the helm in the interim.
Harrison said this will be his first time facing an interim coach where a change was made midseason. But facing a different coach than he’s seen on film doesn’t mean he expects much to change in terms of scheme and how the players play.
“One thing I learned a long time ago is you’re coaching against those kids,” Harrison said. “Don’t get caught up in coaching against those coaches. Coach against what you’re seeing them do on the field and have the best plan possible to hopefully combat that.”
The field may be a wet one Friday night as rain could possibly move into the area from Hurricane Francine, which made landfall in Louisiana Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane.
“I like the two backs we have if it is a rainy night,” Harrison said. “I feel good about the fact that we can run it. Hopefully, if it comes down to it, that’ll be to our advantage Friday night.”
All in the eyes
Before the win over White County High School, there was a different look in the players’ eyes, according to Harrison. It’s one he’d like to see again Friday night as the Raiders step off the bus and prepare to play Loganville.
“I challenged our kids with that. I said, ‘We need that same look,’” Harrison said. “It was a look of ‘we will not lose this game.’ I think our kids kind of sense that again. I think they felt like we’ve played pretty decent the last two weeks, but we only have one win to show for it.
“I think our kids are going to be laser focused. I think they’re going to be ready. I think they know how big this one is.”
The Raiders and Red Devils kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Loganville.
