The Raiders were shot out of a cannon on Friday night in a 38-7 rout of Apalachee on the road in their penultimate game of the season as the march toward a region championship matchup continues.
That clash with Jackson County, which is also unbeaten in region play, will kickoff next Friday in Hoschton at Panther Stadium.
The Wildcats (2-8, 1-5 Region 8-AAAAA) won the toss to open the game, but deferred to the second half. That gave the Raiders (7-2, 5-0) the ball to start and the offense did not disappoint.
With a return to the 35-yard line, Habersham Central fed the hot hand and handed the ball off to senior running back Donnie Warren.
Warren broke a couple of tackles on the way to the end zone on the opening play of the contest. The 65-yard touchdown and the opening kickoff return combined to take just 15 seconds off the clock.
The play and result of the game have been a direct correlation throughout the season for Habersham Central with quick starts leading to wins.
“That was what we talked about before the game – let’s start really fast. Let’s not start in any manner that makes the game any closer than we felt like it needed to be,” Head Coach Benji Harrison said. “We took control kind of early and managed to hold on for a good win.”
A few back-and-forth possessions later, the Raiders capped a seven-play, 47-yard drive with a 41-yard field goal off the boot of senior kicker Camden Meads.
Meads was perfect on the night, hitting the one field goal attempt and notching each of the team’s five extra point attempts.
The second quarter was much more eventful and, ultimately, decided the game.
After the 10-point lead in the first quarter, junior quarterback Paris Wilbanks (9-of-14, 88 yards, 3 TD) found junior receiver Jay Feltus for a 10-yard touchdown pass just 1 minute, 35 seconds into the period. The play capped an 8-play, 49-yard drive that snagged less than four minutes off the clock.
As the game continued to wind its way down to the halftime break, the final six minutes of the second quarter were all Raiders, all the time.
With 5:55 left, Habersham Central forced a punt from the Wildcats with the heels of the punter inches away from the back of the end zone.
Junior Tay Spencer returned the punt down to the 8-yard line. One snap and six seconds later, Warren was dancing his way across the goal line for his second score of the game.
Warren entered the game just 334 yards behind the top rusher in the state – Whitefield Academy’s Mason Hollingsworth. With only playing the first half, Warren crossed the 100-yard mark for the seventh time this season with a 101-yard, 2-touchdown performance on just 10 carries.
Barely a minute of game time after Warren’s second touchdown of the night, junior Noah Harkins forced a fumble. Teammate and fellow junior Sutton Porter picked the ball up and gave the Raider offense great starting position at the 7-yard line. But then an unsportsmanlike penalty moved the ball back to the 22-yard line.
The loss of three yards had Habersham Central lined up on the 25-yard line as the team lined up for a 42-yard field goal attempt for Meads. But a false start penalty moved the ball back to the 30-yard line for a 47-yard attempt.
Harrison opted to send his offense back out and go for it on 4th-and-18.
“It was one of those things where I felt like it put us a little bit too far out (for the field goal try),” Harrison said. “Probably, Camden is going to fuss with me on Monday that he wanted a shot for it. But I just felt like that was getting out there and stretching it pretty good.”
The thought at that point: “Why not take a shot?” That’s exactly what the Raiders did.
And it paid off.
The idea was more to try to get enough yards to set the defense up and give the Wildcats poor field position.
Wilbanks found a wide-open Jay Feltus in the middle of the field on the 10-yard line. Feltus spun to his left and sprinted the final 10 yards to the end zone for his second touchdown of the quarter.
That touchdown was scored with 3:16 left on the clock before the half. Ten seconds later, senior Hudson Gailey scooped a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to give the ball back to the Raiders on the 12-yard line.
Two plays later, a defensive pass interference call moved the ball to the 6-yard line. But then the only turnover of the game for Habersham Central handed the ball back to the home team as the ball was knocked away from Wilbanks as he ran the ball to his left.
With 1:05 left, Apalachee was forced to punt the ball with heels on the back of the end zone yet again, giving the ball to the Raiders on the Wildcats’ 28.
With 14 seconds left on the clock, Feltus was back in the mix as Wilbanks put the ball up and the junior-to-junior connection was complete yet again. Feltus went up and over a defender to snatch the ball for his third touchdown of the quarter.
Feltus finished the game with four catches for 65 yards and three touchdowns.
“Jay is a physical receiver when the ball is in the air. I think that’s probably the biggest thing about him,” Harrison said. “Close, tight coverage doesn’t really bother him. He’s pretty comfortable in tight coverage.”
With the 4th-and-long touchdown conversion and the up-and-over catch right before the half, Harrison called Feltus’ catches “huge plays.”
“Those are momentum shifters. Those are game changers. And Paris understands that,” Harrison said. “Just get (Feltus) the ball, give him a shot and he’ll make you look pretty good.”
With a 38-0 lead at the break, the Raiders were in position to pull most of the offensive starters for the second half.
The only scoring action after the break went in favor of the Wildcats as quarterback Cameron Wilson connected with Jay Rutledge for an 81-yard touchdown pass just over a minute and a half into the final quarter.
Gimme that
On the night, the Raiders were ball hawks. While that term is usually reserved for the secondary looking to defend receivers in the passing game and trying to snag interceptions, in this case, they were all over the ball when it hit the ground.
Porter recovered the fumble forced by Harkins, Gailey recovered the fumble on the kickoff in the second quarter and also recovered a fumble on defense in the second half.
In all, the Wildcats fumbled the ball four times and the Raiders made them pay for it on three of those.
“It’s all about gaining possessions. You do that through special teams, you do that through defense,” Harrison said. “If you can steal a couple of possessions that you maybe shouldn’t get, you have the opportunity to put points up and separate yourself.”
The flip side of that is being able to take advantage of the opportunity to put up points and truly punish the opposition for their mistakes. The Raiders did that.
While they only scored seven points directly off a turnover, they also turned the ball over deep in Wildcat territory and then forced them to punt, which led to points.
Making the most of it
Backup quarterback Owen Gailey played the entirety of the second half, giving Wilbanks a break and avoiding unnecessary potential injury ahead of next week’s big game.
The sophomore looked good by all measures. He connected on 1-of-3 pass attempts with a really good pass into the end zone for Evan Smith that the junior had trouble maintaining possession of on the way to the ground. The other incomplete pass attempt was the result of the wrong route run by the intended receiver.
Outside of the passing game, Gailey ran the run-pass-option game to near perfection. He ultimately rushed the ball four times for 30 yards and was the team’s fourth highest rusher in the contest.
The biggest stat on the sheet for a young, inexperienced quarterback: zero turnovers.
“It’s huge to get him those opportunities. For him to get to play the whole second half is huge,” Harrison said. “For him to go in and do what he did, I was really proud of him. He understands the offense. He’s got a little moxie about him. The moment, he was ready for it.”
All treats, no tricks
With the Halloween clash set to determine the final seeding for the playoffs, the Raiders are set for a home playoff game regardless of the result.
Still, playing for a region championship is not something either of these programs have come by too often in the past.
In his postgame huddle, Harrison said he told his guys to enjoy the moment and think about how it feels to know they’re going to be competing for that prize.
“That was a goal. I kept telling them ‘why not us?’ Why not have our name in the mix for the region championship,” Harrison said. “We felt going into the season we had a pretty good opportunity to do that if we took care of business and improved weekly.”
The last time Habersham Central won its region was the 2007 season under Gene Cathcart that ultimately ended in the quarterfinal round to a Ware County team that would go on to lose in the state championship.
Jackson County is still chasing its first region title.
“It’s a big deal. It’s a big game,” Harrison said. “I know their community and fans are excited, but ours are the same. It’s a pretty cool thing. Me and Korey (Mobbs) joked before the season, I said, ‘Hey, how about we make Game 10 for the region championship,” and he said, ‘Sounds like a plan to me.’
“For us to both be in that position and both of us going undefeated in the region until now, it’s a pretty cool story. It should be a lot of fun,” he continued.
Harrison, who came to Habersham Central after three seasons as the head coach at Jackson County, said going up against the school where he cut his teeth as a head coach is “special.”
Still, there has to be a mutual respect between these two programs.
In the 2023 season, the contest went to two overtimes with an interception sealing the win for Habersham Central at home.
Last season, the Panthers traveled to Mt. Airy and took a 34-21 win over the Raiders.
This time around, the stakes are higher. But both teams are built for the moment.
“We’re here for a reason and they’re there for a reason. I think we match up really well with each other,” Harrison said. “There’s not going to be any sneaking up on anybody in this game. It’s simply going to be who can put the best four quarters together next Friday will win that game.
“I think it will be the easiest week of practice we’ve ever had as far as focus, intensity and enthusiasm for what we’ve got to do.”
After the Cherokee Bluff game this season, the mantra for the squad went a new direction. The overall saying for the season is “Toughness Travels.” After dropping to 2-2 on the season, Harrison started using the phrase “Let’s be 1-and-0.”
Be 1-and-0 on every play. Be 1-and-0 on every drive. Be 1-and-0 every half. Be 1-and-0 every week.
With a home playoff game already on the books for the first round of the playoffs, there’s nothing left to do in the regular season but be 1-and-0.
Be 1-and-0 and the team will do something that hasn’t been done in 18 seasons.
Be 1-and-0 and be champions.
October 31, 7:30 p.m., Panther Stadium.
For all the marbles.
