The Habersham Central Raiders defeated White County Friday night at Warrior Valley. This is the second win of the season for the Raiders and payback for last season’s heartbreaking loss to the Warriors. Far from heartbreaking, this one was heart stopping for Raider coaches and fans as the team stormed its way back from a 20-0 deficit in the second half to win.
READ Raiders score 34 unanswered to shock Warriors
The Warriors got on the board first with a 33-yd Curtis Havlen TD in the second quarter and went up 20-0. Michael Mintz got a 4-yd TD and the 2PC made it 14-0 Warriors. In the first half, White County had six touchdowns, but four called back due to penalties.
The Warriors padded the lead 20-0 on a J Ben Haynes to Cooper Turner TD. Habersham finally broke through with under eight minutes left in the third to cut it to 20-7, and scored one minute later to get within 20-14.
Back-to-back turnovers gave the Raiders a chance to tie and they did at 20 apiece. Habersham scored again with nine minutes left to go up 26-20 on a Tracy Lowery TD run. 34 unanswered points included another TD late run by Donovan Curry, then a 2PC catch from Tre Luttrell to go up 34-20 and cap a wild comeback win for the Raiders.
After the game, an obviously relieved Raiders head coach Benji Harrison told Now Habersham, “Like I told the guys, football is a game of adversity and it’s the team that overcomes adversity the most that has a chance to win. I think our guys did a nice job of that tonight.”
Habersham County pulled it out as fans expected. The team won the BLITZ pre-game poll by more than 200 votes.
Next week, the Raiders play at home against Franklin County. Click here to view HCHS Raiders 2018-19 football season schedule.
LOCAL SCORES
Union County 45, Towns County 7
Towns got the first score, but three turnovers led to a Union 28-7 lead that quickly got out of hand. The Panthers’ Ean Harkins had two INTs, including a pick six, while Pierson Allison threw a TD to Kyle Morlock, and Chad Buzzard added a rushing score…all this in the first quarter. A couple more TDs made it 38-7 before the break. That score held through three quarters with a running clock, but when the horn sounded it was 45-7 Union.
#3 Commerce 27, Hart County 14 (in progress)
Sam Roach and Caleb Mason got Commerce up 14-zip early. TJ Trudnak made it 21-0 and Dylan Deaton made it 27-0, but Hart rallied within 27-14 before the break.
#2 Athens Academy 28, Stephens County 7
The #2 team in 1A outscored Stephens 28-7 to hand the Indians their first loss of the season.
Jackson County 45, Lumpkin County 0
The Indians trailed 7-0 after one, and Jackson rapidly went up 35-zip, taking advantage of a number of turnovers. Tyler Wester had five TDs in the first half to put Jackson up 35-0 at the break. They picked up where they left off and pushed it to 45-0 with a running clock until it was over. 45-zip was the final.
#9 Jefferson 48, West Hall 6
The Dragons got off to a blistering start, going up 14-zip in the blink of an eye. Colby Clark got the first one, then Kade McNally the second one. An interception however led to West Hall closing the gap in the first, 14-6. That stretched to 21-6 to start the second. Later in the quarter, a 44-yd toss sweep by Donsha Gaither goes for six to pad the Dragons’ lead to 28-6. Highly recruited Garmon Randolph got a TD pass from Clark before the break, making it 35-6 and putting the game away. The Dragons used an 8-minute drive that was capped by another TD by McNally in the third to push it to 42-6 with a running clock. Carter Stephenson added a TD to make it 48-6 at the end of the third, which was the final.
#2 Buford 7, #1 Deerfield 7 (in progress)
National powerhouses collided here and some great defense that produced a scoreless first. Deerfield scored late in the half to go up 7-0. Buford tied it up with a TD run just before the break.
#7 Flowery Branch 28, Clarke Central 14
An 83-yd TD pass got the Falcons on the board first. Clarke responded with a 76-yard TD to tie it up. The Branch went back up 14-7 on a 27-yd TD pass in the second, taking the lead into the half and that held until the fourth. FB built on that to the tune of a 28-14 lead late that held up.
#10 North Hall 27, Cherokee 17
The Trojans were up 6-0 after one, but Cherokee was up 10-6 at the break. The see-saw continued into the fourth when North Hall went up 20-17 and the Trojans put the hammer down for the 27-17 win.
Lambert 16, Gainesville 15
Gainesville led 8-3 at the end of the first half in a hard-fought battle. Lambert took a late 16-15 lead with 3 to go in the game and held on for the nail-biter win.
Johnson 34, Cherokee Bluff 13
The teams were scoreless after a quarter, but Johnson got on the board with a 17-yd TD (2PC failed) to go up 6-0. Cherokee Bluff took the 7-6 lead late in the first half but it was short-lived, as the Knights went back up 12-7, and pushed it to 19-7 midway through the third. Bluff cut it to 19-13 early in the fourth before Johnson struck back and put the game away, 34-13.
Woodland 55, East Hall 6
Woodland picked up 42 points in the first half. East Hall went into halftime trailing 42-0. Woodland came back from the half and scored 13 more points. East Hall scored 6 in the second half but that was all they managed to get on the board. With the win, Woodland moves to 1-0 on the season, East Hall drops to 0-2.
Denmark 13, North Springs 7
Denmark went up 13-7 in the first en route to a 39-32 win. The first-year school is 2-0!
Georgia Force Christian 27, Lakeview Academy 7
(photo/video by Daniel Purcell)
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