For the third time under head coach Benji Harrison, the Habersham Central High School football team is headed back to the Georgia High School Association state playoffs after beating Shiloh High School 35-16 Friday in Snellville.
The game was one with make-or-break pressure for the Raiders (5-5, 3-3 Region 8-AAAAAA). Win and you’re in. Lose and, well, there were scenarios that put them in the playoffs with a loss, but they didn’t let it get to that.
“Obviously they knew what was on the line,” Harrison said. “I thought they played relaxed. I thought they played with an enthusiasm and intensity that they were determined to win this game and make sure our season continued.”
Continue, the season will.
Habersham Central will travel to play the No. 1 seed in Region 5, Douglas County High School, to open up the playoffs.
Douglas County finished the 2023 regular season campaign undefeated. Ten wins on the whole, with a 7-0 region record.
“They’re obviously a talented team. We’ve played them before when they were a talented team,” Harrison said of his first-round opponent. “We’ll go try to figure them out and come up with the best plan we can and go down there and try to play as good a game as we can.
“We’ve played good teams all year. Let’s go play another good one.”
The Raiders traded blows with Shiloh (2-8, 1-5 8-AAAAAA) in the fourth quarter, but the game was well in hand at that point.
After going to the locker room down 21-3, the Generals came out to receive the ball to start the second half.
Shiloh held the ball for over 10 minutes on the first drive out of the break, but the Habersham Central defense came up with a big stop inside the 5-yard line to keep its lead.
It would take over 17 minutes of game play before either team would put points on the board in the final half of the regular season.
Running back Donnie Warren (10 car, 98 yds, 2 TDs) housed a 54-yard run with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter to push the Raiders out to a 28-3 lead.
With the Habersham Central defense stifling the Shiloh offense, Generals receiver Landon Dean took the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown. With the extra point, Shiloh cut the lead back to 18 points at 28-10.
Just over four minutes later, Warren cut through the defense for a second touchdown of the night.
The Generals managed to get themselves backed up after receiving the kickoff and would start at their own 8-yard line.
With 92 yards ahead, Shiloh marched down the field and capped it off with Dean catching a 47-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ricky Simmons. The Generals attempted a 2-point conversion, but it failed.
Shiloh slammed kickoff off a Habersham Central player before falling on the ball to take possession for a late chance at adding more points. But the drive amounted to nothing.
“It seems like every game we’ve played in the region that we’ve had to win, that we knew this one you have to win to get in, we’ve got it,” Harrison said. “That’s a credit to our guys wanting it bad enough and wanting to do it for each other.”
The Raiders opened scoring in the game with a 31-yard touchdown pass from quarterback DJ Pass (8-of-14, 106 yds, TD) to receiver Zeke Whittington (5 rec, 60 yds, TD; 1 car, 12 yds, TD).
Whittington would score again just 13 seconds into the second quarter with a 12-yard run on a sweep play.
Running back Antonio Cantrell (18 car, 79 yds, TD) added the final touchdown of the first half with a 3-yard run, capping off an 11-play, 86-yard drive with 1:04 remaining before the break.
Michael Hill knocked through four point-after-tries. Camden Meads provided the fifth PAT on Warren’s 19-yard run in the fourth.
“It was a team win tonight and it couldn’t come at a better time because we didn’t want to end the season,” Harrison said.
“And, because of how we came out and played tonight, we’re not going to.”
The Raiders will head to Douglas County Friday night for a rematch of the 2018 first-round pairing. The Tigers entered that game 8-2 on the season with a 7-1 region record, but Habersham Central moved on from that game with a 35-0 victory.
The Raiders were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round against Creekview in 2018. Harrison also took the program to the postseason in 2020, but fell to Rome in the opening round.
This will be Habersham Central’s 18th trip to the playoffs in the 53-year history of the school.
