It was a catfight early on in Homer, as Rabun County was held scoreless through one until a TD run put them ahead for good midway through the second. #6 Rabun (4-1; 1-0 in 8-A DI) struggled to move the ball without starting QB Ty Truelove, but outlasted Banks County (0-5; 0-1) 31-9.
Neither team got much going in the opening quarter, though the Leopards used a pair of successful fake punt first down runs by Aucy Jacobs. Eventually, Banks knocked home a 28-yd field goal by Joseph Ramos with 7:45 left in the second. The Wildcats retaliated by marching down the field, courtesy of a huge run by Lake Evans to set up a 2-yd TD run to put them up 7-3 with 5:47 to go.
After an immediate 3-and-out, it appeared Rabun would tack on another score. However, Colter Cannon was picked off in the red zone by Nathan Brown to end the threat. It was still 7-3 at the break.
Rabun scored on its first possession of the second half, as Evans had another big run and Giles punched it in from a short distance for the 14-3 lead. On the Leopards’ ensuing possession, their punt was blocked, and Jake Payne scooped it up and waltzed in. Clayton Blalock then scored a 2-point conversion to suddenly make it a 22-3 game. The fourth started out great for the Cats when Noah English recorded a safety to push the lead to 24-3.
After back-to-back turnovers on consecutive plays, Rabun got it back in the end zone on a 19-yd rushing score by Evans. The Leopards tacked on a late score.
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