Habersham Central High School honored members of its football program at its annual Raider Football Banquet Sunday at Level Grove Baptist Church in Cornelia.
Head coach Benji Harrison guided the event along throughout the afternoon as members of the eighth grade, junior varsity and varsity teams were lauded for their performances on the gridiron during the 2023 season.
Harrison said his main purpose in doing the banquet after the season is to send off the seniors in a shower of appreciation.
“That’s the big thing for me is to really let all those seniors know how much we appreciate them. The underclassmen as well. It’s to celebrate the fact they put in a lot of work,” Harrison said. “At the end of the year, you want to celebrate their accomplishments individually and as a team.
“To me, it’s just a celebration and a way of saying ‘Thank you,’ ‘We really see all the sacrifices you make,’ and ‘We appreciate you,’ he continued.
VARSITY
Overall, 17 different athletes garnered hardware for their hard work across the varsity season.
More than 30 athletes were recognized for their academic achievements of maintaining a 93, or better, average during football season.
Around 12 of those were acknowledged by Region 8-AAAAAA for maintaining higher than a 95 average.
Scholar Athletes Academic Award
Senior Brad Chosewood was honored as the Raiders’ highest grade earner.
The offensive lineman, who was also named to the All-Region First Team Offense, is also on pace to be the HCHS Class of 2024 Salutatorian.
Breakout Player of the Year
The Raiders’ coaching staff split this award for this season, honoring an offensive and defensive player that showed up big for the team this season.
On the offensive side of the ball, Donovan Warren was the recipient of the award.
Warren, a sophomore running back, stepped into a backup role after an early season transfer pushed junior Antonio Cantrell into the starting role.
The sophomore finished his breakout season with 45 carries for 279 yards and four touchdowns. He crossed the 100-yard mark in a loss to Gainesville and was two yards shy of the century mark against Shiloh in the final regular season game.
On the defensive side, lineman Alex Ethridge took home the honors.
The senior totaled 34 tackles (9 solo, 25 assists) with 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack and a fumble recovery in his final season for the Raiders.
Ethridge’s efforts earned him a Second Team Defense All-Region nod.
Special Teams Player of the Year
Senior Somdee Satiphone was the pick for Special Teams Player of the Year.
The wide receiver/defensive back two-way player returned kickoffs for the Raiders this season.
In his nine returns, he covered 339 yards, averaging 37.7 yards per return. Satiphone took two kicks back to the house, the first in the Stephens County game and then again a little over a month later against Jackson County.
Offensive Player of the Year
Once again, the coaching staff honored a pair with this award.
Cantrell led the team in rushing this season with 695 yards on 158 carries for 11 touchdowns.
He averaged 4.4 yards per carry and finished the season with three 100-yard games.
Junior Landyn Savage played wide receiver this season for HCHS.
Savage pulled down 15 catches for 155 yards and a touchdown.
Both Cantrell and Savage landed themselves on the Second Team Offense in All-Region voting.
Elevation Award
This is a first-time-given award for the HCHS staff and they were looking for it to go to someone who elevated their game from the previous season.
In 2022, then-junior Jarred White finished the season with 21 total tackles (7 solo, 14 assists).
In his elevated and final season, White bumped those numbers up considerably.
White had four games where he had 10-plus total tackles. He finished the season with 85 total tackles (27 solo, 58 assists) and 5.5 tackles for loss.
White added in a sack, an interception, a pass defended, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
His efforts in his senior year earned him a Second Team Defense All-Region nod.
Defensive Player of the Year
Senior linebacker Hayden Gailey was named the Defensive Player of the Year.
Gailey finished the season with 67 total tackles (41 solo, 26 assists), 2.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, four passes defended and one forced fumble.
Gailey also punted for the Raiders and earned First Team Punter All-Region acknowledgement.
Joseph York Perseverance Award
Senior defensive lineman Nate Hurley was named the Joseph York Perseverance Award winner in the 20th year the honor was given.
The award is “presented to the Habersham Central High School football team member who exemplified the attributes of perseverance, valor and bravery in his actions during the season.”
Harrison said Hurley earned the award for sticking out the football program until his senior year, which was the first time he was able to start for the Raiders.
Hurley finished the season with seven total tackles (2 solo, 5 assists), one tackle for loss, one sack, two interceptions and four forced fumbles.
Shane Dover “All-in” Award
The Shane Dover “All-in” Award is in just its second year of being given out.
Dover passed away January 4, 2022 after an apparent heart attack. Harrison mentioned in his remarks about the award’s importance that Dover had worked with and coached with him from his arrival in 2015 until Dover’s passing.
“We wanted to find a way to keep his legacy going,” Harrison said. “There’s one thing I know about Shane and it’s this program meant a whole lot to him. He was truly all in.
“We wanted a way to continue to honor him and keep his memory strong each year and try to pick guys that he would be proud of,” Harrison continued. “That’s who we try to get for that award. Guys that, if he were sitting in that room voting with us, he’d be right in line with who we picked for that award.”
The 2023 recipients of the Shane Dover “All-in” Award were seniors Aidan Cianci and Jacob Adams.
Cianci finished his season with 35 total tackles (9 solo, 26 assists), a tackle for loss, three quarterback hurries, and one forced fumble. He earned an honorable mention spot in the All-Region voting.
Adams made the Second Team Offense in All-Region voting.
Captains
Harrison named six captains for the 2023 football team, all of which are seniors.
Carter Barrett, Davey Sanders, Jonah Wilson and Wesley Sisk joined Chosewood and Gailey for the honor.
“You’ve got to have great leadership throughout your program, but you better have great leadership at the top of your program,” Harrison said. “Your seniors better be leaders. Those guys were. There’s different ways to be a captain, there’s different ways to lead and I thought all those guys did it in a unique way.”
Sanders and Wilson both earned honorable mention All-Region nods as well.
WCON Player of the Year
Senior Braden Henslee was honored as the WCON Player of the Year.
The First Team Defense All-Region defensive lineman finished the season with 84 total tackles (22 solo, 62 assists), nine tackles for loss, two sacks, two quarterback hurries, and one pass defended.
Bob Turpin MVP
The coaching staff split their MVPs with an honoree on each side of the ball.
For the defensive side, Barrett took home the hardware.
Barrett, who was named Defensive Player of the Year in All-Region voting, finished the year with 110 total tackles (55 solo, 55 assists), 10.5 tackles for loss, four passes defended, three fumble recoveries and one forced fumble.
The offensive MVP was junior receiver Zeke Whittington.
Whittington had 63 catches for 862 yards and nine touchdowns. He finished the season just one yard shy of 1,200 all-purpose yards.
Jimmy Williams Courage Award Nominees
The Jimmy Williams Courage Award is given out a little differently than the others listed above as the nominees are announced at the end of year banquet and the winner is chosen by vote of the Ring of Honor committee and then announced prior to the Ring of Honor golf tournament in 2024.
“Courage can go a lot of different ways,” Harrison said. “It can be courage when you’re coming back from an injury, it can be courage when you’re dealing with something in your personal life and you found a way to persevere through it and didn’t let it hold you back.”
The nominees for this year’s Jimmy Williams Courage Award are seniors Christian Boss, Wesley Sisk and Somdee Satiphone.
Boss started the season as Christian Remillard and was adopted this year. Despite that going on, Boss never lost focus throughout the season and was a big piece of the Raiders’ offensive line.
Wesley Sisk has been through a myriad of injuries and, according to Harrison, “never let them hold him back and keep him out of a game.”
Satiphone has been through personal issues, including recently losing a parent.
“I think all three of those guys, their stories are a little different,” Harrison said. “Each one of them is a little unique, but I think they all exemplified courage in how they’ve carried themselves and to make it to their senior years and have the years they did. It definitely involved some different forms of adversity that all of them overcame.”
FCA All-Star Game
The Raiders had seven senior players selected to play in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-Star Game, which will be played at Lakeview Academy on Thursday.
Wilson, Adams, Ethridge, Satiphone, Sanders, Cianci and Hurley will all get to play in the contest.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Outstanding Defense
For the JV squad, Sawyer Burgess and Aaron Hitchcock walked away with awards for their contributions to the defense this season.
Outstanding Offense
On the offensive side of the ball, Paris Wilbanks and Jay Feltus were the standouts celebrated for their accomplishments.
EIGHTH GRADE
For those upcoming to the high school ranks, four awards were given for the successes of their season.
Aron Guerrero was honored with the Outstanding Offense Award and Preston Tatum picked up the Outstanding Defense Award.
The Raider Award was split between Owen Gailey and Eli Akridge for their performances on the field.
As for the MVP Award, that was garnered by Brayson Gates.
