Forget everything to date relating to the Habersham Central Raiders’ 1-4 season.It’s been a season filled with offense (one of the state’s top-scoring) and, unfortunately, heartbreaking losses. In reality, however, it doesn’t matter if Habersham Central was 5-0 or 0-5 coming into this week. The important part of the season starts tonight, when the Raiders travel to Gainesville to open region play. With just six teams in the region, every game from here on out is pivotal if Habersham is to make the state playoffs.
Gainesville (1-4) is in the exact same spot as the Raiders, having a first half of the season that is best to just put in the rearview mirror and look toward the “here-and-now.” A win for either program tonight goes a long way to earning that postseason play ticket.
Around the area, we’ll see other games with high expectations and huge implications, notably the Union County vs Dawson County 7-AAA game. That features one of the state’s top offenses (Union) and a top-10 state-ranked defense (Dawson). Both quarterbacks, Cole Wright (Panthers) and Coey Watson (Tigers) are dual threats, and both are nursing knee/leg injuries.
BLITZ Game of the Week: Gainesville vs Habersham Central
WEEK 0 – Chestatee vs North Hall
WEEK 1 – #5 Rabun vs #9 Mt. Pisgah
WEEK 2 – Habersham Central vs White
WEEK 3 – White vs #3 Rabun
WEEK 4 – Habersham vs Stephens
WEEK 5 – Habersham vs Chestatee
WEEK 6 – Dawson vs North Hall
Here are the details for Friday night’s Week 7 game vs Gainesville.
TIME: 7:30 pm kickoff
PLACE: Bobby Gruhn Field at City Park (Gainesville, GA)
LAST MEETING: Red Elephants won 24-7 at Habersham in 2016
ALL-TIME RECORD: Gainesville 14, Habersham Central 11
RECORDS: Habersham Central (1-4); Chestatee (1-4)
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
From 1972-1991, these teams squared off annually, with Gainesville winning 12 times and Habersham 10 times. Since then, they’ve met just three times (four counting tonight), with Habersham winning 25-0 in 2000, and the Red Elephants winning 16-7 in 2001 and 24-7 in 2016. The Raiders have gone just 4-8 in games played at Gainesville.
HABERSHAM CENTRAL LEADERS
PASSING
AJ Curry: 1,517 yds, 14 TD; 91/176 passing (52%), 4 INT
RUSHING
Baylor Hinshaw: 548 yds, 4 TD
AJ Curry: 487 yds, 8 TD
Daniel Matkovic: 273 yds, 6 TD
RECEIVING
Jim Barnett: 35 rec, 527 yds, 4 TD
Donovan Curry: 20 rec, 463 yds, 8 TD
Bryce Tanner: 19 rec, 319 yds, 2 TD
Trey Wetherton: 10 rec, 154 yds
TACKLES
Carson Taylor: 42 tackles, 5 TFL, INT, forced fumble, fumble recovery, blocked kick
Karl Fail: 32 tackles, 4 TFL, forced fumble
Josh Pickett: 27 tackles, 1.5 TFL
SACKS
Garrett Kinsey, Andrew Lovell, Luke Wilson & Caleb Hodges: 1
LOCAL GAMES – WEEK 7
Habersham Central @ Gainesville
#3 Rabun vs Putnam
#6 Commerce @ Providence Christian
White @ #4 Blessed Trinity
Union vs Dawson
Stephens vs St. Pius
North Hall vs Lumpkin
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#10 Flowery Branch vs Walnut Grove
Johnson vs #2 Buford
West Hall vs Chestatee
East Hall @ #2 GAC
