North Forsyth High School spoiled the celebration of senior night as the road Raiders topped the home Raiders of Habersham Central High School, 36-19, Friday in Mt. Airy.
Habersham Central (3-5, 1-3 Region 8-AAAAAA), only down 15-12 at the halftime break, came back out of the locker room and got a defensive stop inside its own 20-yard line.
Two plays later, a disconnect between receiver and quarterback resulted in an interception.
North Forsyth (4-4, 3-1 8-AAAAAA) then scored on a 7-yard run from Darron Parry (26 carries, 134 yards, 2 TD; 3 rec, 30 yards). The touchdown, and successful extra point, extended the lead to 10.
“The second half did not start at all the way we needed it to,” Habersham Central Head Coach Benji Harrison said. “But I thought, as bad as that was, we withstood it. We went down and made it a one score game. Then, we just had trouble getting a stop when we needed to.”
On the following drive, Habersham Central quarterback DJ Pass (9-of-21, 198 yds) played Houdini and escaped from a collapsing pocket on 3rd-and-23 to find a streaking Zeke Whittington.
Whittington (6 rec, 144 yds) got the ball to the North Forsyth 19-yard line after a 60-yard gain flipped the field for the Habersham Central offense.
Antonio Cantrell (13 car, 35 yds, 2 TD) punched in the score on a 2-yard play to cut the lead back down to three, 22-19.
The fourth quarter was all North Forsyth though.
“Things started snowballing a little on us in the fourth quarter when we were trying to press it,” Harrison said. “When you get down two scores, you’re way off schedule on what you’re trying to do.”
After the Habersham Central defense held its own inside the 10-yard line, North Forsyth ran a misdirection – sending the whole team to the right side of the end zone except for one player. Quarterback Elijah Seaney found Walker Roberts for the 4-yard touchdown pass to go back up 10 with just under 12 minutes left to play.
Parry added his final touchdown of the night on a 19-yard run with 4:08 remaining to seal the victory.
Defensively, Habersham Central allowed North Forsyth to convert on 8-of-13 third down opportunities. Almost 62 percent of the time, North Forsyth was able to keep its offense on the field after facing a third down.
“We were bad on third down. When you’re trying to make a little comeback, you’ve got to get off the field and we weren’t able to do that,” Harrison said.
Pass opened the scoring in the game with a 25-yard run up the middle. Habersham Central made the call to go for a two-point conversion, but it was stopped by North Forsyth.
“We said if they gave it to us, we were going to do it,” Harrison said. “We’ve worked it all year. Our kids believed in it and they kept saying every week, ‘When are we going to run it? We didn’t practice it to look at it.’”
Harrison said the decision to go for two was to take the opportunity to “be the aggressors.”
“If you get that, there’s something – I know, because I’ve been on both sides of it – when you can go up eight instead of seven from the get-go, it just does something for the morale of your team, it shows you’ve got confidence in your team and that sideline across from you looks at you different,” Harrison said.
With 7:55 left in the second quarter, Cantrell punched in his first touchdown of the contest from one yard out.
Again, Habersham Central attempted the two-point conversion. This time, it was there, but Pass’s throw was low, dropping Whittington to the ground short of the goal line.
The final score of the first half came on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Seaney (20-of-31, 217 yds, 3 TD, 1 Int) to Brady Holbrook. Parry punched in a run to complete the two-point conversion, giving North Forsyth its eventual 15-12 lead at the half.
Despite only being down three at the break, Harrison said he was more frustrated than he’s been this season at that point.
The head coach said he challenged his players in the locker room and was so frustrated because he felt like his team “left a lot of opportunities out there.”
“I thought we had not done a lot of things like we were capable of doing how we prepared to do them,” Harrison said .”I think you have to get off to a fast start. I think that’s how it is with high school kids. We missed the opportunity to get off to a fast start because we just didn’t do some things we should have done for whatever reason.”
A win against North Forsyth would have all-but-guaranteed a playoff spot for Habersham Central. Now, Harrison and his squad will go on the road for the final two games of the regular season to try to get that playoff spot.
“We’ve got two more (games) ahead of us that are very important,” Harrison said. “I think that’s the message moving forward. I think, if we do what we’re capable of doing the next two weeks, I’m convinced the spot we’ll go in is the best one. That’s the message. Let’s make the most of where we’re at. Let’s find a way to get in the playoffs.”
Habersham Central will travel to Winder to play Apalachee High School next Friday night. Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m.
THE PLAYOFF PICTURE: With a 55-0 win over Shiloh Friday night, Gainesville remains undefeated at 8-0 with a 4-0 region record and has locked up a playoff spot. The region championship is also likely wrapped up as well. The Red Elephants go to North Forsyth next week, then travel to Shiloh for the final game of the season.
Lanier, a 31-7 winner over Jackson County Friday, is now 7-2 with a 4-1 region record. The only remaining team on their schedule is 2-6 Shiloh, which the Longhorns will host next week. Lanier has locked in its playoff spot as well.
North Forsyth takes a clear third place in the region standings with the win over Habersham Central. The Raiders are 4-4 with a 3-1 region record. With Gainesville next week and Apalachee the following week, North Forsyth likely finishes 5-5 with a 4-2 region record and takes the third playoff spot.
Jackson County’s loss to Lanier Friday still currently has the Panthers in fourth place in the region. With a 4-5 record and a 2-3 region slate, Jackson County is entering a BYE week before hosting Gainesville. The power of Gainesville should roll against the Panthers, leaving them a 4-6 team with a 2-4 region record.
Habersham Central is on the outside looking in just now with a 3-5 record and 1-3 region tally. With winless Apalachee and two-win Shiloh the remaining contenders, the Raiders could conceivably finish 2023 with a 5-5 overall record and a 3-3 mark within the region. That should leave them just clear of Jackson County and sliding into that final playoff spot. It is possible, assuming that Gainesville beats Jackson County in the final game of the year for both teams, Habersham Central finds its way in with just one win in the final two contests. For that to be the case, the win would have to come against Shiloh.
Shiloh could still find its way into the playoffs. The Generals would need to defeat both Lanier and Habersham Central at home (and Jackson County would have to lose to Gainesville), boosting itself to a 4-6 overall and 3-3 region record to slide into that final playoff spot.
Apalachee, at 0-8 on the season and 0-4 in region play, is already mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
