Week 8 was a doozie! Habersham had the week off but there was plenty of other action in area high school football.
The biggest game of the week saw a top ten showdown between the Rabun County Wildcats and Elbert County. The Cats won, giving them the inside track to another 8-AA title.
Here’s how our local teams fared…
#3 Rabun County 45, #10 Elbert County 14
The Wildcats scored early and often, led by senior Brison Beck’s four rushing scores. Rabun won the third straight meeting of the top-10 matchup, now pushing the score to 122-31 in those wins.
#10 Union County 49, Banks County 17
Pierson Allison showed off again…he threw three first quarter TDs to Sawyer Drake, Kyle Morlock and Chayton Schafer. He made it four in the first half with another shot to Morlock. Banks County momentarily made it a game with a rushing TD to cut it to 28-7, but Allison scored a 54-yard rushing TD to give him five total TDs in the first half.
Banks County used a crazy 20-play drive to score from a yard out late in the third to make it 35-14, but again, a 54-yard rushing TD this time by Chad Buzzard put the game away at 42-14. Jonah Daniel added a rushing TD before Banks hit a field goal to cap the scoring.
Oconee County 20, Stephens County 14
The Indians dropped a heart-breaker to Oconee to open region play, but need essentially one win to make the playoffs in the next three games.
#4 GAC 38, Lumpkin County 0
It was all GAC early and often.
White County 48, West Hall 34
It was Michael Mintz all night long for the Warriors. He opened the scoring with a 1-yd TD. After West Hall tied it to start the second, White County responded with a J Ben Haynes TD pass to Cody Versluis. Haynes then connected with Mintz late in the half to go up 20-7. With 11 seconds before the break, Mintz then recovered a fumble forced by Jay Lepkoske and took it 49 yards for the scoop-and-score and 27-7 lead.
The Spartans opened the third with a TD, but Lepkoske added an 8-yd TD run. However, West Hall again responded with a 75-yd TD pass to cut it to 34-20. On the first play of the fourth, Mintz scored another 1-yarder for his fourth TD of the night (2 rushing, 1 receiving, 1 defensive). But he wasn’t done…West Hall countered AGAIN and Mintz made it five TDs with an 8-yd rushing score. The Spartans added one more TD in the final two minutes, but the Warriors held on for the pivotal region win , 48-34.
#7 Jefferson 35, Morgan County 14
It was low-scoring for awhile, as Jefferson held a 7-0 lead after one and made it 14-0 midway through the second quarter with a lengthy drive. Nick Evans had the defensive scoop and score to open the scoring, and Carter Stephenson found Garmon Randolph for the third score to go up 21-0 at the break.
The Dragons stretched the lead to 35-0 after three quarters before Morgan County found the end zone a couple of times.
#3 Commerce 21, Hebron Christian 18
Closest game of the year for the undefeated Tigers, but they got it done. Dajuan Wood scored from 26 out in the first, and the 7-3 lead held into the break. Then for the first time in 2018, Commerce trailed when Hebron took a 10-7 lead. Caleb Mason put the Tigers ahead for good with a TD to make it 14-10. Mason then picked off a pass which led to another Wood TD run. Hebron closed within three but could get no closer.
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