A double-overtime thriller gave Habersham Central High School its first Region 8-AAAAAA win of the season as the Raiders topped Jackson County High School, 34-27, in Mt. Airy Friday night.
Senior corner Hayden Gailey made the ultimate play of the night, intercepting a pass on third down of the Panthers’ (3-4, 1-2 8-AAAAAA) second possession of overtime to seal the win.
“What a game,” Habersham Central Head Coach Benji Harrison said. “I know a lot of people were nervous, myself included. The way we finished it, just really, really proud of and happy for [the players].”
Jackson County took the ball first to start overtime and, with the ball on the 15 yard line, Panthers’ running back Acoreon McClure (19 carries, 80 yards, 2 touchdowns) took the ball straight to the house on the first play.
The Raiders (3-3, 1-1 8-AAAAAA) answered with a 15-yard run on their first play of overtime as well, but the play was called back on a holding penalty.
Seven plays later, Antonio Cantrell punched in a 1-yard touchdown, tying the game at 27.
Habersham Central came back out for the first possession of the second period of overtime.
On the fourth play, junior quarterback DJ Pass faked a handoff to Cantrell and leapt over a pile of Panthers and into the endzone.
With the Raiders up 34-27, the Panthers came back out and, three plays later, Gailey was sprinting back toward his sideline with the ball after making the game-winning play.
“It’s just a huge moment. He’s one of the smartest players on our team,” Harrison said of Gailey. “He understands what we’re doing scheme-wise as good as anybody. I don’t know if you know this, but he’s been around it his whole life. He’s got it in his blood.
“He’s a smart player, he’s a competitor, and he made plays and that was a huge play.”
Jackson County didn’t lead for a single second of regulation.
Matter of fact, Habersham Central led from the outset.
Senior Somdee Satiphone took the opening kickoff 94 yards to the house for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 10 second into the game.
After a long battle of trading field position, senior Carter Barrett (3 receptions, 89 yards, 1 touchdown) took a quick pass on the left side of the field. He broke a touchdown and sprinted the rest of the 70 yards to the endzone untouched for a 14-0 lead with 13 seconds left in the first half.
The Panthers did score first in the second half, but it wasn’t until four seconds into the fourth quarter.
MJ Spurlin (18 car, 57 yds, 1 TD) punched in a one-yard score, capping a five-play, 16-yard drive for Jackson County.
The scoreboard remained unchanged for the next 11 minutes, 5 seconds of game time.
Then McClure finished off a 10-play, 81-yard drive with a 4-yard score. The extra point was missed, leaving the Raiders up 14-13.
The Panthers attempted an onside kick, but Habersham Central fell on it.
On their first play of the drive, Cantrell (24 car, 128 yds, 2 TD) sprinted 49 yards to score. The play left 40 seconds on the clock, but the missed extra point attempt left Jackson County just one score away.
The Panthers went 75 yards in those 40 seconds, ultimately finishing the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass from RJ Knapp (17-of-30, 207 yds, 1 TD) to Jaydan Hibbert (8 rec, 92 yds, 1 TD) as time expired. After lining up to go for a two-point conversion twice, Jackson County ultimately kicked the extra point and sent the game to overtime.
It took 120 games at the helm before Harrison faced the prospect of overtime as a head coach, with Friday being his first.
“Nerving,” he said of how he felt as the Panthers tied the game at the end of regulation. “But thankful we made it (to overtime) because, for a second there, I thought they were going to go for two and, if we didn’t stop it, the game was going to be over.
“I was excited to get there, then once you get there, you’ve got to change your mindset,” Harrison continued. “You’ve got to let all the emotions go and, pretty much, you’re starting a new game.”
Harrison said this win shows exactly what he’s known about his team from before the season started, but even more so since the 0-2 start to the year.
“This team is resilient. When people were, after the first two weeks, counting us as dead, our guys didn’t listen to that,” Harrison said. “Our guys had confidence in each other. They believed in what we were doing and they just kind of got tighter as a group and kept fighting.”
Habersham Central was outgained in every major statistical category, but found a way to pull out the win.
The Panthers had more first downs (24-11), rushing yards (181-139), passing yards (207-119), total yards (388-258) and time of possession (42:03 – 17:57). Still, it was the Raiders that found a way to win it in the end.
“The moment wasn’t too big for our kids. I think that’s the big thing,” Harrison said. “You know, to be able to finish one – a few times we’ve come up on the short end where we’ve played our hearts out and didn’t finish. To finish this one, it does nothing but catapult you and get you moving for the rest of the season.”
Having taken the close loss to Stephens County to start the year, then surviving a comeback attempt by Central Gwinnett on the road and now also surviving a double-overtime game, the Raiders seem to leave a lot of games to a nail-biting finish.
“It’s tough. People ask all the time, ‘Is that fun?’ It’s fun afterwards,” Harrison said. “In the moment, it’s just intense. But it is fun. You like to compete.”
Now the Raiders will have two weeks to prepare for Gainesville as they have a bye week next week.
Harrison said the coaching staff hasn’t been able to see the Red Elephants on tape yet because they haven’t played any of the same teams to trade film with. That means they’ll trade directly with the Red Elephants, who are also going to have a bye week.
Gainesville is coming off a 35-0 win over Lanier and remains undefeated through six games with two region wins.
“We’ll trade (film) and have two weeks to prepare for them,” Harrison said. “Obviously we know they’re good, but, hey, let’s go play.”
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