Habersham Central contained Apalachee’s wing-T pistol Friday, winning 27-7 over the Wildcats in a bounce-back performance.
“We didn’t feel like we played as well last week defensively and I think our kids were challenged by that and our coaches challenged our defense and they responded really well tonight,” Raiders coach Benji Harrison said. “We didn’t play perfectly, but we played fast, we played physical, we were very opportunistic, created some turnovers.”
One of those opportunities came on the first play from scrimmage, with nose guard Zane Hester falling on a dropped snap.
Starting at the Apalachee 17, quarterback Carson Parker gained 10 yards on two carries. On first-and-goal from the 7, Simarcus Burney took the handoff, bumping into wingback Brennon Clouse who was turning his man inside. The running back bounced to the outside and broke a tackle near the goal line for the opening score.
“He’s just a physical runner,” Harrison said. “He’s hard to go down on first contact, whether it’s with our guy or theirs. He’s a physical guy and I think it showed. Blandon [Grizzle] is kind of a changeup to that, so I thought they complimented each other well and it was obviously good to get the first touchdown on the board tonight.”
Following that five play drive, the next five possessions for both teams ended in punts.
Taking over at their own 25, Burney broke free for 27 of his 73 rushing yards, although an illegal block flag took it to their own 42. On third down from the 45, Habersham came out in an empty shotgun set, with Parker connecting with Noah Wilson, who dragged defenders to the 13-yard line.
Two plays later, Grizzle gained nine yards to the 1. Taking a high snap, Parker recovered, dove and reached over the goal line to give the Raiders a 14-0 advantage.
Apalachee had only registered 23 yards to that point, but earned their first of 10 first downs on the night with runs of six and five yards from Colby Sikes and Prince Tate. After a loss of a yard for fullback Jacob McCluskey who couldn’t get it going up the middle, a play action pass to Sikes went for 23 yards.
That was the only pass completion for Howard Holloway and the next run would be the only time the Wildcats stepped foot in the red zone until after 3:31 in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Holloway faked a hand off and gave it to Tate, who went the distance on a 38-yard end around to the left side.
“They reached one of our outside linebackers,” Ivester said. “The kid made a good block and we had a couple guys that took some bad angles. It was a good play on their part.”
Neither team scored again before the half, with Apalachee choosing not to pass on any of their final seven plays.
In the second half, the Raiders continued a more methodical approach to offense that held the ball for 25:20 versus only 17:16 the previous week. During a 14-play, 7:13 drive, the Raiders leaned on their left side, coming out in two-by-one and three-by-one receiver sets.
“They lined up a little differently to us all night than we had seen on film,” Harrison said. “They changed it up on us a lot, so it took us awhile to figure out what gave us the best numbers and that kind of thing.
“Also, a lot of times you base that on we feel like BJ [Hodges] has played a lot of snaps at left tackle, so we were trying to put him in situations where – because they were giving us different looks – BJ has played a lot, BJ can adjust to that, we can communicate with him pretty easily,” Harrison added.
Over the course of the drive they noticed an overload to that left side. Grizzle ran up the middle for three yards and Parker kept it up the middle on a zone read to reach the 18.
With 4:54 left in the third quarter, they went to three-by-one again with freshman receiver Zeke Whittington lining up to the right and making an acrobatic touchdown grab in double coverage.
“We really hadn’t run that kind of combination,” Harrison said. “We gave the quarterback all hitches on one side, which we had thrown on fourth down earlier to convert and we gave a go route to Zeke. And I basically told the quarterback, ‘If you can fit the hitch throw the hitch. If you don’t like it, let’s give it a shot.’ They know me well enough. They know they’ll never get fussed up for throwing a go ball.”
An inside snap that threw off the timing of the kicker resulted in the team’s only missed extra point for a squad that went one for three the previous week.
With the score still 20-7, the Raiders began their first drive of the fourth quarter with four straight gives to Burney, before a play call described as “too cute” by Harrison resulted in a turnover.
Following the Ethan Middlebrooks interception, Habersham forced a turnover on downs. On third down, Grizzle took it 23 yards to the left side, making it 27-7.
Prior to the game, new members of the Ring of Honor were honored and the Raider Rowdies wore a patriotic theme as a moment of silence was held for service members killed in the Thursday Kabul airport attack.
“It was great win to get our first win of the season,” Harrison said. “To do it at home in front of the home crowd with a group of guys that are young that are getting better each week, it was a good night for Habersham football.”