Habersham Central has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will host the Clarke Central Gladiators at 7:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Saturday, Habersham Central lost to Winder-Barrow on the road by a 57-43 margin. The Raiders gained 70 more yards on the day, but it was the Bulldoggs that made the best use of them.
Habersham Central's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Paris Wilbanks, who threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.8% of his passes, and Zeke Whittington, who picked up 196 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Whittington is becoming a predictor of Habersham Central's success: when he posts at least 80 receiving yards the team is 2-1 (and 0-3 when he doesn't). Donnie Warren helped Wilbanks out on the ground, rushing for 128 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.1 yards per carry.
Habersham Central wouldn't let Winder-Barrow keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Habersham Central can thank Griffin Cunningham and Sawyer Burgess for forcing both of them. With that strong performance, Burgess is now averaging an impressive 5.3 total tackles per game.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Clarke Central). They claimed a resounding 48-21 win over Apalachee at home. Given the Gladiators' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 103rd, while the Wildcats are ranked 354th), the result on Saturday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Clarke Central had a senior duo take command as Hezekiah Millender threw for 153 yards and three touchdowns and Corey Watkins Jr gained 191 total yards and two touchdowns.
Habersham Central's defeat dropped their record down to 2-4. As for Clarke Central, they pushed their record up to 4-2 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Habersham Central has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 171.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Clarke Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 173.8. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
