Two dominant signal callers in Hezekiah Millender and Paris Wilbanks are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Clarke Central Gladiators will square off against the Habersham Central Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Clarke Central is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped on Saturday as they easily beat Apalachee 48-21 at home. Given the Gladiators' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 103rd, while the Wildcats are ranked 354th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Clarke Central had a senior duo take command as Millender threw for 153 yards and three touchdowns and Corey Watkins Jr gained 191 total yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Habersham Central ended up a good deal behind Winder-Barrow on Saturday and lost 57-43. The Raiders gained 70 more yards on the day, but it was the Bulldoggs that made the best use of them.
Habersham Central's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of 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.
Clarke Central's victory was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-2. As for Habersham Central, their loss dropped their record down to 2-4.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Clarke Central has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 173.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Habersham Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 171.2. It's looking like Friday's match 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
