FITZGERALD — Five plays into the Class AA quarterfinal showdown between Rabun County and Fitzgerald, it looked like the scoreboard wasn't going to be big enough. And the anticipated battle between junior quarterbacks Bailey Fisher and James Graham was everything fans expected it to be Friday night.
Fisher threw for 229 yards and two scores and ran for another 112 yards. Graham passed for 248 yards and three scores and ran for another 112 and one score. But it was Graham's Purple Hurricanes who would win the war taking a 35-16 win over the Wildcats to advance to next week's semifinals.
Just 74 seconds into the game Fisher connected with Noah Cannon on a 73-yard touchdown pass on the Wildcats' fourth play of the game while Graham answered on his first play with a 57-yard touchdown pass to to JD King tie the game at 7.
It stayed that way until Graham capped an 8-play, 84-yard drive with a 39-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter to give Fitzgerald a lead it would never relinquish. Graham and King connected again to start the third quarter on a 23-yard touchdown pass for a 21-7 lead.
Rabun County (11-1) cut the lead to 21-10 on a 32-yard field goal by Andrew Barnes but Ethan Gordon capped a 6-play drive in just 1:34 with a 6-yard scoring run to push the lead to 28-10 for Fitzgerald. The Wildcats answered with a quick drive of their own with Fisher finding Austin Jones for a 5-yard touchdown pass to pull back within 28-16 on the final play of the third quarter.
The Hurricanes put the game away on the opening drive of the fourth quarter when Graham and Gordon comined on a 27-yard touchdown pass. Rabun County could never get closer.
The explosive, quick-strike capability of the Hurricanes was the difference. They had four scoring drives of under two minutes.
In fact, both offenses wasted little time. The longest scoring drive of the game was the Hurricanes' last one, which lasted 3:43. The Wildcats' longest drive lasted just 3:05 but only resulted in Barnes' field goal.
Cal Drummond, who had over 300 yards in last week's second round win for Rabun County, was held to just 45 yards rushing on 13 carries by the Fitzgerald defense. Cannon finished with five catches for 104 yards.
