(VIDEO) Game of the Week: Dragons, Wildcats amped for season-opening showdown

TIGER — This one has all the angles covered.

Jefferson football travels to Rabun County on Friday for a showdown between two teams with collegiate-level talent, each coming off state playoff runs and region championships in 2014. By the way it’s also the season-opener for two squads with aspirations of making more history in 2015.

In other words, the most intriguing contest of the opening weekend of high school football may very well take place “north of the (Tallulah) Gorge.”

“We’re bringing in bleachers -- like we did for the Habersham Central game last year -- for the student section,” said Wildcats coach Lee Shaw, who leads a team featuring a program-record 19 seniors in 2015. “I think it will be rocking. Rabun County will come to this one. It’ll close the businesses and shut the doors. Everybody will be here; I just hope the weather will be right.”

Even if the rains that have soaked northeast Georgia this week make an appearance, fans can expect a battle at Frank Snyder Stadium, as Jefferson brings its mammoth and experienced lines of scrimmage to bear against Rabun County’s experienced stable of athletes.

“They’re are as explosive as Rabun County has ever been,” Dragons coach Ben Hall said, noting that the Wildcats are far more than Georgia commit and all-around threat Charlie Woerner. “It starts with No. 34, and he’s not the only guy. That’s what our kids realize. Charlie Woerner is a special player, but they have other guys on the perimeter as well -- Alden Wright, Jack Johnson and those guys are players for them, and our kids are very well aware of those guys.”

Equally, Shaw and his charges know they face a huge task, literally, on Friday against a Jefferson line of scrimmage that includes four players that started every game last season on offense (Caleb Chandler, Dontae Wilson, Alex Corbett and Jackson Bowen) and a defensive front that is equally powerful.

“They are really good up front, very salty. These guys can play, so it’ll be a huge test,” Shaw said. “We had a good scrimmage against Franklin (NC), a lot of mistakes but our guys played aggressive and fast, and that’s what we were looking for, (but this is) a big test, big test against Jefferson.”

To that end, fans can expect a contrast in styles, with the Dragons looking to control the ball and clock with a punishing ground attack that also features running back Colby Wood (900 yards rushing in 2014). Meanwhile, Jefferson’s defense will do it’s best to bottle the Wildcats’ spread attack that can equally control the clock via a short passing game and by spreading defenses out before attacking underneath -- before going over the top.

“We feel if we have an advantage it is on the line of scrimmage, but they run a 3-3 stack pressure defense, and that poses problems for any line of scrimmage,” Hall said. “We’ve been repping against that all week. The thing that defense does is, if you’re outmanned in some areas you can compensate with some pressure and that’s what we’re expecting from them. So defensively we’re going to have to win the line of scrimmage and look to contain their skill kids.”

Both teams know that the contest will lay bare any deficiencies -- a motivating factor for scheduling each other.

“It’s a big gauge for us. We’d like to win them all for sure, that’s what you schedule them for. But playing a team like Jefferson that has a rich tradition of winning and playing physical football... that sets the gauge for where you are,” Shaw said. “We come out of that game always knowing what we have to improve on. A lot of things surface out of that game that we’ve got to correct.”

Both teams also know that a victory would make an early season statement.
 
“(Winning would) just give us confidence and build into later games and, potentially, going into the playoffs,” Rabun County senior linebacker/running back Eli Gipson said. “It’s a big game.”

“It would mean a lot for us, carrying a lot of momentum into the rest of the season,” Jefferson senior tight end/defensive end Joseph Randolph said.

Once kickoff comes tonight, no one will be thinking about the rest of the season. The task at hand will have everyone focused on the here and now -- and that should be pretty fun to watch indeed.