MT. AIRY — Habersham Central seniors Tre Luttrell and Donnie Curry proved nearly unstoppable Friday night.
And it was a good thing for the Raiders,who had to fight back from a pair of deficits to knock off Apalachee 28-21 in both teams’ Region 8-6A season finales at Raider Stadium.
Both team were still alive for the playoffs next week. The win for Habersham (6-4, 3-2 Region 8-6A) clinched the No. 3 seed from 8-6A in next week’s Class 6A playoffs. It is the first playoff appearance for the Raiders since 2011 and they will travel to Region 5-6A No. 2 seed Douglas County.
Luttrell and Curry connected on touchdown passes of 15 and 49 yards in the first half and on a 9-yard strike with 7:36 left in the third quarter that gave the Raiders their first lead of the game at 21-14.
But Apalachee (3-7, 1-4) tied the game just one play later on an 86-yard touchdown run from A.J. Millbrooks. It stayed that way until Tracey Lowery scored on a 3-yard run to cap a 9-play, 99-yard drive just moments into the fourth quarter for a 28-21 lead.
The Habersham defense, which came into the game allowing over 31 points a game held strong the rest of the way denying the Wildcats on two late drives.
Luttrell finished 17 of 27 passing for 181 yards and three three touchdowns. Luttrell aso ran for another 106 yards. Curry hauled in 8 passes for 116 yards. Lowery racked up 139 yards on the ground, including the eventual game-winning score.
Apalachee piled up 303 yards on the ground and though the Wildcats didn’t lose any, three fumbles killed several potential drives. The Habersham defense held Apalachee quarterback A.J. Forbing to just 2 of 10 passing for 11 yards and picked off two passes.
Habersham Central kept and interesting streak alive with the win. The Raiders are 6-0 when scoring 28 or more points. They are 0-4 when scoring less than 28 points.
