DOUGLASVILLE — After seven seasons away from the playoffs Habersham Central football showed on Friday that it is not about to let this year's opportunity slip away.
The Raiders trekked to Douglas County and stormed away with a 35-0 victory, claiming Habersham's first postseason win since 2007 -- in its first postseason appearance since 2011.
The Raiders (7-4) pounced on a 21-0 first half lead, as Tre Luttrell passed and ran for two touchdowns and Arian Curry added a 9-yard scoring jaunt -- part of an gritty ground game for Habersham that rolled up 212 yards on 40 carries. Tracey Lowery paced the Raiders with 97 yards on 15 carries, while Luttrell added 85 on 12 attempts. Curry also scored two rushing touchdowns while finishing with 32 yards on the ground.
Luttrell completed just 9 of 23 pass attempts but averaged 14.6 yards per completion as he finished with 132 yards and two scores against no interceptions.
Dontarius Bailey hauled in both scoring strikes for the Raiders.
Meanwhile, the Habersham defense yielded just 156 yards to the Tigers, including just 43 rushing, while forcing two turnovers. Habersham was especially effective on third down, yielding just one conversion on 13 attempts while also allowing just two of six fourth down conversion attempts.
Tanner Wade racked up seven tackles for Habersham, including three sacks.
The Raiders will travel to face Creekview in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs next week.
