MT. AIRY — Jackson Cloatre ran for 175 yards and one touchdown to lead Habersham Central to an impressive 27-6 win over Madison County on Friday at Raider Stadium.
The Raiders (1-0) pounded 268 yards on the ground with quarterback Joshua Pickett piling up 83 yards and a score as well.
Meanwhile, the Habersham Central defense was opportunistic picking off three Madison County (0-1) passes and forcing three fumbles that killed Madison County scoring threats. They did not yield any points until the waning minutes of the game after the offense had built a 27-0 lead.
Habersham wasted little time as Simarcus Burney scored on a 3-yard run to cap their first drive of the game. Pickett added a 12-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead.
Cloatre scored on a 2-yard run in the opening seconds of the second quarter and the Raiders took a 20-0 lead into the half. Early in the fourth quarter, Pickett connected with Austin Wood on a 9-yard TD pass to push the lead to 27-0.
Patrick Tedder had two of Habersham's interceptions and Blandon Grizzle had the other for the Raiders.
