MT. AIRY — Big plays and turnovers were the difference Friday night as Stephens County outlasted Habersham Central 35-18 at Raider Stadium in their annual border battle.
The Raiders (2-2) dominated the time-of-possession (36:14 to 21:16) but five turnovers snuffed several potential drives.
Stephens County (5-0) also got a 72-yard touchdown pass from Ben Stowe to Cam Lacy in the first quarter and the two hooked up again in the third quarter for a 58-yard TD pass to take the lead for good. The Indians answered every Habersham score with one of their own.
After the first big TD pass from Stowe, Habersham tied the game on a 10-yard touchdown run from Simarcus Burney and he added a 42-yard scoring run early in the third quarter to tie the game at 14. But after Stowe’s second TD pass to Lacy, he capped an 8-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run for a 28-12 lead.
Burney finished with 132 yards rushing while quarterback Carson Parker had 152 yards passing and 72 yards rushing. But Parker also was picked off three times.
Stowe finished 15-of-22 passing for 279 yards and 3 TDs for Stephens County, which is 5-0 for the first time since 2007.
Habersham Central will play host to Winder-Barrow next week in both teams’ Region 8-6A openers.
