MT. AIRY, Ga. — Habersham Central rallied from a pair of first-half deficits and pulled away late for a 42-28 win over White County on Friday night at Raider Stadium.
Senior Cooper Smith helped lead the charge taking over at quarterback and going 11-of-13 for 270 yards and 2 TDs, including a 66-yard bomb to tie the game late in the first half.
Blandon Grizzle pounded out 116 yards and scored four times for Habersham Central as well.
White County (1-1) jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead in the opening five minutes as Ryan Fowler capped off a quick 86-second drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Just over three minutes later, Casen Duvall raced 79 yards on a punt return for a score.
The Raiders (1-1) turned their run game early as Blandon Grizzle finished off a pair of drives with touchdown runs of 3- and 9-yards to give Habersham Central a 14-13 lead.
The Warriors answered back for a 21-14 lead as Noah Wilbanks scored on a 10-yard run to go with a 2-point pass conversion.
The teams traded scores in the third quarter as Grizzle added his third TD run of 1-yard for the Raiders. Tripp Nix tied the game at 28-28 for White County with a 22-yard TD run.
Grizzle scored his final touchdown late in the third quarter to give the Raiders the lead for good, and Smith and Wilbanks connected again on a 34-yard TD strike with just under five minutes left to put the game out of reach.
Wilbanks had 7 catches for 186 yards, and Zeke Whittington had 5 receptions for 117 yards for the Raiders.
Nix was a one-man wrecking crew for the Warriors. The sophomore quarterback piled up 173 yards on the ground and added 150 through the air on 13-of-23 yards passing. Cam Wilson, Kane Lowery, and Von Dre Nelson each had three catches for White County.
