MT. AIRY — For the fifth time in five games, Habersham Central took a lead into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, for the third time they could not hold on as Lanier scored 14 fourth quarter points to snatch a 25-21 victory from the Raiders at Raider Stadium on Friday in both teams’ Region 8-6A openers.
Habersham (2-3, 0-1 Region 8-6A) led 7-0 and 14-7 in the first half, and then looked to be taking control when Zeke Whittington gave the Raiders a 21-13 lead on a 9-yard touchdown run with 1:15 left in the third quarter.
But the Longhorns answered back with a Kaden Beard 53-yard scoring run three plays into the fourth to cut it to 21-19. Tayo Ashedele scored on a 1-yard run with 5:20 left for the final lead.
The Raiders had one final drive moving it to the Lanier 10 with 30 seconds left. But a bad snap forced quarterback Carson Parker to scramble and he was picked off on the play to kill the drive.
Parker had a huge game going 15-of-24 for 167 yards passing and rushing for another 147 yards and scoring twice. Whittington had 12 catches for 111 yards for the Raiders.
A struggling Lanier offense coming in piled up 445 yards, including 259 on the ground, and was 12-of-19 on third and fourth downs, including a perfect 3-of-3 on fourth down for the game. Beard finished with 250 yards rushing on 31 carries for Lanier (2-3, 1-0 Region 8-6A).
