MT. AIRY — Gainesville and Habersham football find themselves in unfamiliar territory these days.
The difference is that the Raiders are relishing their position, while the Red Elephants want nothing to do with their current standing.
Something is going to have to give when the two face off on Friday night in Mt. Airy. (NOTE: For a look at all games involving northeast Georgia programs on Friday, click here.)
Gainesville (2-3) is looking to buck its worst start to a season since 1999 -- while Habersham (4-1) would love nothing more than to extend its best start to a campaign since 2007. The backdrop adds plenty to both programs' Region 8-AAAAAA opener and first varsity showdown since 2001.
"This is a big game; our kids know it's a big game. It's our first region game, but it is against Gainesville and Gainesville has had a lot of success lately, so it'd be huge win for our program," said second-year Raiders coach Benji Harrison, who is chasing his program's first state playoff appearance since 2011.
Meanwhile, the Red Elephants -- outside of Buford -- have been the model of consistent success in northeast Georgia. In fact, last season broke a string of seven straight campaigns of 10 wins or more, a span that included a state title, a state runner-up, two more state semifinal appearances and five region titles. And Gainesville still extended their streak of first round playoffs wins to eight in 2015.
All of which makes 2016's start a little bewildering.
"We don't like to lose. We don't like to lose," Red Elephants coach Bruce Miller said. "This is the first time we've been in this situation in a long, long time, that we're 2-3 going into region play. And I think we're all in the back of our mind wondering who we are, what we are."
That said, Gainesville knows it can define itself -- and its season in Region 8-AAAAAA.
"Who was it? Bear Bryant said one time if you're going to lose, lose early, because they don't remember those, but they remember the ones at the end. So maybe we can take that motto and take it into the season with us," Miller said. "Now we're starting the season that counts and this determines where you fall in the playoffs. We've kind of challenged our team; they've kind of challenged themselves that we've got to make things happen and there's no time like the present."
To make the present brighter than the past, the Red Elephants want to crank up a run game that is yet to fire. Averaging just 39 yards per game on the ground, Gainesville knows it must find some consistency in order to take pressure off quarterback DJ Irons (172 yards passing per game, 6 TDs, 2 INTs) and a deep receiving corps.
"Our offensive line -- all five of them of them have got to have a good night. We've had some games this year where we've had some things going, and we like to play with tempo and we've had some things going and then all of a sudden we get a holding penalty or we jump offsides, or we get a movement penalty. And I keep telling them we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. So I hope we can eliminate those things and we can play a good ballgame up there Friday night," Miller said. "We're almost identical football teams scheme-wise playing each other. They're spread and 3-2, and we're spread and 3-2 so it's just going to see who wants it most and who's ready to get the region started off right."
Certainly Habersham has built confidence it can do that thanks to its best start in almost a decade.
"As a group I feel like people underestimated us. When you lose four years in a row like we have you go into a lot of these games as the underdog, and we've really picked that up," Raiders senior receiver and linebacker Jake Jones said.
Habersham's numbers -- on both sides of the ball -- give reason for optimism. The Raiders enter the contest averaging 209 yards passing and 167 yards rushing on offense, showing they have talent across the board -- especially after standout senior running back Michael Babers (345 yards, 5 TDs, 8.2 yards per carry) sustained an ankle injury and missed large parts of two games.
"We have weapons everywhere, all the receivers, backs, everything," said senior quarterback Cole Wilbanks (1,035 yards passing, 11 TDs, 2 INTs), who has thrived in his second season in Harrison's spread attack. "It makes my job a lot easier and makes the offensive line's job a lot easier; it allows to do more with the ball and hurt more defenses."
Even so, the Raiders are expecting perhaps their toughest challenge to date against Gainesville.
"They're a very good defensive football team. They're sound. Somebody asked the other day, 'where's the weaknesses?' I don't see a lot of weaknesses. I see a very sound football team that's well-coached, that, usually, they're in the right spots," Harrison said. "So for us it's strictly going to come down; we have to execute well. We have to execute really well on each play, be patient, don't turn the ball over, and then, when you get your opportunities to make plays, you've got to make them."
For their part, the Red Elephants are excited to get a break from the power rushing attacks that Jefferson and Marist used to seal back-to-back wins.
"It's going to help us tremendously because we won't have to go against any pulling guards or anything like that -- (a) blocking back. So we can just get back into our normal settlement and play like our offense does," said Gainesville senior linebacker Kris Montague, who added that the lessons of two hardfought losses to the Dragons and War Eagles will be put to good use. "I learned that we never give up. Defensively and offensively we can always work on the fundamentals. But, defensively, I learned that we always swarm the ball. If you're injured get back up and keep on playing, live to fight another down."
Fans can expect plenty of fight from both teams in Mt. Airy.
"We've built a good bit a trust from our fans and people like that; people know what we're capable of now so maybe that will bring the impact to Gainesville," Jones said. "That's what we need to carry it on to, the Gainesville game and region play."
The Red Elephants too want to make an impact.
"The mindset is if we figure out how to get our momentum back, how to keep winning, it's not going to stop, not at all," Gainesville junior defensive end Zion Williams said. "We can be dominant; we really can."
Friday represents an opportunity to take a big step in that direction -- for both teams.
GAINESVILLE at HABERSHAM CENTRAL
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday
- WHERE: Raider Stadium, Mt. Airy
- RADIO: 1240 AM ESPN Radio
- GAINESVILLE (2-3, 0-0 Region 8-AAAAAA): Lost 24-10 to Marist last week
- HABERSHAM (4-1, 0-0 Region 8-AAAAAA): Bye last week after 40-14 defeat of Chestatee on Sept. 23
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/10/454277/bvideo-game-of-the-weekb-ghs-habersham-know-plenty-is-riding-on-region-opener