Rabun County wasted no time going up on the visiting Leopards, using a 29-0 halftime lead to propel the #1-ranked Wildcats (7-1; 1-0 in 8-AA) to a 71-0 win in their region-opener. The Leopards (1-7; 0-2) couldn’t get much going, as Rabun set a school record for points and margin of victory. It was the second game this season in which they hung 70 on their opponents.

Gunner Stockton accounted for 6 TD in the win, passing for 4 and rushing for 2. A week after surpassing 100 career passing TDs and 8,000 career passing yards, he’s now sitting at 106 passing and 51rushing in his stellar career. Adriel Clark had 2 TD catches in the win.

Despite being forced to punt on the opening drive, the Wildcats tore through the Banks defense early when Stockton connected on a 2-yd TD to Tate Ramey. A few minutes later, he threw a 38-yd TD to Clark, who made a great play in the back of the end zone. A safety moments later made it 15-0 going into the second.

From there, Stockton opened the second with a 2-yd TD pass to Sutton Jones, then scored on a 29-yd keeper to give the Cats a 29-0 lead into the break. Rabun scored four times in the third, with Lang Windham scoring on a sensational 45-yd TD run. Cory Keller then scored a 50-yd TD on a punt return, and Stockton scored a 17-yd TD run and threw an 8-yd TD pass to Clark. Rabun grabbed two more scores in the fourth, going on to win 71-0.

The Cats, who came in with the state’s top-scoring offense at 44.3 points per game, played above that level in the win. They travel to Elbert County next week in a game at The Granite Bowl. The Leopards have a bye week before playing out-of-region Clarkston and then Elbert in the season finale.