Our Game of the Week sends us back to Tiger for a first round playoff matchup. This isn’t your usual first round game for Rabun, who is facing what many perceive to be the toughest #4 seed in the 2A bracket. In fact, this is a legit first round top-10 ranked matchup, as Rabun is #1 and Haralson #5 in the MaxPreps poll. The game was moved from Friday to Saturday due to GHSA wanting to ensure all playoff games had proper officiating personnel.

RABUN COUNTY

Rabun County comes in after a nice bye week that came after a seventh straight win. The Cats score at will, to the tune of 50.7 points per contest. Gunner Stockton is now 6th all-time in the state in passing scores (115), and is just about 10 pass completions away from eclipsing 9,000 career passing yards (12th all-time). Adriel Clark is 4 TD catches shy of tying the single-season state record of 27.

HARALSON COUNTY

The Rebels come in as a 4-seed that easily could have been a region champion. That’s how close region 5-AA was. Haralson likes to run the ball, and use a few different guys to accomplish that style of offensive success. The team LOVES to run the ball, and has a set of 1,000-yard rushers.

BY THE NUMBERS (2020)

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Be looking for highlights post-game late tonight as well as a story recapping ROUND 1. Highlights are shared on Channel 5 (Fox) on the 11 PM “High 5 Sports” show. You can also follow us on Twitter (@BlitzSportsGa) for live score updates (WiFi pending).

OUR PREDICTION

The Cats will have to ratchet things up a notch in this game, after blowing through their region schedule with little resistance. While Haralson is a solid bunch, Rabun County should still win this one handedly. OUR PICK: RABUN COUNTY

DO WE BRING LUCK?

For Rabun County, we’ve captured exactly 43 games, and the Wildcats are 34-9 in those.

DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP

TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff (Saturday)
PLACE: Rabun County HS / Tiger, GA / Frank Snyder Memorial Stadium
LAST MEETING: N/A
ALL-TIME RECORD: N/A
RECORDS: #1 Rabun County Wildcats (9-1; 8-AA Champions); #5 Haralson County Rebels (7-2; 5-AA 4th)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

This is a first-time matchup between the programs. The stage is set for one of these teams to make some history in a rare top-10 first round matchup.

TEAM LEADERS (2020 PLAYER STATS)

RABUN COUNTY

PASSING
Gunner Stockton (2,365 yds, 38 TD, 1 INT; 71% completion)
Garrett Horton (187 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT; 71% completion)

RUSHING
Lang Windham (1,136 yds, 10 TD, 10.0 YPC)
Gunner Stockton (1,046 yds, 19 TD, 8.9 YPC)
Keilin Sanders (138 yds, 3 TD, 8.1 YPC)
Bryson Addis (85 yds, 0 TD, 6.1 YPC)

RECEIVING
Adriel Clark (1,144 yds, 23 TD, 52 rec) *top receiver in 2A
Lang Windham (402 yds, 4 TD, 27 rec)
Sutton Jones (327 yds, 1 TD, 26 rec)
Tate Ramey (293 yds, 8 TD, 23 rec)
Ethan Clarke (130 yds, 1 TD, 9 rec)
Hogan Woodard (86 yds, 1 TD, 5 rec)
Turner Grimmett (6 yds, 1 TD, 1 rec)

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Will Turpin (91 TKL, 10.5 TFL, 5 Sacks, 1 FumRec)
Cory Keller (74 TKL, 2 TFL, 3 INT, 1 Forced Fum)
Brody Jarrard (73 TKL, 7.5 TFL, 2 Sacks, 1 FumRec)
Hoff Windham (69 TKL, 4.5 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FumRec)
Turner Grimmett (57 TKL, 3 TFL, 1 Sack)
Hogan Woodard (50 TKL, 2 TFL, 1 INT, 1 Forced Fum)
Chris Thompson (39 TKL, 10 TFL, 5 Sacks, 1 Forced Fum)
Hunter Moore (28 TKL, 1 TFL, 3 INT)
Will McCraw (28 TKL, 8 TFL, 3 Sacks)
Cesar Cruz (21 TKL, 4 TFL, 2 Sacks)
Sutton Jones (10 TKL, 1 TFL, 4 INT, 1 FumRec, 1 Forced Fum)

HARALSON COUNTY *incomplete (MaxPreps data)

PASSING
Clay Hyatt (22 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT; 50% completion)

RUSHING
Marc Harris (1,000+ yds, 9.2 YPC)
Clay Hyatt (1,000+ yds, 7.3 YPC)
Wesley Cole (180 yds, 15 YPC)

RECEIVING
N/A

DEFENSIVE
Jojo Chandler (57 TKL, 7 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 FumRec, 1 FFum)
Marc Harris (50 TKL, 2 INT, 2 FFum)
Jake Rutledge (41 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 FumRec, 1 FFum)
Antonio Crapp (39 TKL, 10 TFL, 3 Sacks, 1 FumRec, 1 FFum)