The hype was there. Rabun County, as usual, invited the challenge, and won 35-7 on Saturday evening against #5-ranked Haralson County. Gunner Stockton’s 4 total TD in the first half proved to be all the Cats needed.

The Wildcats (10-1) scored on their first two possessions in the first quarter, finding pay dirt on Gunner Stockton TD runs of 10 and 12 yards. His first rushing score gave him 20 rushing TDs on the season, a new career high. The defense early on smothered the Rebels (7-3), holding them to just one first down in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Stockton threw TD passes to Lang Windham from 19 yards out, and a beautiful 33-yd TD pass and catch from Stockton to Adriel Clark. The TD was Stockton’s 40^th of the season and Clark’s 24^th, putting him 3 off the state single-season record.

Coming out of the break with a 28-0 lead, the Rebels drained 8 minutes off the clock on their opening drive. The Rabun defense bent, but refused to break, holding up and making a stop on 4^th & GL from the 12. The Cats responded with their own lengthy drive, spanning 6 minutes into the fourth. It was capped by a Windham 3-yd TD run to push the lead to 35-0.

Again Haralson milked out the clock, dragging out 6 minutes to finally get on the board with a Marc Harris 1-yd TD run with just over a minute left. The second half featured only 3 true drives, as Rabun kneed the ball to end the game after the Haralson TD.

Stockton finished with 4 total scores, and eclipsed 9,000 career passing yards in the process. Rabun County advances to the second round of the 2A playoffs.