It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the Indians got the win over archrivals Habersham Central at The Reservation on Friday night in the season-opener 14-3. After a scoreless first quarter, the visiting Raiders got on the board first with a field goal that held up until #10-ranked Stephens County scored on a passing TD late in the third and added another for good measure in the closing minutes.

Both teams came into the season with highly-touted offenses based on their skill players returning. However, the defense was making the highlight plays early and often, and the offense was sloppy on both sides, as evidenced by a comical four straight fumbles by the two teams in a matter of a couple minutes. Habersham capitalized on the momentum, knocking home a 37-yard field goal by freshman Michael Hill with 3:14 to go in the second.

The Indians, who had a punt return TD by Cam Lacy taken off the board in the first quarter, finally marched downfield, but were out of timeouts when getting to the four-yard line and trying to line up for a tying field goal as the final seconds of the half rolled off. They couldn’t get off the kick, and the Raiders led 3-0 at the break.

In the third, neither team could find much traction until Ben Stowe connected on a 45-yard TD pass to Lacy with 27 seconds to go in the quarter, giving the Indians the eventual game-winning score. It was much the same back and forth in the final period, but with 3:01 remaining, sophomore Javin Gordon rumbled in from 36 yards out for the exclamation point in the 14-3 win.

Stephens County opens the season 1-0, while the Raiders are 0-1.