Back-to-back weeks of our Game of the Week featuring the #9-ranked Stephens County Indians, and this is a legit top-10 matchup that has had the hype around it from the get-go. #2 Rabun County hosting #9 Stephens County.

RABUN COUNTY

Keegan Stover has proven to be all that he’s hyped up to be – a legit passer with a canon of an arm. Jaden Gibson is well on track after one game to becoming the state’s all-time receiving leader. In fact, Gibson had a career-high 273 receiving yards and added 4 TD. And the defense and lines have looked extremely solid as well. There’s so much to be excited about with the way the Cats are playing. Week one saw them torch the field in another top-10 showdown against #10 Haralson on the road, a solid team all the way around. And don’t forget the dominance we saw against #10 Bowdon in their scrimmage. Rabun County looks as formidable as it always has been.

STEPHENS COUNTY

Everyone knows this team is loaded. It’s well-documented. The Indians have a solid core of skill players with the likes of Ben Stowe, Cam Lacy, TJ Everett, Corey Richie, and Javin Gordon. The defense also has plenty of big-time playmakers. That said, week one against Habersham Central showed us a great bit about how much these guys have improved over the summer. The one caveat is they need to take better care of the football, as they would definitely agree after a six-fumble outing against the Raiders. The offensive line particularly has taken a hit with one starter out for the season, and the starting center missing last game due to injury. The defense was spectacular, and did not allow a single breakaway play. Aidan Butts and Jasec Smith are the real deal, folks!

BY THE NUMBERS (2022)

RABUN COUNTY

• 1-0 (0-0 in 8-A DI)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 49.00 OFFENSE AVG
• 3.00 DEFENSE AVG
• #2 State Ranking

STEPHENS COUNTY

• 1-0 (0-0 in 8-AAA)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 14.00 OFFENSE AVG
• 3.00 DEFENSE AVG
• #10 State Ranking

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

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

OUR PREDICTION

We’ve long considered this probably the best game we’ll see all season, at least until the playoffs. These are two region title type teams with quarterfinal runs (or further hopefully) written all over them. You won’t find another local game like this one probably all of 2022. That said, both teams are ridiculously loaded on offense. This one could be decided by which team has the ball last, or which defense can make the most stops or cause some turnovers. Of course, the defenses are so solid, that you could also very well see this game go the other way, as in a low-scoring affair. We’ll go out on a limb and say this one is a barn-burner, with Rabun County, fueled by the home field, coming out on top. The caveat here is if Rabun County can limit Cam Lacy to be a non-factor, it dramatically increases the Wildcats’ chance here as they are typically very good at stopping the run. OUR PICK: Rabun County

DO WE BRING LUCK?

It goes two ways here…in 21 games we have gone to for Stephens, the Indians are 12-9. As for Rabun County, we’ve seen the Cats play 56 times, and they’re 44-12 in those. We’ve also captured this exact Rabun-v-Stephens matchup three times, with Rabun winning all three times (2019, 2018, 2016) by a combined 109-31.

DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP

TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Rabun County HS / Tiger, GA / Frank Snyder Memorial Stadium
LAST MEETING: #2 Rabun County 44, Stephens County 7
ALL-TIME RECORD: Rabun County leads the series 6-4
RECORDS: #2 Rabun County Wildcats (1-0; 0-0 in 8-A DI); #10 Stephens County Indians (1-0; 0-0 in 8-AAA)
HEAD COACHES: Michael Davis (1-0; 1 Season); Wesley Tankersley (87-66; 15 Seasons)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

These guys have met on the gridiron 10 times in history, which isn’t all that much considering how far both schools go, and the fact that they’re relatively close in driving distance. Still, Rabun has the edge in the series, going 6-4 in such meetings. That includes now 4 straight wins, all in the modern day era. Prior to 2016, the teams met 6 times in the 1950s, in which Stephens County won 4 in a row and 4 of those 6 dates. In recent years, it’s been all Rabun. In 2016, it was a 24-10 Wildcats win, followed by a 28-6 victory in 2017, a 41-14 blowout win in 2018 for Rabun, and the last meeting in 2019, which was a 44-7 win for Gunner Stockton and company. In those 4 games, Rabun has outslugged the Indians 137-37. Below are a couple of the matchups we were lucky enough to capture.

TEAM LEADERS (2022 Stats)

RABUN COUNTY

PASSING
Keegan Stover – 368 pass yds, 4 TD, 0 INT, 68% completion
Ty Truelove – 56 pass yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 100% completion

RUSHING
Lang Windham – 58 rush yds, 1 TD, 6.4 YPC
Noah English – 35 rush yds, 0 TD, 7.0 YPC

RECEIVING
Jaden Gibson – 273 rec yds, 4 TD, 8 rec
Riley Stewart – 60 rec yds, 0 TD, 6 rec
Lang Windham – 36 rec yds, 1 TD, 3 rec
Noah Legault – 25 rec yds, 0 TD, 2 rec
Paul Picciotti – 21 rec yds, 0 TD, 1 rec
Cory Keller – 14 rec yds, 0 TD, 1 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Nic Baloga – 22 TKL, 2 TFL
Cory Keller – 17 TKL, 1 Sack
Ethan Owens – 16 TKL
Willie Goodwyn – 13 TKL
Emiliano Ortiz – 8 TKL
Cesar Cruz – 6 TKL
Branson Gragg – 4 TKL, 1 INT

STEPHENS COUNTY

PASSING
Ben Stowe – 116 pass yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 53% completion

RUSHING
Javin Gordon – 83 rush yds, 1 TD, 5.9 YPC
TJ Everett – 46 rush yds, 0 TD, 3.1 YPC
Cam Lacy – 30 rush yds, 0 TD, 15.0 YPC
Ben Stowe – 13 rush yds, 0 TD, 1.3 YPC

RECEIVING
Cam Lacy – 101 rec yds, 1 TD, 7 rec
Corey Richie – 15 rec yds, 0 TD, 2 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Ritt Tankersley – 11 TKL
TJ Everett – 10 TKL, 1 TFL
Jasec Smith – 9 TKL
Corey Richie – 9 TKL, FF
Aaron Maxwell – 6 TKL, 1 FR
Dawson Childs – 6 TKL, 1 Sack
Nathan Walker – 6 TKL, 1 Sack
Raven Wilson – 5 TKL, 1 Sack
Aidan Butts – 4 TKL, 4 Sacks, FF