Our Week Five Game of the Week takes us to Toccoa as the #3-ranked Stephens County Indians host the White County Warriors. With one team yet to have their first BYE week, and the other coming off their first, it will be interesting to see what energy both teams come out with.

STEPHENS COUNTY

The Indians are playing some great ball right now. Consider that the defense has given up all of 38 points so far through 4 games, and have yet to have their first BYE week. That will come after this one. That’s an average of 9.5 points allowed defensively. Unreal! Rabun County, the second-best scoring team in 1A DI, is the only one to put up more than 11 on the Indians. Meanwhile, the offense is trending upward. After scoring just 14 against Habersham Central and 7 against Rabun, the Indians have since gone for 27 against Flowery Branch and 38 against Dawson. It’s coming to life like we all knew it would. Javin Gordon continues to impress, and Ben Stowe and Cam Lacy are out doing their thing. Add in Jasec Smith and Corey Richie on that side of the ball, and it’s hard to stop these guys. Something statistically to be looking for – Ben Stowe needs just 223 total yards (passing + rushing) to reach 4,000 for his career. And Cam Lacy needs just 331 yards from 2,000 receiving in his career.

WHITE COUNTY

The Warriors are fresh off a BYE week that came on the heels of a 34-7 win over Chestatee, making it a high-flying offense that has scored 32.3 per game. Overall, the Warriors allow 21 per game, though 42 of the total 63 points allowed were to Habersham Central. This is a pretty balanced team, and Tripp Nix is the engine that runs the offense. Defensively, there are a handful of guys that you’ll hear announced a lot – including JD Trowell, Trenton O’Kelly, Jacob Holbrook, and Colton Turner among others.

BY THE NUMBERS (2022)

STEPHENS COUNTY

• 3-1 (0-0 in 8-AAA)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 21.50 OFFENSE AVG
• 9.5 DEFENSE AVG (6th in Class 3A)
• #3 State Ranking

WHITE COUNTY

• 2-1 (0-0 in 7-AAA)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 32.3 OFFENSE AVG
• 21.0 DEFENSE AVG
• N/A State Ranking

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Be looking for highlights post-game late tonight as well as a story recapping Week Five. 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

Look, being at The Reservation swings at least 7 points to Stephens County. That’s a tough place to play if you’re the visitors. But really, the Indians are just too experienced and too explosive to be held down. The offense has been ignited, and could have its best game yet. Everything seems to be clicking, and the defense has been consistently stingy all season, and that probably won’t change tonight. OUR PICK: Stephens County

DO WE BRING LUCK?

A little bit. We’re sitting at 22 games we’ve covered since 2009 for Stephens County, and the Indians are 12-10 in those games, including 1-1 this season. This marks our third visit to a Stephens game this year, and we have seen this exact Stephens/White matchup 3 times before. The last was in 2020, a dominant White County win. Before that, we witnessed the 2010 edition, a White County win, and the 2011 episode, a Stephens win. As for bringing any good juju for White County, we are 16-14 overall in Warriors’ games, including 3 straight losses.

DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP

TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Stephens County HS / Toccoa, GA / The Reservation
LAST MEETING: 2021 (Stephens County 34, White County 20)
ALL-TIME RECORD: Stephens leads series 4-2 over White County
RECORDS: #3 Stephens County Indians (3-1; 0-0 in 8-AAA); White County Warriors (2-1; 0-0 in 7-AAA)
HEAD COACHES: Wesley Tankersley (89-67; 15 Seasons); Chad Bennett (2-1; 1 Season)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

These programs have linked up just 6 times throughout their history, which is quite astonishing due to the proximity of both schools, similar size, and the age of both programs. These two schools have been around for a LONG time, yet only started a series in 2010. That first matchup was a White County victory, but Stephens won the next 3 meetings in 2011, 2014, and 2015. White County reclaimed a win in 2020, but Stephens won last year. The home team is 5-1 in the 6 meetings, something to consider. Four of the all-time meetings were decided by 14 or less points.

TEAM LEADERS (2022 Stats)

STEPHENS COUNTY

PASSING
Ben Stowe – 494 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT, 48% completion

RUSHING
Javin Gordon – 423 yds, 6 TD, 5.2 YPC
Brock Tankersley – 63 yds, 0 TD, 7.9 YPC
Ben Stowe – 56 yds, 1 TD, 1.9 YPC
TJ Everett – 56 yds, 1 TD, 2.4 YPC
Cam Lacy – 53 yds, 0 TD, 8.8 YPC

RECEIVING
Cam Lacy – 262 yds, 1 TD, 15 rec
Corey Richie – 107 yds, 0 TD, 9 rec
Jasec Smith – 97 yds, 2 TD, 5 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Ritt Tankersley – 43 TKL, 6 TFL, 2 Sacks,1 PD
Corey Richie – 38 TKL, 3 PD, 2 FF
Raven Wilson – 36 TKL, 7 TFL, 2 Sacks
Nathan Walker – 36 TKL, 11 TFL, 5 Sacks
Jasec Smith – 31 TKL, 2 TFL, 5 PD, 1 FF
Dawson Childs – 27 TKL, 6 TFL, 1 Sack
Aidan Butts – 26 TKL, 11 TFL, 8 Sacks, 1 FF
Aaron Maxwell – 24 TKL, 7 TKL, 2 Sacks, 1 FR
Isaac Defoor – 8 TKL, 2 INT, 1 PD
Cam Lacy – 9 TKL, 1 INT, 1 PD

WHITE COUNTY

PASSING
Tripp Nix – 344 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT, 59% completion

RUSHING
Tripp Nix – 285 yds, 6 TD, 5.3 YPC
Ryan Fowler – 98 yds, 1 TD, 3.8 YPC
Noah Williams – 93 yds, 1 TD, 5.4 YPC
Noel Lammers – 76 yds, 1 TD, 4.8 YPC

RECEIVING
Cam Wilson – 107 yds, 1 TD, 5 rec
Vondre Nelson – 70 yds, 0 TD, 6 rec
Ryan Fowler – 64 yds, 0 TD, 5 rec
Colton Turner – 46 yds, 0 TD, 4 rec
Kane Lowery – 25 yds, 0 TD, 4 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS

Trenton O’Kelly – 31 TKL, 4 TFL, 1 FF
Jacob Holbrook – 27 TKL, 1 Sack
JD Trowell – 15 TKL, 1 TFL, 2 Sacks
Devin Norton – 15 TKL, 1 FF, 1 FR
Colton Turner – 13 TKL, 1 Sack, 1 INT, 1 FF
Luke Dockery – 13 TKL, 1 Sack, 1 INT
Caysen Duvall – 4 TKL, 1 INT