Our Week Six Game of the Week takes us to Homer for a cat-fight (Leopards vs Wildcats) in Homer!

BANKS COUNTY

The Leopards are 0-4 to start the Todd Winter era. Not what the Leopards had in mind, though with the massive changes, early bumps were to be expected. It will all pay dividends in the future, but Banks County has to be the unluckiest team around. The first 3 games were all decided by no more than 7 points and featured goal-line stands in which the Leopards were denied a chance to win or tie. Then the game against #6-ranked Cherokee Bluff in which nothing really went well. Ashton Camp and Garrett Spence, along with Aucy Jacobs, are the featured backs along with QB Lane Morris, who is due in for a big game. Throwing out the Bluff game, the defense has been great, allowing just 13.0 in the first 3 games.

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RABUN COUNTY

Rabun County might be 3-1, but the Wildcats aren’t exactly playing to the level of dominance the could be. That’s all because of the injury to Ty Truelove. He’s limited, as exhibited in his 8-yd passing game last week. BUT…just his presence there at QB has given Rabun back-to-back wins. So WHEN (not if) he gets more leash and gets better with each passing day, expect that dominance of spreading the field to come back. This would be a natural game to do it, as it opens region play. A few additional thoughts on this team – Reid Giles is a beast…he’s become one of the best all-purpose backs in the state. Noah English played last week, and scored a TD. That’s big if he’s back and healthy. And Lake Evans is clutch.

BY THE NUMBERS (2024)

BANKS COUNTY

• 0-4 (0-0 in 8-A DI)
• Region Standings: N/A
• 6.75 OFFENSE AVG
• 20.25 DEFENSE AVG
• N/A State Ranking

RABUN COUNTY

• 3-1 (0-0 in Region 8-A DI)
• Region Standings: N/A
• 26.5 OFFENSE AVG
• 22.25 DEFENSE AVG
• #6 State Ranking

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Be looking for highlights post-game late tonight as well as a story recapping Week Six. BLITZ partners with Fox 5’s 11 PM “High 5 Sports” show throughout the season. We make sure to get Banks County and Rabun County coverage on the big market show! You can also follow us on Twitter (@BlitzSportsGa) for live score updates (5G pending).

OUR PREDICTION

We typically make a case for both, with our official pick linked below. Let’s begin with the Leopards. Banks County has a triple option that we’ve seen firsthand can be effective, though it came against Johnson in a scrimmage. It’s struggled to find rhythm. The silver lining has been this defense (aside from the Cherokee Bluff game). The Leopards are going for a bend, don’t break mindset against the explosive run game of Rabun. If the Leopards get a takeaway or two, and get that triple option going for 4.5 yards per tote, they can certainly shock the Cats. For the Wildcats, it’s going to mean grinding out some small plays until they can bust open some holes for big chunk plays. That means while Banks loads the box to stop Giles, English, and Evans, Truelove is going to have to pepper in some passes to open things up. If Rabun does it’s usual in that area, they’ll take the game. OUR PICK: SEE HERE

DO WE BRING LUCK?

For the Leopards, we’ve been to 14 games since 2011. Banks County has gone 3-11 in those, though they won the last meeting we saw (scrimmage this year against Johnson). For Rabun County, we’ve taken in 65 total games going back to 2013, and the Wildcats have rewarded that with a 50-15 mark.

DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP

TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Banks County HS / Homer, GA
LAST MEETING: 2021 (#1 Rabun County 63, Banks County 0)
ALL-TIME RECORD: Rabun County leads 22-10 in the all-time series
RECORDS: Banks County Leopards (0-4; 0-0 in 8-A DI); #6 Rabun County Wildcats (3-1; 0-0 in 8-A DI)
HEAD COACHES: Todd Winter (90-50; 13 Seasons); Michael Davis (24-6; 3 Seasons)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

This is a series that goes back to 1968. It has substance to it. Rabun County won the first-ever and first 3 meetings until Banks County won the 1971 edition. The Cats rebounded to win the next 4 until the next Leopards win in 1994. That started a 3-1 stretch for Banks, but Rabun then took 8 of the next 9 from 1998-2006. Banks County returned the favor by winning each game from 2007-2011 (5-0). Since 2016, which spans 6 meetings, Rabun County has won each and in dominating fashion. None of the last 6 has seen Banks County score more than 9 points, and they’ve been shut out twice in a row heading into this one, including a 71-0 game in 2020 and 63-0 in 2021 in which Gunner Stockton and the Wildcats ran all over the Leopards. They haven’t played since that last meeting. Overall, Rabun has won 22 against 10 for Banks County.

TEAM LEADERS (2024 Stats)

*Stats accumulated by team-published data on Ga MaxPreps from last season; returning players only

BANKS COUNTY

PASSING
Lane Morris – 114 yds, 0 TD

RUSHING
Garrett Spence – 265 yds, 0 TD
Lane Morris – 185 yds, 0 TD
Aucy Jacobs – 162 yds, 0 TD
Ashton Camp – 143 yds, 4 TD

RECEIVING
Unknown

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Unknown Stats
Cam Cooper
Caden Watson
Aucy Jacobs

RABUN COUNTY

PASSING
Ty Truelove – 309 pass yds, 4 TD, 0 INT, 54% completion

RUSHING
Reid Giles – 513 yds, 5 TD
Lake Evans – 180 yds, 2 TD
Ty Truelove – 147 yds, 3 TD
Noah English – 88 yds, 1 TD

RECEIVING
Reid Giles – 138 yds, 1 TD, 8 rec
Lake Evans – 80 yds, 2 TD, 7 rec
Jake Payne – 79 yds, 1 TD, 3 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Dane Tyler – 34 TKL, 4 TFL, 4 Sacks, 1 FR
Elvis Hunt – 33 TKL, 3 TFL
Reid Giles – 32 TKL, 2 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FF
Noah English – 28 TKL, 3 TFL, 1 FR, 1 FF
Jakaden Shiflet – 27 TKL, 3 TFL, 2 FR, 2 FF
Tucker Buchanan – 27 TKL, 1 TFL, 2 Sacks
Reed Burrell – 24 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 FR
Lake Evans – 11 TKL, 2 TFL, 2 Sacks