Habersham Central put its offensive and defensive prowess on full display in a season-opening scrimmage, going up 28-0 in the first half at Lumpkin County. The Indians may have been a little late to the party, but reeled off 28 points of their own to finish the game in a 28-28 tie.

The Raiders withstood a long opening drive of nearly six minutes by the Indians, forcing a turnover on downs. Paris Wilbanks orchestrated a fantastic drive of his own, capped with a 21-yard TD in the corner of the end zone to Drake Roland. 

The defense for the Raiders made quick work on the ensuing drive, though Kolson Howell continued to connect with highly-regarded WR Martin Hulsey. Habersham picked apart the Lumpkin defense, with Braiden Shook carrying a ball down inside the 10. Despite being pushed back, Wilbanks connected on a strikingly similar 21-yard TD to the same spot as his previous one. This time, Jay Feltus climbed the ladder over two defenders to pull it down for the 14-0 lead. 

The teams got one play into the second when lightning forced a delay of over an hour. After the restart, Habersham scored quickly after on a 34-yard touchdown from Wilbanks to Feltus, stretching the lead out to 21-0, making the Raiders 3-for-3 on drives finding pay dirt. 

Later in the second, Habersham capitalized on a recovered fumble and Kinley Bee punched it in from five yards out to move up 28-0. The Indians got Mac Powell involved on a late drive to close the half, and threatened while getting all the way to the 3-yard line in inside the red zone at the 10 with about a minute on the clock. Howell converted with a TD pass to Micah Popko, bridging the gap to 28-7 heading into an abbreviated halftime. 

The Raiders barely missed hitting on a 49-yd FG, and Lumpkin again used the Howell-to-Powell connection to get inside the red zone, also courtesy of some huge runs by Weston Veater. He powered in from a yard out to make it a 28-14 game with 2:26 left in the third. 

Joseph Alvarez then rumbled in from 59 yards out with five seconds left in the third to shrink the deficit to 28-21. That bled into the final period. 

The starters (except Raiders QB Wilbanks, who only played the first two quarters) stayed in. Lumpkin got the ball back, and marched down and tied the game on an 18-yd TD from Howell to Powell at the 6:08 mark. 

Shook reeled off a mammoth run near the 30, but the drive stalled and turned it back over to the Indians for one final drive. Time ran out for both sides, as the game finished in a 28-28 tie.

Both QBs, Paris Wilbanks and Kolson Howell, finished with three and TD passes, respectively.