MOUNT AIRY, Ga. — Habersham Central coach Benji Harrison and his Raiders have been here before. In fact, this is the third straight season, and the fourth time since 2020, that Harrison has guided them into the Georgia High School Association playoffs.
They’re all hoping for a better outcome than the previous four trips (0-4) to the postseason on Friday. And for the first time since 2007, they will get to stay in the comfy confines of Raider Stadium to see if they can make that happen.
The Raiders (7-3) will play host to Statesboro (7-3) in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs.
“There’s just a lot of excitement, a lot of buzz going around (the school),” he said this week as he also will be preparing for his first-ever home playoff game as a coach. “Our kids are excited. I think our community is excited. We feel like we’ll have a huge crowd.”
Harrison singled out the seniors in particular because the Class of ‘26 is the first to make the state playoffs three straight years since 2005-07 under Gene Cathcart.
“I told our seniors the other day, ‘What a huge opportunity that you guys have as a senior class. You will have made it to the state playoffs three years in a row (and) with a home playoff game,” he said. “I told them to enjoy these moments and to just make the most of it because you never know when you’ll get this opportunity again. This is what you prepare for, what you practice for, what you do all the summer workouts for, for this opportunity.”
But if they want a chance at another home playoff game next week, first they will have to find a way past the Blue Devils, who were a missed extra point from beating Effingham County two weeks ago for the Region 1-5A title. They may be the most dangerous No. 3 seed in the 5A bracket.
Habersham Central features the classification’s second-leading rusher in senior Donnie Warren (1,453 yards, 17 TD, 7 100-yard games) and has junior QB Paris Wilbanks running the show and quietly having perhaps his best season yet (1,384 yards, 13 TD, 5 INT passing; 76-269 yards, 6 TD rushing). Junior receiver Jay Feltus (37-575 yards, 6 TD) leads a group where seven different players have caught touchdown passes. And they have a solid, cohesive offensive line that has been intact most of the season.
And the Blue Devils’ defense is vulnerable. They have allowed 20 or more points in 8 of 10 games this season and given up 35.6 points/game in their three losses. Hab Central was averaging 31.6 ppg until its 53-6 loss to Jackson County in the season-finale.
Harrison said attacking any defense for them begins with No. 0.
“It always starts (for us) with getting Donnie going,” he said. “Everything feeds off that. If we can do that, I feel like we can create plays in the passing game.
“But Paris has got to really be good this week. And I think he’s going to have to help us in the run game as well.”
Statesboro also brings in one of the best running backs in 5A in senior Keon Childers, who has 1,172 yards on 250 carries with 25 TDs and 6 100-yard games on the season. According to the Statesboro stats, they are averaging 230 yards/game on the ground with 451 carries without a fumble in 2025.
The Raiders have shown they can stop a high-caliber running back. They limited 5A’s leading rusher, MJ Dowdy of Winder-Barrow, to just 2 runs over 20 yards in a 35-21 win in late September. Hab Central also has forced 17 turnovers in 2025, including 8 fumbles, on defense.
However, the Blue Devils can go from a single-wing look to a spread within the same formation. Harrison said they will be a challenge.
“When you watch them on film, it’s a game, I think we match up well,” he said. “But you have got to stop the run game, there’s no doubt about that. They can do a lot of different stuff, so you have to be a little bit multiple in your (defensive) approach. I feel like our kids understand what we’ve got to do, and they’ve had a really good week and a half of practice.”
With a win on Friday, the Raiders also can do something they haven’t done since 2007 — and something Harrison, now in his 14th season as a coach, has not been able to accomplish to this point: win eight games in a season.
“I think that would be big to get to that number,” he said. “You’re always trying to do better than you’ve done in the past. A lot of times, this game is judged on wins and losses, so obviously, it means a little bit personally to get to that point.
“But for me, it always has been, and always will be, a kid sport. And I’m just really excited about the opportunity that these guys have to try and make that happen, for them and the program.”
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