On a night when offensive school records were broken, the Winder-Barrow High School football team simply ran out of time.
The Bulldoggs trailed by a touchdown in the final seconds and despite attempting one final attempt to get in the endzone, dropped a 42-35 Region 8-AAAA contest to visiting Habersham Central at W. Clair Harris Stadium.
Quarterback Christian Davila passed for a school record 344 yards on a 21-of-32 night. Davila hooked up with receiver Trent Demeritte on nine of those completions for 210 yards, yet another school record.
Despite the gaudy offensive numbers (WBHS finished with 406 yards of total offense) head coach Ben Corley could only look at one that got away.
“We jumped out to a 14-0 lead and it’s been a while since we’ve been in that situation,” Corley said. “We had a little letdown defensively. Habersham fought their way back in it and it was a shootout from then on.”
The difference in last Friday and the previous week when the Bulldoggs emerged with a win was third down, the coach said.
“We did great in third down situations against Heritage (in a 7-0 win), but we couldn’t get off the field defensively against Habersham,” Corley said. “They big played us to death. Two scores came on third and long plays. We didn’t do a good job of tackling. Their backs are good and they made some big plays.”
The Raiders’ David Griffin seemed literally unstoppable at times Friday. The Habersham Central back rushed for 282 yards on 26 attempts with five touchdowns including runs of 54, 67 and 70 yards.
Both teams were clicking on offense as the Raiders had 20 first downs to 19 for the Bulldoggs. The Winder-Barrow running game, however, was held in check as Davila was the team’s leading rusher with 33 yards while Kendrick Davis was limited to 30 yards.
Habersham would eventually move in front 42-28 and while WBHS cut the lead to one score on a 32-yard pass from Davila to a wide open Taylor Hinshaw, the Bulldoggs would not get possession again until 23 seconds were left on the clock.
“We still got the ball to midfield and gave it the old college try,” Corley said. “We just didn’t have enough time.”
The biggest defensive stand for WBHS came on Habersham’s final series of the first half. Jake Foster, Hogan Anderson, Jonah Huggins and John McLockin each recorded sacks during that drive in which the Bulldoggs kept the Raiders from putting any addition points on the board. Habersham actually faced a third and 42 at one point on the series.
