Madison County Red Raiders

RAIDER vs. Raider Homecoming Presents Challenges for MCHS
Reprinted from the Madison County Journal October 5, 2006 edition
By Ben Munro
The bookies in Vegas don’t put betting lines on high school games. But if they did, the oddsmakers would file this one under the “pick ‘em” category. With one Raider team pitted against another Raider outfit, it doesn’t appear that the monikers are the only thing that will be close in Danielsville come Friday.
“(It’s) just about 50-50,” MCHS head coach Randell Owens said of his assessment of Madison County’s homecoming showdown with Habersham Central. “Whoever shows up and doesn’t make mistakes.”
While Habersham Central won’t threaten with the scary turbo-jet speed of MCHS’s foe last week, Clarke Central, the Mt. Airy Raiders are expected to bring plenty to the table to hold up its end of the bargain. “(Habersham is) big and strong—the same guys we’ve been playing the last two years—definitely the same guys we played against last year,” Owens said.
Habersham Central is off to a 2-2 start, coming off a 35-0 blanking of struggling Winder-Barrow this past Friday. Owens said the coach Gene Cathcart’s Raiders are as fundamentally sound a team as his group will see. “They are well-coached,” Owens said. “They don’t beat themselves.”
Cathcart, who has a 15-20 record in Mt. Airy, sees two teams that will play a similar type of efficient football Friday in this key sub-region battle. “I think both teams will play awfully hard,” he said. “Both teams are fundamentally sound.”
Owens agrees there are similarities. Neither team boasts great overall speed but have comparable size offensively while he said that the Raiders from the north will be bigger defensively. “They kind of mirror us to a certain degree,” Owens said.
Madison County won’t be totally exempt from having to contain a burner this week. Habersham does possess at least one game breaker—receiver Tavarres King who has 178 yards receiving and three touchdowns heading into last week. He’s complemented by an experienced quarterback in Bo Hatchett and a solid running back in Matt Roberts. King’s ability will be a cause for RAIDER concern Friday. “He’s for real,” Owens said. “He’s got good hands. He’s explosive.”
Madison County has been playing good football as of late, nearly upsetting Dacula and beating Clarke Central by two touchdowns. The RAIDERS are coming off a 34-point performance against the Gladiators and giving up only 14 points a games this year.
“They’re doing a great job,” Cathcart said. “They’re very well coached and play hard . . . (quarterback) Jarrod Owens does a good job of leading the team.” Cathcart said his team will have to put together some drives this year against Madison County after scoring just one touchdown in last year’s loss. “Last year, we felt they did as good as job as anybody against us defensively,” he said. He also said his defense will have to content with Madison County’s versatile offensive scheme, one that can spread the ball around or move to a tight formation. “We’ll have to adjust to both of those,” Cathcart said.
Meanwhile, Habersham certainly has the respect of Madison County players. “They’re very sound,” said Jarrod Owens, adding that he worked closely with one of Habersham’s coaches during a summer camp at Furman. “Very much like Dacula. . .”They’re very well coached.”
Reprinted from the Madison County Journal’s October 5, 2006 edition.