The initial Game of the Week takes us to Tiger for a showdown that was fun to watch a year ago and could be more of the same this time around. Rabun County plays host to White County.
Rabun County
The Wildcats open a new era with alum Rance Gillespie’s first official contest. Rabun County comes into the season with a veteran group of skill position players. While being young on the line, they do have a solid core defensively as well. This team, barring injuries, has a high ceiling.
White County
The Warriors begin life without Tripp Nix, their 4-year starting QB. Alex Freeman appears to be the guy, and the rest of the skill positions are set with veteran leaders Noel Lammers (RB), Gaines Clark (WR), and Zach Godfrey (WR). Defensively, the team lost quite a bit from a season ago, but the secondary is a strong point.
By the numbers (2025)
RABUN COUNTY
- 0-0 (0-0 IN 8A-DI)
- Region Standings: T-1st
- 0.0 OFFENSE AVG
- 0.0 DEFENSE AVG
- #6 State Ranking
WHITE COUNTY
- 0-0 (0-0 IN 6-AA)
- Region Standings: T-1st
- 0.0 OFFENSE AVG
- 0.0 DEFENSE AVG
- N/A State Ranking
Winning chances
Let’s begin with the Wildcats. They’re at home, which presents an automatic edge. They have the veterans at the skill positions and the stingy defense to match. Staying healthy is critical, just as it was the last couple of years. If Rabun County can get chunk plays from Reid Giles, and stretch the defense out with some timely passes and runs from Ty Truelove, it’ll be their game to win.
For White County, the linebacker unit is going to have to come up big in stopping the run game, while the line will need to make Truelove uncomfortable. Noel Lammers should get his numbers, but it’ll take some big pass plays from Alex Freeman to Gaines Clark and/or Zach Godfrey to pull it out.
Details of the matchup
TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Frank Snyder Memorial Stadium / Tiger, GA
LAST MEETING: 2024: #5 Rabun County 40, White County 27
ALL-TIME RECORD: Rabun leads series 27-10
RECORDS: #6 Rabun County Wildcats (0-0) vs White County Warriors
HEAD COACHES:Â Rance Gillespie (170-91; 23 Seasons); Chad Bennett (12-19; 4 Seasons)
Historically speaking
Rabun County owns this all-time series 27-10, and have reeled off three straight in 2024, 2017, and 2016. The last White County victory came in 2001, a 17-14 final. There was a 15-year hiatus for the teams to meet up between 2001-2016, but the history dates back to 1958. Rabun County won the first nine meetings until the Warriors won back-to-back in shutouts in 1971-72. Rabun got back in the win column in 1973, but White County won the next two in consecutive years. Both sides were fairly even from 1974-88. But since ’88, Rabun has won 10 of the last 11 overall. These two teams have never squared off against each other.
Team leaders (2024 stats)
*Stats accumulated by team-published data on Ga MaxPreps; returning players only
Rabun County
PASSING
Ty Truelove – 808 pass yds, 7 TD, 3 INT, 52% completion
RUSHING
Reid Giles – 1,348 rush yds, 16 TD, 7.7 YPC
Lake Evans – 743 rush yds, 13 TD, 5.6 YPC
Ty Truelove – 395 rush yds, 6 TD, 7.2 YPC
Shaun Fruster – 159 rush yds, 1 TD, 8.0 YPC
RECEIVING
Reid Giles – 387 rec yds, 2 TD, 30 rec
Lake Evans – 169 rec yds, 2 TD, 16 rec
Leo Marin – 32 rec yds, 1 TD, 1 rec
Reed Burrell – 7 rec yds, 0 TD, 2 rec
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Noah English – 105 TKL, 8 TFL, 4 Sacks, 1 INT *out for season
Reid Giles – 92 TKL, 8 TFL, 2 INT
JK Fruster – 84 TKL, 12 TFL, 1 TFL
Ethan Hopper – 75 TKL, 5 TFL, 1 FTL
Dane Tyler – 74 TKL, 7 TFL, 4 Sacks
Reed Burrell – 73 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 INT
Colter Cannon – 39 TKL
White County
PASSING
Alex Freeman – 59 pass yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 50% completion
RUSHING
Noel Lammers – 569 rush yds, 10 TD, 4.0 YPC
Cooper Garrett – 59 rush yds, 0 TD, 3.1 YPC
RECEIVING
Gaines Clark – 553 rec yds, 1 TD, 41 rec
Zach Godfrey – 446 rec yds, 3 TD, 30 rec
Noel Lammers – 365 rec yds, 1 TD, 29 rec
Sawyer Gailey – 105 rec yds, 1 TD, 7 rec
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Zach Godfrey – 115 TKL, 2 INT, 1 FR, 1 Def TD
Gaines Clark – 20 TKL, 1 TFL, 2 INT
Reid Penrose – Savannah Christian transfer w/ 100+ TKL in 2023 (missed last season)
