The Week Eight Game of the Week takes us to Frank Snyder Memorial Stadium for the third visit this season.
RELATED Game Night Forecast
RABUN COUNTY
The Wildcats are blistering hot – with a top-10 ranked offense and defense, and ranked overall inside the top-5, it’s safe to say Rabun County is a legitimate contender for a state title. Reid Giles just eclipsed 3,000 career rushing yards (4,338 total yards), and Ty Truelove has 10 TD passes against ZERO interceptions. The entire team is disciplined, and there’s no signs of slowing down.
COMMERCE
The Tigers have never been here before, and by that we mean at 0-6 to start a season. For a storied program that is in its 100th year, the 28-year playoff streak is definitely in jeopardy. HOWEVER…Lenny Gregory has a resume of building up teams fairly quickly. This is a young team that did replace about 19 starters from last year and made a monumental change in offense (option to spread) for the first time ever. Patience…but don’t sleep on this team full of athletes (several who play multi-sports).
BY THE NUMBERS
RABUN COUNTY
- 6-0 (2-0 IN 8-A DI)
- Region Standings: 1st
- 39.5 OFFENSE AVG (4th in 1A DI)
- 12.0 DEFENSE AVG (6th in 1A DI)
- #4 State Ranking
COMMERCE
- 0-6 (0-2 IN 8-A DI)
- Region Standings: 7th
- 18.5 OFFENSE AVG
- 32.0 DEFENSE AVG
- N/A State Ranking
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Be looking for highlights post-game later tonight as well as a story recapping the contest. BLITZ partners with Fox 5’s 11 PM “High 5 Sports” show throughout the season. We make sure to get Rabun County and Commerce coverage on the big market show! You can also follow us on Twitter (@BlitzSportsGa) for live score updates (5G pending).
HOW THE TEAMS STACK UP
We typically make a case for both, with our official pick linked below. Let’s begin with the Wildcats. In every area on paper, Rabun County is the better team right now – from the senior veteran leadership, the skill players that are more than established, the defense in size and production, and having the home field with the record, stats, etc. But games aren’t played on paper. Rabun must approach this game humbly, but with confidence and an eagerness to avenge the last two meetings against Commerce. If they play with that discipline and added intensity, they’ll win as they have the past several weeks. The Tigers simply cannot afford to turn the ball over. The passing game has thrown 10 picks against just four TDs. That’s got to be priority one. Defensively, it’s limited the explosive plays. The Tigers have a chance if they don’t turn the ball over at all, and flex big on defense.
STATS
For Rabun County, the Wildcats have gone 53-17 in the 70 all-time games we’ve been to for them. Those numbers for Commerce in eight contests is a solid 6-2 record.
DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP
TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Frank Snyder Memorial Stadium / Tiger, GA
LAST MEETING: 2024: #9 Commerce 42, #6 Rabun County 38
ALL-TIME RECORD: Commerce leads the all-time series 23-8-1
RECORDS: #4 Rabun County Wildcats (6-0) vs Commerce Tigers (0-6)
HEAD COACHES: Rance Gillespie (176-91; 23 Seasons); Lenny Gregory (63-59; 11 Seasons)
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
This matchup is well-versed…dating back to 1951, where the Wildcats won the first-ever meeting with a 46-6 win under the legendary Frank Snyder. Snyder led Rabun to a 4-3 record in the first seven meetings. Commerce began to own the series starting in 1964, Snyder’s last year. Between that season and 1995, the Tigers won every meeting minus a rare tie in 1967. That was 14 wins in a row. Rabun got back in the win column in 1996 and again in 1998, but the Tigers were victorious in the other five tries up to 2012. In 2013, Lee Shaw’s Wildcats won, and the teams didn’t play again until 2022 when they were squeezed into the same region. Since then, every game has come down to the wire. We’ve been to all three, including the 2022 game at Rabun (27-22 Cats win) where a late interception sealed the region title. The next year (2023), Jaiden Daniels and Tysean Wiggins secured a region crown for Commerce in an overtime thriller against Ty Truelove and Reid Giles. Last year, the same names again squared off in Commerce, and it was a 42-38 game that came down to the final minute. Truelove and Giles are chomping at the bit to avenge those losses.
TEAM LEADERS (2025 Stats)
*Stats accumulated by team-published data on Ga MaxPreps
RABUN COUNTY
PASSING
Ty Truelove – 1,019 yds, 10 TD, 0 INT, 61% completion
RUSHING
Reid Giles – 638 yds, 11 TD
Lake Evans – 402 yds, 5 TD
Ty Truelove – 239 yds, 3 TD
RECEIVING
Reid Giles – 458 rec yds, 3 TD, 26 rec
Reed Burrell – 219 yds, 3 TD, 13 rec
Reed Lafevers – 104 yds, 2 TD, 10 rec
Lake Evans – 97 rec yds, 0 TD, 10 rec
Hayden Cannon – 78 yds, 0 TD, 5 rec
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Brock Brady – 34 TKL, 6 TFL, 1 Sack
Reid Giles – 31 TKL, 3 TFL, 1 INT, 1 BLK
Ethan Hopper – 28 TKL, 5 TFL, 1.5 Sacks, 1 FF
Reed Burrell – 24 TKL, 1 TFL
Ryan Yearwood – 23 TKL, 4 TFL, 2 Sacks, 1 INT, 2 FR
JK Fruster – 20 TKL, 6 TFL, 1 Sack
Mack Williams – 16 TKL, 3 TFL, 3 Sacks
Shaun Fruster – 11 TKL, 3 INT
Dane Tyler – 10 TKL, 0.5 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 INT
COMMERCE
PASSING
Layden Bryson – 428 yds, 2 TD, 6 INT, 42% completion
Tate Kirk – 335 yds, 2 TD, 4 INT, 45% completion
RUSHING
Jace Lyle – 352 yds, 4 TD
Layden Bryson – 280 yds, 5 TD
Demarco Huff – 234 yds, 2 TD
RECEIVING
Essien Lockleer – 281 yds, 1 TD
Ty Sorrells – 247 yds, 3 TD
Jace Lyle – 99 yds, 0 TD
Brennan Griffith – 77 yds, 0 TD
JJ Jarrells – 69 yds, 0 TD
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Rivers West – 54 TKL
Shamar Myles – 51 TKL, 6 TFL, 3 Sacks, 1 FR
Bronc Cash – 45 TKL, 5 TFL, 2 Sacks, 2 FR, 1 FF
Blake Spear – 42 TKL, 3 TFL
Caden McWilliams – 35 TKL, 2 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 FF
Caden Graddy – 24 TKL, 3 TFL, 1 BLK
JJ Jarrells – 17 TKL, 1 INT, 1 FR
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