The Rabun County High football team is used to state playoff football.

In each of the last four seasons, the Wildcats have at least reached the state quarterfinals, including losing the championship game in 2017.

Rabun County has lost just six games in the past four seasons combined and haven’t lost a region game in longer than that.

The offense has put up nearly 44 points per game this season and is led by nationally top-ranked quarterback, sophomore Gunner Stockton.

The 6-foot-1, 196-pounder has offers from more than a dozen Division-I programs. He’s got 2,650 yards and 37 touchdowns in the air this season. On the ground, Stockton has 827 yards and 16 scores as the leading rusher on the team.

On the outside, the Wildcats are led by senior receiver Braxton Lee Hicks, who just recently committed to the University of Georgia.

Hicks has 879 yards and nine touchdowns on 46 catches in 10 games this season.

He’s joined in the receiving corps by senior Sam Adams (493 yards, 12 touchdowns), junior Sutton Jones (437 yards, six touchdowns), and sophomores Hogan Woodard (321 yards, two touchdowns) and Tate Ramey (281 yards, five touchdowns).

On defense, the Wildcats are led by seniors A.J. Wheeler (74 total tackles, two interceptions), Garrett Bragg (71 tackles), Trent Miller (67 tackles), and Phillip Roberson (62 tackles, 6.5 sacks), and juniors Hoff Windham (73 tackles, four sacks) and Brody Jarrard (57 tackles, two interceptions.)

Coming into Tiger on Friday night is the Business Engineering Science and Technology (BEST) Academy, the No. 4 seed from Region 8-AA.

The Eagles (4-6, 4-3) come in with an offense that’s capable of putting up numbers. They’ve scored 26 or more points in six games this season, including exploding for 58 points two weeks ago against McNair.

BEST is led by junior quarterback Da’von Hixson, who has 846 yards and seven touchdowns this season on 73-for-166 passing. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Hixson is also a threat to run the ball, amassing four touchdowns and 83 yards on 86 carries in 2019.

The team’s leading running back is sophomore Nique Bell, who has 518 yards on 72 carries with three touchdowns this season. He’s helped by sophomore Khaliq Brock (390 yards, five touchdowns) and senior Giovanni Morgan (259 yards, four touchdowns) in the running back corps.

The Eagles’ leading receiver is senior Qwan’tez London stiggers, who has pulled in 282 yards and three touchdowns on 16 catches this season.

As the numbers indicate, BEST is a run-first team, which should suite a Rabun County defense that is holding opponents to less than 12 points per game in 2019.

The Wildcats and Eagles are set to tee it up beginning at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15, in Tiger in the first round of the Class AA state playoffs.

For Rabun’s season results and team statistics, click here.