East Paulding defense keeps it close, late score secures win vs. ranked 7A team

It was the second win of the season for the Class 6A Raiders against strong Class 7A opponents, as North Paulding and Harrison were a combined 18-5 in 2025. That should pay dividends for East Paulding in the era of the Georgia High School Association’s Post Season Rankings, which include opponents’ records as a part of the formula for selecting playoff teams.

“We scheduled this on purpose,” East Paulding coach Van Spence said. “We had a 7A opponent last week that made the playoffs (in 2025). Harrison is a good football team, 7A and ranked and made the second round of the playoffs last year. We did it on purpose. Now it’s tough, and we got banged up. Next week we’ve got Central (of Carrollton) that was a top-five team in their classification. I think it was big, but we’re just taking it week by week and hope it pays off for us in the end.”

Tenth-ranked Harrison took its first lead since early in the second quarter when Olrick Johnson III, primarily a linebacker who has committed to Florida State, scored on a 30-yard run to make it 23-20 with 10:31 remaining.

On the ensuing kickoff, the short kick deflected off an East Paulding player and Harrison recovered at the Raiders’ 29. However, Harrison lost yardage on two plays, threw an incomplete pass and had to punt, which was downed at the 3-yard line.

The Hoyas got the ball back at the Raiders’ 33 after forcing a three-and-out. This time, Harrison got the ball to the 16-yard line in three plays but lost a fumble on the fourth, and East Paulding recovered at the 19.

“The defensive guys, they work their tails off,” Spence said. “Our defensive staff is incredible, but our kids kinda kept who they are. We didn’t lose our cool. We said we were going to get our chance and, lady luck, we got a fumble and it worked out. Our kids just believe, and I think it works from the top down. They know I’m going to stay poised, the coaches stay poised, they stay poised, and good things can happen.”

East Paulding needed nine plays to score the winning touchdown. Quarterback Bode Spence, the coach’s son, had a 24-yard run and pass completions of 12, 10 and 18 yards on the drive. He was 11-for-21 passing for 116 yards and rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown in the game.

The Raiders had 257 yards rushing, not including three long losses on kneel-downs as they ran out the clock.

Harrison quarterback Aiden Watson, who passed for 247 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-7 victory over Allatoona last week, completed 16 of 32 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. DJ Huggins, a 1,000-yard receiver in 2025, had nine catches for 103 yards.

This was East Paulding’s first victory in seven games between the schools, which are about 6 miles apart near the Cobb-Paulding line. Their most recent matchup was a 44-14 Harrison victory in 2017.

“Our kids focused,” Van Spence said. “We’ve got an older group that’s been together since middle school. We’ve just got to keep hammering away. The run game was working tonight. But our kids just show up and work. That’s what we have to do at East Paulding.”