Stacked with next-level prospects, No. 1 Buford’s defense is loaded. But Wolves coach Jess Simpson has a different description.
“Inconsistent,” Simpson said when asked to describe his defense in one word. “We string a few plays together and look really, really good; then, it’s high school football, and we mess up.”
The Wolves haven’t messed up much in racing out to a 3-0 start. Opponents are averaging only 107.3 yards of offense.
Buford opens its first season in Region 8-AAAA tonight at home against White County (2-1). Buford has won 18 straight regular-season games. This will be the third meeting between the two teams that spent the last two seasons as Region 7-AAA rivals, before being re-classified into AAAA this year. Buford won the last two games in 2012 and 2013 by a combined score of 91-20.
Simpson said while he’s still looking for consistency from his defense, he has been impressed by the secondary.
“I thought they played better than maybe even I thought we could against McEachern,” Simpson said. “Our corners tackled well. We had to keep the ball in front of us, and our goal was no yards after contact. I thought our corners and safeties did a really, really good job, for the most part. The secondary was an area that from August 1 until the season we felt like we really needed to improve. That’s an area that we’ve really showed some progress.”
Brothers Martin and Brandon Mangram as well as Xavier Gantt are Buford’s corners. David Curry and Steven Reese are the starting safeties.
“They’ve all played well,” Simpson said. “Steven Reese is probably one of the most improved players in our program.”
Notes
--In one of the more intriguing matchups of the Friday slate, Class AAAA No. 5 Burke County (2-2) hosts Class AAA No. 1 Washington County (3-0). Both teams feature dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks. Burke County junior Caleb “Scoot” Roberson has rushed for 468 yards and passed for 438 yards with two touchdowns. Washington County’s A.J. Gray has 522 passing yards and 263 rushing yards for the undefeated Golden Hawks.
--The Carrollton Trojans are 0-3 for the first time since 1977. They’ll be looking to pick up their first win under first-year coach Ed Dudley tonight against North Hall (0-2) in Carrollton. The Trojans reached the Class AAAA state championship game last season, but have had a tough time adjusting to Dudley’s new systems. The level of completion has been one of the main factors. Carrollton’s losses have come against Kell, Newnan and Calhoun. Those three teams are a combined 7-2. North Hall has dropped its first two games by a combined score of 86-8.
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