North Cobb played Buford about as well as anyone over the past three seasons, beating the Wolves in 2020 and losing by a touchdown each of the past two years.
When the teams met again Friday in Kennesaw, it appeared to be more of the same as top-ranked Buford led just 24-21 after a back-and-forth first half. But the Wolves scored 21 unanswered points in the second half, with touchdowns on three consecutive possessions, and went on to a 45-28 victory.
Justin Baker scored on a 37-yard run with 5:48 to play in the third quarter, Dylan McCoy had a 24-yard touchdown run with 9:33 remaining in the game, and Dylan Raiola threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to K.J. about five minutes later to put the game out of reach.
“We’re definitely familiar with each other,” said Buford coach Bryant Appling, whose team improved to 3-0. “They know what we like to do and we know what they like to do. They did a good job executing in the first half, and I think they still did a good job executing but we did a good job of adjusting in the second half.”
Buford lost to North Cobb 28-14 in its 2020 season opener and has not lost to another Georgia opponent in the regular season since then. The Wolves beat the Warriors 35-27 and 21-14 the past two years.
Railoa, the nation’s consensus No. 1 recruit, completed 12 of 16 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns in his third game with the Wolves. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound senior committed to Georgia in May and transferred to Buford from Arizona over the summer.
“He’s a great player, obviously,” Appling said. “He’s got an amazing touch, and the ball comes out of his hand really well, but I’m most proud of him and his family the way they’ve adjusted to Buford football. He’s a part of the team, he’s not selfish and he wants to be a team guy. He’s feeding the linemen on the weekend and feeding the receivers during the week, just trying to build some camaraderie and trying to build up a relationship with these guys. It’s more about that and the love and the connection part than it is about stats for Dylan Raiola.”
North Cobb took the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in 13 plays, taking a 6-0 lead on a quarterback sneak by Nick Grimstead. Buford answered in two plays, a 34-yard pass from Raiola to Jordan Allen and a 25-yard touchdown pass to Devin Williams for a 7-6 lead.
The lead changed hands four more times over the next 13 minutes, with Baker’s 4-yard touchdown run with 5:03 remaining in the half giving Buford the lead for good at 24-21.
Baker finished with 88 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, and Allen had 109 yards and a touchdown receiving on six catches.
North Cobb’s David Eziomume had seven carries for 53 yards on the Warriors’ game-opening drive but was bottled up by the Buford defense the rest of the game, adding seven more yards to his total in his final 12 carries. Grimstead carried most of the offensive load for the Warriors, passing for 170 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 86 yards and two scores.
North Cobb fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2015 and faces a tough road ahead. The Warriors’ next four games are against Marietta, Class 6A No. 9 Northside-Warner Robins, eighth-ranked Milton and No. 4 Walton.
Buford - 7-17-7-14 - 45
North Cobb - 14-7-0-7 - 28
First quarter
N - Nick Grimstead 1 run (kick blocked), 6:22
B - Devin Williams 25 pass from Dylan Raiola (Mario Ventura kick), 6:00
N - Zion Bryan 15 pass from Grimstead (Steele Ingram pass from T.J. Smith), 3:06
Second quarter
B - Jordan Allen 5 pass from Raiola (Ventura kick), 10:09
B - Ventura 37 field goal, 9:00
N - Grimstead 12 run (Mustafa Mohamad kick), 7:53
B - Justin Baker 4 run (Ventura kick), 5:03
Third quarter
B - Baker 37 run (Ventura kick), 5:45
Fourth quarter
B - Dylan McCoy 24 run (Ventura kick), 9:33
B - K.J. Bolden 50 pass from Raiola (Ventura kick), 4:42
N - Ingram 9 pass (Mohamad kick), 2:22
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