For the second time this decade, the Buford Wolves are three-time state champions.
Buford (14-1) got two touchdowns from Jessel Curry and a dominant performance from its defense to defeat Calhoun 13-10 in the Class AA championship game at the Georgia Dome on Friday. It was the third consecutive title, sixth this decade and seventh overall for Buford, which also won in 1978 (Class A), 2001 (A), 2002 (AA) and 2003 (AA). Buford beat Calhoun in last year’s final 45-21.
“I couldn’t have imagined any other way to go out,” Curry said. “Some people doubted us. We’ve got a lot of haters out there. It was a close game, but we came out on top.”
Calhoun (14-1) came into the game averaging 45 points in the playoffs, but the Yellow Jackets didn’t score a touchdown until 5:06 remained in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 13-10. Da’Rick Rogers scored on a 5-yard run after Calhoun recovered a fumble at the Buford 11-yard line. It was Buford’s only turnover.
Buford didn’t give Calhoun another chance to win the game. The Wolves ran the final 5 minutes off the clock, driving from their 20 to the Calhoun 20 in eight plays. The key play was a 35-yard halfback pass from Ryan Dillard to Paris Head on third-and-5 from the Buford 36.
“If you had told me we would hold that team with that offense to 10 points, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Buford coach Jess Simpson said. “I told our coaches I thought our chance to win this game was a 38-35 game. I just felt like they were going to make their plays and get their points. I thought we were going to have to outscore them, and outscore them late. I wasn’t expecting a game like this.”
Rogers, who has committed to Georgia, had more than 200 yards receiving in each of his previous two games. Buford held him to 69 yards on 10 catches. Unofficially, Rogers finished the year with 1,635 yards, 6 yards short of Georgia’s single-season record set by Tavarres King at Habersham Central in 2007.
As a team, Calhoun finished with 232 total yards and committed four turnovers, including three in the second half, when Buford ran 37 offensive plays compared to just 14 for Calhoun.
Calhoun took a 3-0 lead on its opening possession on a 39-yard field goal by Adam Griffith, but Buford took the lead for good at 6-3 on Curry’s 1-yard run with 4:15 remaining in the first half. Curry made it 13-3 with 10:50 to play in the fourth quarter when he caught a 5-yard pass from Alexander Ross.
Buford finished with 313 yards of total offense, led by 78 yards rushing on 22 carries by Seon Jones.
“On offense, we laid an egg, it’s that simple,” Calhoun coach Hal Lamb said. “You can’t turn the ball over four or five times and expect to beat anybody.”
Calhoun 3 0 0 7 — 10
Buford 0 6 0 7 — 13
C – FG Adam Griffith 39
B – Jessel Curry 1 run (kick blocked)
B – Curry 5 pass from Alexander Ross (David Petroni kick)
C – Da’Rick Rogers 5 run (Griffith kick)
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