On the first play of the football game, Buford sophomore Dylan Wittke executed a flawless play-action pass. He faked a handoff, dropped a couple of steps and saw Jake “The Playmaker” Pope streaking past a pair of defenders on a post pattern. He delivered the ball and hit Pope in stride for a 76-yard touchdown.
It was one of those “Welcome to Buford” moments that set the pace for No. 2 Buford’s 45-26 win over No. 6 Valdosta in the Class 6A semifinal at Tom Riden Stadium.
“We had it in our script for the first couple of plays,” Appling said. “We didn’t know if we were going to do it right away. We needed something big to happen early. We just felt like we had a chance to get behind them and took a chance and it paid off.”
It was the first of several hard body blows that sent the Wildcats to the canvas in the first quarter. The Wolves struck for three scores in the first six minutes and Valdosta was never able to recover.
The second hammer came courtesy of the defense. Valdosta’s Amari Jones threw over the middle, but Josiah Wyatt stuck his big paw in the passing lane and deflected it to Tommy Beuglas, who returned it for a 70-yard touchdown.
“Those two plays stand out as far as the first half as far getting us started off on the right foot,” Buford coach Bryant Appling said.
The third came after Valdosta gambled on fourth-and-1 at its own 30, but Buford’s defense came up with the stop. Four plays later – and one play after getting backed up by an offensive pass interference penalty – Buford scored when Victor Venn raced around the left corner for a 33-yard touchdown.
With 6:30 left in the first quarter, Buford had a 21-0 lead. The lights weren’t out, but they were certainly flickering.
“That’s what we preached all week – starting fast, starting fast, starting fast,” Beuglas said. “Get on them fast and don’t quit.”
Venn added two more touchdowns before the night was finished, scoring on runs of 12 and 6 yards. The junior carried 15 times for 142 yards, as the Wolves settled in and ran the ball behind its big offensive line. Buford ran for 292 yards, with Gabe Erwin Jr. going for 88 yards and one touchdown and C.J. Clinkscales adding 48. Alejandro Mata added a 35-yard field goal and was 6-for-6 on extra points.
Valdosta, trailing 31-0 at halftime, exhibited a lot of pride in the second half when quarterback Amari Jones threw four touchdown passes to keep the game close. It almost got serious when Jones threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Tahj Sanders, the Wildcats recovered an onside kick and got a 46-yard touchdown strike from Jones to Aalah Brown. But the Wildcats’ longshot dreams were dashed when Buford recovered the next onside kick and ran out the clock.
Jones completed 15 of 24 passes for 294 and four touchdowns, with one interception, and rushed for 63 yards. Sanders caught 11 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns and Brown had five catches for 130 yards and one touchdown.
The much-anticipated game featured the two teams with the most state championships – Valdosta with 24 and Buford with 12. It was the first meeting between the two programs.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for coach (Rush) Propst and what he does and they’re a young team,” Appling said. “In the end a lot of people hyped this up more than it should have been. I understand why, it’s a big-time matchup and I’m not acting like it’s not, but every semifinal is big.”
Buford (12-1) will play defending champion and No. 1-ranked Lee County for the championship on Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium. Valdosta finished 7-5 in its first season under Propst.
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