The Buford Wolves captured their second straight Class 2A championship with a 45-21 victory in an entertaining contest Friday evening at the Georgia Dome. The win was the 30th in a row for Buford and it had Cody Getz written all over it. The standout senior running back finished an amazing season by hitting paydirt four times in the game while piling up 233 yards rushing for Jess Simpson’s squad.
Calhoun’s junior quarterback Michael Johnson started the game on a sour note, throwing an ill-advised pass on the Yellow Jackets’ second play from scrimmage that was gobbled up by Buford cornerback Ja’kar Bridges. The pick set up the Wolves deep in Calhoun territory and Getz scored on a 21-yard draw three plays later.
Calhoun answered later in the second quarter after Johnson and wideout Derek Ramsey hooked up on a 27-yard scoring pass in the corner of the end zone to level the score. Calhoun enjoyed a good deal of success through the air in the early going, testing the Wolves’ secondary on deep routes with Da’rick Rogers and Ramsey.
The see-saw affair saw Buford get on the scoreboard next. Getz scored his second touchdown of the game going in untouched from a yard out to make the count 14-7. Calhoun’s replied with an outstanding 13-play drive that covered 80 yards. The series culminated with a 2-yard swing pass from Johnson to running back Dustin Christian to tie the game at 14 with 1:58 remaining in the half.
Buford took advantage of the precious time allotted, scoring just 1:10 later, going 56 yards on five plays to retake the lead. Getz set up the score with a 33-yard toss play that put Buford on the Calhoun 24. Getz scored his third touchdown of the evening a few plays later on a bruising jaunt, bowling over Calhoun’s Josh White along the way and giving the Wolves a 21-14 lead at halftime.
The Wolves relied on their young running backs to extend the lead after the break.
Buford made the score 28-14 by going 80 yards in three plays with their first possession in the second half. Junior Jessel Curry started the drive with a 13-yard run followed by a rollout pass from quarterback Michael May to Curry where Calhoun drew a facemask infraction. Junior Storm Johnson made the Yellow Jackets pay with a superlative display to score from 32 yards out. On that play, May handed to Johnson who was immediately hit by Calhoun linebacker Josh White in the backfield. Johnson shook off the tackle and burst to the outside where he turned the corner with nothing more to do but coast to the end zone.
Facing a 14-point deficit, Calhoun’s counterpunch came from sophomore running back Justin Christian. On third-and-2 from Calhoun’s 41, Christian took the handoff to the right and found daylight on the perimeter. Christian narrowly escaped Jeffery Gazaway’s grasp at the 6-yard line and dove to complete the 59-yard touchdown run to cut the Wolves’ lead to 28-21. The Wolves answered with a grinding series highlighted by two huge runs by Getz and a Curry 1-yard touchdown plunge.
With the 35-21 lead, the Wolves forced Calhoun into a punting situation and the Jackets tries some trickery. They ran a direct snap fake punt play that didn’t follow the script. Calhoun caught a break when the snap was muffed and picked up by punter Blane Beaver. Beaver was able to convert for the first down to keep the drive alive. After two Buford personal foul penalties, Calhoun looked poised to close the gap. From the Buford 8, Johnson hit wideout Rhett McGowan on a bubble screen to an apparent scoring toss. The play was negated by yet another holding penalty on Calhoun with the supervening play being an interception by the aforementioned Gazaway to all but seal the title for Buford.
Buford tacked on a Daniel Villafuerte field goal in the fourth quarter before Getz closed out his high school career in style. The defense finished its solid showing by forcing a turnover on downs and Getz ran for a 30-yard touchdown run on his final high school carry.
After a courageous effort by Calhoun, the onus of beating the defending state champs was just too much to bear, while the Wolves celebrate another dominating season in which they garnered their eighth consecutive regional title and now their sixth state championship.
Mitchell can be reached at cmitchell@scoreatl.com.
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