Like Calhoun’s triumph over Washington County Day 1 of championship weekend, a move up a classification did not prove to be too much for the Buford Wolves. Buford finished the game with 55 unanswered point to take down St. Pius X 55-10 and capture a seventh state title in the last eight years.
This was their first year in 4A competition and coming into this game they had a 39 game winning streak.
The path to this state title win in the beginning of the game looked like it was going to be a tough road towards winning, as the Golden Lions went up 10-0 in the first eight minutes of the game. It wasn’t until backup quarterback Brett Shepherd ran it 61 yards for their first touchdown of the game that the Wolves would show some life. After that, they went on to score 48 unanswered points.
One of their next touchdowns came on a ‘scoop and score’ by defensive lineman/Tennessee commit Quay Picou from 10 yards out.
“When it happened, I felt like I had to make the play,” Picou said. “I saw the ball pop out and it was like everything went in slo-mo. It was like it rolled to me. I just scooped and ran for dear life.”
That score put them up 27-10 and they would pick up one more touchdown to go up 34-10 before the half on an eight yard rush around the edge by tailback Evyn Cooper.
Even with the 24 point lead at the half, Buford head coach Jess Simpson says he wasn’t going to rest easy leading up to the last 24 minutes.
“I felt like man we’ve got some mo(mentum),” Simpson said. “If we’ll keep the peddle down, we could have a great day. We really challenged them at halftime to finish and not to let up. Obviously we’re playing a great team and a great program. Heck they were down 21-7 last week and scored 21 unanswered to come back and win. We were focused and our kids did a really good job.”
That comeback performance for St. Pius X came against Woodward Academy.
Quay Picou was mentioned earlier in this story and he had a strong day for Buford. He finishes his career with not only three state championship rings, but also a sack and two tackles for a loss.
This win continues to add to the growing tradition that Buford has in the state of Georgia. There’s no doubt they’ll probably be the favorites in class 4A next season.
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