Jacobs Media ready to cover all angles of AAAA title game

BUFORD -- One wonders if Arthur Blank has ever considered renaming it the "Buford Dome" for this one week of the year.<br /> <br /> Blank's Atlanta Falcons may call the Dome home, but the Wolves have owned it for one weekend a season for the past 12 years. And on Saturday Buford will make its 13th appearance at the venue in 15 campaigns, as the Wolves take on St. Pius X for the Class AAAA title.<br /> <br /> Jacobs Media has followed Buford's ascendance every step of the way, and both Friday Game Night and WDUN will be on hand again on Saturday, as Buford looks for its 12th Dome victory -- successes that stretch back to 2000 when the venue hosted the state semifinal round (championship games being played on a home field).<br /> <br /> In the age of Dome championship games, Buford has lost just once -- 2011 -- and the Wolves (14-0) hope to make it three titles in a row (as well as seven in eight campaigns and 10 since 2001) when they battle the Golden Lions (12-2) at approximately 4:30 p.m. Saturday.<br /> <br /> The showdown represents the second time the two programs have tussled for a title. The Wolves won the first, 10-3 in the 2012 Class AAA finale.<br /> <br /> The Golden Lions enter the contest red hot, having reeled off 12 straight wins after opening the season 0-2 -- the two defeats coming to Blessed Trinity and Woodward Academy (both state semifinal squads). But St. Pius will have a tall task indeed against a Buford team led by a defense that has dominated throughout the campaign,<br /> <br /> The Wolves are yielding a paltry 5.4 points and 119 yards per game -- a stat that includes a minuscule 1.5 yards per rush.<br /> <br /> That's an eye-opening stat considering that St. Pius makes its hay rushing the ball. The Golden Lions are averaging 292 yards per game on the ground behind a number of capable backs -- including Joey Connors (779 yards rushing, 10 TDs), Dalton Wilson (856 yards, 15 TDs) and Ransom Klinger (545 yards, 8 TDs). Connors paced a 21-point fourth quarter rally for Pius in last week's 28-21 semifinal win in a rematch over Woodward, rushing for 110 yards and the winning score with just 47 seconds remaining. Golden Lions quarterback Reed Egan has also been a key part of the ground game, rushing for 377 yards and 4 TDs while also passing for 685 yards and 6 TDs.<br /> <br /> St. Pius' ground attack knows it better put up its best performance of the campaign if it is to derail Buford on Saturday. <br /> <br /> No opponent has found much running room against Buford -- either through the regular season or postseason. In fact the Wolves have allowed just 583 rush yards all campaign. Meanwhile, Buford has yielded just 23 points in four playoff wins so far -- that's 5.75 points per win.<br /> <br /> St. Pius, meanwhile, enters the game scoring 46 points per game -- 26 through four playoff wins and allowing 13.5 over that slate.<br /> <br /> Buford's offense has not been quite as dominant in the postseason as in the regular season, but it's still been darn impressive, averaging 38.75 points per game -- compared with 46.1 through 10 regular season games.<br /> <br /> That said, Buford itself will tell you that nothing is guaranteed, not at this point of the season. And even if the Wolves look like a favorite heading into Saturday, you can be sure that they're approaching the contest from a very different place. We just can't wait to see it get going, and Friday Game Night will be there to provide game updates and video highlights, while WDUN AM 550 will cover every play live on air.