BUFORD, Ga. — Buford was hoping to get a crack at No. 1 Milton in last year’s state playoffs.
That never materialized as the Wolves were taken out in the quarterfinals by Grayson. Milton, meanwhile, would go on to win the Class 7A state title.
Buford will finally get that chance on Friday and Coach Brian Appling is more than ready to see what his new group can do.
“I've been here for six years in this position and we try to play the best (teams) we can early so you can get tested early,” he said. “Win, lose or draw it’s always going to benefit you later on. We want to go up against a good program, see what happens, and improve from there.”
Milton is ranked No. 1 in Class 5A in the first Friday Game Night Composite poll of the season. The Eagles also are ranked in the top 10 in several national polls. Buford is ranked No. 1 in the new Class 6A and comes in with several key changes on offense, including at quarterback. However, the battle for QB1 between junior Dayton Raiola and senior TJ Wilcox, a Collins Hill transfer, will go down to the last practice and be a game-time decision.
Senior running back Justin Baker returns (471 yards, 4 TD in 2023) but the passing game will need to find some rhythm from a slew of talented receivers in seniors Kyle Carpenter, Jordan Allen, and Sam Harkness, along with junior Jax Pope and whomever wins the quarterback job.
“They're both good kids, and they're both doing a great job,” Appling said of Raiola and Wilcox. “Right now I really don’t know who it will be. We'll see what happens when we get there.”
Perhaps a bigger concern will be up front where the Wolves graduated four across the offensive line and had another transfer over to Milton during the summer. They will have to try and hold off a Milton defense that returns nearly everyone from last year’s title team. Five of the Eagles’ top seven tacklers are back, who also accounted for over 300 tackles, 31.5 TFL, and 25 sacks in 2023.
“Up front, you know, we’re going back to the old-school type mentality on both sides of the ball,” Appling said. “The line play on both sides are going to be key match ups. They have a lot of guys back so we’re going to have to play well up front.”
It may look like the Wolves have a better matchup against the Eagles offense, but this will be a strength-on-strength showdown every play.
Buford will be led by a hard-hitting, athletic linebacking group, led by senior All-AccessWDUN first-teamers Jaden Perlotte and Kenyon Riviera. They could rotate in as many six between the inside and outside spots overall.
Senior Benji Wyatt and junior CJ Sibley should fill the rest of the spots at OLB while seniors Mantrez Walker, AJ Holloway, Damion DeFour and junior Deion Miller are a talented OLB group.
On the defensive line, junior Bryce Perry-Wright and senior Nicco Maggio will be a load to handle with junior James Morrow, who has multiple P5 offers, and junior Cameron Simmons, who may be ready for a breakout season, could give the Wolves one of the better groups in Class 6A.
However, the Wolves defensive front struggled at times against Hughes in an earlier scrimmage.
Milton will have the two best players on the field on offense in senior quarterback and Miami commit Luke Nickel (3,914 yards, 38 TDs, 4 INT) and senior Florida State commit receiver C.J. Wiley Jr. (68 rec., 1,473 yards, 14 TD). They were a formidable duo as Wiley led the state in receiving yards in 2023.
It should be a titanic battle when the Eagles have the ball.
For Appling, coaching in these high-profile games still gives him a thrill. But he said he is looking for certain things from his squad.
“Yeah. I mean, you want to be in a competitive game with a lot of eyes on the TV screen, or a lot of eyes on Twitter and just trying to see score updates and things like that,” he said.
“It's going to be hot. (There’s) going to be first game jitters. What I’ll be looking for is playing with discipline and putting the whole game plan together. The first game is never perfect. Just being able to respond to situations that don't go our way and capitalize on situations that do go your way. Playing a complete game."
BUFORD at MILTON
Records: Wolves (0-0, Region 8-6A); Eagles (0-0, Region 7-5A)
Last week: Season openers for both
Where: Eagles Nest, Milton
Time: 7:30 p.m.
The Statisticals: Milton leads series 4-1. Buford won 26-23 in 2019 in Milton. This is just the second meeting between the two teams since 1983. Both teams played in the old Class 7A in 2023, with the Wolves finishing 11-2 with a loss in the quarterfinals. The Eagles went 13-2 and won the 7A state title.
