BUFORD, Ga. — There is no nickname for Buford coach Bryant Appling yet, but there needs to be.
Appling went full Gunslinger on Friday night, calling not one but two 2-point conversion plays. And those came after he uncorked a pair of timely trick plays in the fourth quarter.
The end result was a thrilling, almost improbable, 29-28 win over Benedictine Friday night, opening the final season at Tom Riden Stadium with a huge bang. They trailed the Cadets 21-10 midway through the third quarter.
Linebacker Kenyon Rivera got the eventual game-winner on a trick play 2-point run that saw the Wolves line up like they were going to shift to an extra point. However, Appling knew something the Cadets' defense did not.
“I don’t like playing overtime games,” he said. “We’ve played a bunch of them, and I don't like them. So (Benedictine) was on a knee, so we caught them kind of sleeping, I guess you could say.
“When we see a look that we like, that we want, we try to take advantage of it. That’s what we did right there.”
“I mean, when I heard the call, I got excited, but we practice that every day, so what went through my mind was like, ‘I just gotta do what I gotta do and just help the team win,’” Rivera said. “That was my first-ever carry in high school, so it felt good to get in (the end zone).”
That call came just three plays after Appling pulled out the ole handoff to the running back, who pitched to the motion man (Sam Harkness in this instance), who then passed it back to quarterback Dayton Raiola. Raiola caught it at the 30 and dragged a pair of defenders to the Cadets' 18.
Raiola found Ethan Ervin for a 27-yard touchdown pass two plays later with 1:05 left to pull the Wolves within 28-27. Then Rivera gave them the lead.
It was not pretty for a Wolves team (1-1) that continued to look sluggish on offense after a rough showing in a 13-10 loss last week to Milton. But Appling said the effort never wavered.
And with a bye week in Week 3, this could be the momentum they have been looking for.
“We've grown up a little bit. I know that for a fact,” he said after the thrilling rally. “I don't know how much we've grown up. We still have a long way to go in a bunch of different areas, but I'm proud of them. They showed grit two weeks in a row.”
The beginning and the end were fine for the Wolves against Benedictine. It was the middle that had many Buford fans buzzing in the stands.
The Wolves wasted little time in jumping on the Cadets. Raiola and Jordan Allen connected on a 61-yard bomb on the opening play, and then Justin Baker blasted in from 6 yards out three plays later for a 7-0 lead before some had even settled into their seats.
After a quick three-and-out for the Cadets, JD Gregory capped a 67-yard drive that stalled at the Benedictine 3 with a 21-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.
But things would change just as quickly for the Cadets. Benedictine responded, with help from a huge roughing call on the Buford defense that would have forced a 3rd-and-long situation but instead got the Cadets going.
Benedictine quarterback Stephen Cannon hit Ca’ron Hall on passes of 6 and 24 yards to get them into Buford territory. Two plays later, Cannon connected with Bubba Frazier on a 33-yard TD pass to cap an 80-yard drive and trim the lead to 10-7.
Benedictine’s good fortunes continued when safety Micah Williams snagged a tipped Raiola pass out of the air and raced 51 yards for a touchdown and a 14-10 lead with 1:24 left in the first quarter.
Both offenses struggled most of the second quarter, with Raiola being picked off a second time, but the Cadets could not take advantage. Buford got the final drive of the half, and Raiola found Kyle Carpenter for strikes of 20 and 21 yards to get the Wolves to the Cadets' 23 with 16 seconds left.
But a holding penalty pushed them back, and Gregory’s 50-yard field goal attempt fell short as time expired in the first half. It was the second straight game the Wolves trailed at the break.
The Cadets stormed out of the half and went on a 13-play, 82-yard drive, with Cannon scoring on a 1-yard run for a 21-10 lead.
But Buford began the slow climb back. Gregory drilled a 45-yard field goal to get the Wolves closer late in the third quarter. Raiola and Allen connected on an 8-yard TD pass, and then Jordan found Harkness on a 2-point pass on Appling’s first daring call to tie the game at 21.
But Benedictine reclaimed the lead on its next drive when Cannon capped another long drive with a 10-yard TD run with 4:23 left.
That set the stage for the climax, with the Buford defense stopping the Cadets on downs in the waning seconds after Rivera's 2-point conversion.
