GRAY — There were no outward feelings of relief.
But you could see the brow of Buford football coach Bryant Appling crease just a little less and a slight smile creep across his face during his postgame interview after his Wolves pulled off a dominating 29-0 smackdown of Jones County on the road Friday night in the two teams’ Class 5A semifinal.
“Really we’re more elated than relieved,” Appling said. “The kids fought hard all year long to get here. I am extremely proud of them. But we still have one more hurdle to go after this so there is no time to relax.”
The victory marked the first for the Wolves (13-1) in the semifinal round since 2016. It also ended a frustrating two-year run where they saw their streak of 10 consecutive finals end (2017) and their streak of 11 straight semifinals dashed in 2018.
But Appling said none of that was on their minds Friday night.
“We haven’t thought about any of that. Our goal was to help this team to get better each week and try to help them get to this point,” Appling said. “With the way they have worked hard all year, they deserve this chance. And that’s all we really wanted, a shot to win a state title. Now we’ll get that chance.”
Buford got the opening kickoff and set about quickly establishing its desire to run the ball. The Wolves’ Gabe Ervin, who had missed the last two games due to injury, ripped off a 50-yarder to the Greyhounds 29 that set up a 43-yard Hayden Olsen field for a 3-0 lead just barely two minutes in.
The Buford defense then set the tone for the rest of the game. The Greyhounds wasted little time answering Buford’s drive as senior quarterback Hunter Costlow connected with Maleek Wooten on a 39-yard bomb on the opening play and eventually moved the Greyhounds into a first-and-goal at the Wolves 7.
But the Wolves buckled down stuffing a pair of runs inside the 5 and then got a 13-yard sack of Costlow on fourth down back at the Wolves 15.
Jones County never recovered.
“I thought that play really turned the momentum around,” Appling said. “That was just huge for us.”
The teams traded punts with the Buford defense recording a tackle for loss and two straight sacks of Costlow. The Wolves then needed just four plays, capped by a 38-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass from Treyton Rank to Craig Clinkscales for a 10-0 lead just moments into the second quarter.
After forcing another Jones County punt, Olsen capped a 10-play drive with a 37-yard field goal for a 13-0 lead. The Buford defense then struck again.
The Greyhounds were called for a holding penalty on the first play of their next possession pushing them back to their own 7. The Wolves then sacked Costlow for a fourth time for a safety and 15-0 lead with 5:46 left.
Buford sealed a dominant first-half performance taking the ensuing drive 65 yards with Victor Venn capping it with a 6-yard TD run for a 22-0 lead.
“I thought we did a good job after that first drive of being able to get some pressure on (Costlow),” said senior linebacker Evan DiMaggio, who recorded two of the six sacks of Costlow on the night. “We played well as a group. It was a lot of fun to be out there with my brothers like that.”
They sacked Costlow four times, including once for a safety, and held the Greyhounds to minus-8 rushing yards and just 77 yards before halftime. Jones County was 0-for-4 for minus-4 total yards on third down in the first half.
Jones County tried to mount a quick drive through the air in the final minute of the half moving to the Buford 47. But Costlow was blitzed on fourth down and forced to throw early as a pass to Wooten fell incomplete to essentially end the half.
“We saw some things up the middle defensively that we thought would work and we made some adjustments and that really kind of got things going for us,” Appling said.
Meanwhile, the Buford rushing attack pounded out 157 yards with five runs of 12 or more yards in the opening 24 minutes.
Both trends continued in the second half.
The Wolves stopped Jones County on downs on their initial drive of the third quarter and then needed just five plays, highlighted by a 31-yard reverse from Jake Pope, and capped by an explosive 38-yard touchdown run from Venn for a 29-0 lead midway through the period
Buford stopped the Greyhounds on downs on their second drive of the second half, forced a punt on their third, and then the Wolves offense ran out the final 8:51 of the game with 13 consecutive rushes that ended with backup quarterback Ashton Daniel taking a knee at the Jones County 22.
Buford finished with 295 yards on the ground and was 5-of-10 on third down. Jones County came in averaging more than 370 yards a game on offense. The Greyhounds were held to 225 yards for the game and were just 2-of-10 on third down.
The Wolves now will turn their attention to Warner Robins, which advanced to its third consecutive Class 5A finals with a 55-3 demolition of Starr’s Mill in the other semifinal.
“We haven’t really had a chance to look at (Warner Robins) much more than an early scrimmage game,” Appling said. “But they’ve been here the last two years and are a very good program. We’ll take a look at them this week and see what we can come up with.”
Buford has not won a state title since capturing the 2014 Class 4A crown. Warner Robins has not captured a state title since taking the 2004 Class 4A title.
The only common opponent in 2019 is Clarke Central. The Wolves dropped a 31-28 decision to the Gladiators in the regular-season finale for the Region 8-5A title. Warner Robins whipped the Gladiators 49-14 in the Class 5A quarterfinals two weeks ago.
SCORING SUMMARY
| Buford | 3 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 29 | |
| Jones County | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
First Quarter
B -- Olsen 43 FG 3-0, 9:32
Second Quarter
B -- Clinkscales 29 pass from Rank (Olsen kick) 10-0, 11:49
B -- Olsen 37 FG 13-0, 6:02
B -- Safety 15-0, 5:46
B -- Venn 6 run (Olsen kick) 22-0, 1:23
Third Quarter
B -- Venn 38 run (Olsen kick) 29-0, 6:23
http://accesswdun.com/article/2019/12/857315/buford-at-jones-county