The Buford Wolves don’t rebuild — they simply reload.

A season after graduating 25 seniors, many to Division 1 scholarships, it was said the rest of Class AAAA, and Region 8 in particular, would finally be able to catch up to the defending state champs.

Nobody is thinking this any longer as the third ranked Wolves (6-1, 4-0) have outscored their four region foes 205-3, the latest a dominating 51-0 victory over Monroe Area on Friday night at Tom Riden Stadium in Buford.

This game was never in doubt as Buford scored touchdowns on all six first-half drives as it totaled 240 yards on 24 plays to Monroe Area’s 17 yards on 22 plays.

Surprisingly the Wolves came out throwing as quarterback Mic Roof connected on 11-of-14 first half passes for 172 yards (he would sit in the second), with many coming off of play-action as everyone in the entire stadium, including Monroe Area, figured the Wolves would come out pounding the ball between the tackles as they usually do.

Roof spread the wealth with six different receivers catching passes, four for touchdowns (Cooper Simpson, Anthony Grant, Caleb Auer and Joshua Blackwell).

“We might have been 50-50 run, pass in the first half and it gave us a chance to work on some stuff that we need to be able to do later in the year,” Buford head coach Jess Simpson said of his team’s offensive game plan. “Obviously we have a stable of running backs and offensive lineman that are steadily improving. We also have guys on the perimeter that have really improved as well and I think they got a little bit of a chance to show off what they could do tonight.”

The Wolves rushed for “only” 127 yards in the game while passing for 187. Chee Anyanwu caught two early receptions for 37 yards that resulted Martin Mangrum scoring from 3 yards out with 8:16 left in the first quarter on a six-play, 45-yard drive that took two minutes.

On the Wolves’ next possession they drove 90 yards with big plays from Anthony Grant (26-yard reception) and Brandon Marsh (36-yard reception) on short tosses, resulting in Grant plunging in from 1 yard out on a seven-play, three-minute drive giving the Wolves a 14-0 lead halfway through the second quarter.

The Wolves’ third possession ended in some “trickeration” with offensive lineman Cooper Simpson scoring from 19 yards out on a throw-back lateral.

“The last few years we let a senior offensive lineman catch the football and this year was his turn,” Simpson said of the play. “It’s a fun memory for an offensive lineman to do something like that so we were happy for him.”

Grant then again scored catching a pass out of the flat, dashing 21 yards on third-and-8, barreling over a defender for the final 5 yards on the fourth possession. The three-play drive was set up by a partial blocked punt by Da’Mario Lott setting up the Wolves at the Purple Hurricanes 21-yard line.

Tight end Caleb Auer caught a 3-yard touchdown, also off play action, on third-and-short at 5:47 mark of the second quarter and Joshua Blackwell added a 2-yard touchdown reception after a five-play, 56-yard drive to end the first half 41-0.

The teams played to a running clock in the second half. Monroe Area (2-5, 1-3) had only 20 yards for the game, minus-16 yards rushing and 36 passing. Defensive lineman Shug Frazier had two sacks and Blackwell had an interception.

“The thing that’s fun to me is that it seems like we’re really playing fast, having a lot of fun and guys know what to do,” Simpson said of his defense that’s shut out three straight opponents while averaging only 8.5 points per game allowed. “I feel like we’re two-deep at a lot of positions and guys are having to fight during the week for snaps on Friday night which is making us better.”

Wolves 51, Purple Hurricanes 0

Stats that matter: Monroe Area couldn’t establish any offensive consistency, rushing for minus-16 yards while passing for only 36 on seven completions.

Game changer: Buford quarterback Mic Roof completed 11-of-14 first half passes for 172 yards and four touchdowns, all to different receivers.

Up next: Buford is host to North Oconee on Friday; Monroe Area is host to North Hall.