BUFORD — Sixteen different players carried the ball as top-ranked Buford racked up 423 rushing yards on 36 carries to defeat Southeast Whitfield 63-0 in the opening round of the Class AAAA playoffs on Friday at Tom Riden Stadium.
“We played good and we played as a team,” Buford’s Martin Mangram said. “They played hard, but we just executed and got what we needed to win.”
Seven different players scored touchdowns, but Xavier Gantt stole the show with 143 yards and three touchdowns on just six carries.
“The first quarter, we didn’t play that well,” Gantt said. “But we started picking it up and getting tempo, and that’s when we started doing a lot better and just went off.”
The Region 8-AAAA champion Wolves (11-0) advance to host Mary Persons in the second round next Friday.
Southeast Whitfield (6-5), the No. 4 seed from Region 7-AAAA, played the Wolves tough early on, trailing just 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.
“Credit them, those kids were tough and played hard,” Buford head coach Jess Simpson said. “We had an offsides, a pass interference, and blew a coverage. When you do those things, teams are going to make first downs. But you know what, when you’re upset about someone getting a couple first downs, that means you have a high standard.”
The Raiders put together a 15-play drive that ate up over seven minutes but had to settle for a 36-yard field goal attempt, which was blocked by Buford’s Josh Thompson.
Then the flood gates opened. On the next play, Gantt took it off the left side and broke it 66 yards for the first of his three touchdowns.
Buford’s next drive also started at its 34-yard line. This time, it took four plays to go 66 yards, but once again it ended with a Gantt touchdown run, this one from 36 yards.
The Wolves carried a 28-0 lead into the half.
“I think this game gets our kids’ attention,” Simpson said. “It showed our guys you can’t just show up, you have to be mentally prepared. Our guys just have to understand we don’t have a minute here to not be focused and we have to maximize our time and reps.”
They were definitely focused coming out of the locker room for the second half. After picking up 10 first downs in the first half (four on penalties), Southeast Whitfield did not pick up a first down in the second half. It would have been five consecutive three-and-outs had the Raiders not gone for it on fourth down on one of the possessions.
The Wolves’ defense held the Raiders to 13 yards rushing on 33 carries and held Will Swantic to 7-of-25 passing for 86 yards. They also sacked the quarterback three times and forced two turnovers.
Buford outscored their opposition 28-0 in the third quarter where its average starting field position was the Raiders’ 33-yard line.
The hard-fought first quarter seems like a distant memory when the game was done, but the Wolves will still use it as a learning experience.
“It taught us you can’t take any team lightly,” Gantt said. “It looked like we didn’t think this team had any potential to play with us, but then we picked it up. I think now we know that we have to respect whoever we play and can’t take any teams lightly.”