After overcoming first half mistakes and taking North Hall’s best shot early, the third-ranked Buford Wolves dominated the second half to win 49-0 at the Brickyard Friday night in a Region 8-AAAA matchup.

Leading only 14-0 at the half due to penalties, drops and missed field goals, the Wolves (5-1, 3-0) came out blazing to open the third quarter, scoring on all four possessions in which they needed only 13 plays total in tallying 127 yards due to great field position.

Buford running back Martin Mangram crossed the goal line three times and rushed for 102 of the Wolves 349 total yards on the ground. Anthony Grant rushed for 94 on 11 carries with Christian Turner adding 60 on only five carries.

Grant, Turner and Joshua Blackwell (41 yards, seven carries) also scored touchdowns behind a balanced rushing effort in which 11 Wolves carried the ball.

“It’s great. We have a really good lineup this year and depth at running back and they all played really well,” Buford quarterback Mic Roof said of his assortment of running backs. The junior signal caller completed 5-of-10 passes for 63 yards with Brandon Marsh catching 3 for 30 yards.

The Wolves were able to move between the 20-yard-lines in the first half. running the ball between the tackles and on the perimeter on an assortment of toss sweeps, counters and fly sweeps while controlling the line of scrimmage. Two missed field goals by Daniel Garcia kept the Trojans in the game in the first half in which their offense tried to play ball control, limiting the high powered Buford offense to only five possessions.

North Hall had only 49 first-half yards, 27 rushing mainly on quarterback keepers by Jackson Madonna. For the game, the Trojans had 77 total yards, 63 rushing. Madonna had 21 yards on 11 carries with Sam Jackson adding 18 on 7 carries.

The Trojans’ only chance for points in the first half ended in a blocked 51-yard field goal try. It was their only successful drive of the game in which they converted their only two third downs, one on an 11-yard completion, the other on a 21-yard end around by Jackson.

Buford struck first on the first possession with a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 20-yard score on a toss sweep to Mangram at the 9:30 mark. Mangram carried three times for 40 yards on the drive.

The Wolves scored on their final possession of the half on a four-play, 36-yard drive after an 18-yard punt return by Blackwell, also resulting in a 2-yard plunge by Mangram.

“Yeah we had two red zone deals that I know our kids will be sick about where we got down around the 20 and 15 and we just beat ourselves with holding penalties,” Buford head coach Jess Simpson said of his squad’s first half woes.

“We just stopped ourselves and we can’t do that. To win later in the year we’re going to have to clean up the mistakes we made tonight. I told our guys we want to do it right but they screw it up on Saturday’s and Sunday’s too but we need to be cleaner, especially in the red zone.”

The teams played to a running clock in the fourth.

Wolves 49, Trojans 0

Stats that matter: Buford rushed for 349 yards and 7 touchdowns, led by Martin Mangram’s 102 on 8 carries, 3 being touchdowns.

Game changer: After leading only 14-0 at the half, the Wolves scored on all four third quarter possessions, outgaining the Trojans 127 yards to 21.

Up next: Buford hosts Monroe Area on Friday; North Hall travels to Madison County.