Buford gets payback and GHSA 7A title with win over Lambert
Back in late March, the Buford Wolves boys lacrosse team hit the only bump in the road on their way to the Georgia High School Association Class 7A State Championship game when they lost to the Lambert Longhorns 15-13. Fast forward eight games later as the Wolves got back on track immediately, Buford and Lambert met once again for the title game on Friday night.
As the contest got underway the two teams would exchange goals early on in the the first quarter, but it would be the Longhorns closing out the period on an 4-1 run, including three goals for attack, Cole Greenfield to take a 5-2 lead into the second quarter.
With the second quarter opening up with momentum in favor of Buford, the Wolves would go on a 3-0 run, that included back to back goals for Matthew Scruggs, to tie the game at 5-5, but the Longhorns would respond with back to back goals as they regained the lead going up 7-5 and would end the first half with a 7-6 lead.
The momentum swings continued in the third quarter as Lambert opened up the the period on a 3-0 run to take a 10-6 lead, but the Wolves immediately respond with three straight goals of their own and would trail 10-9 by the quarter's end setting up what would be an fourth quarter that would also end with the game tied, sending the game into sudden death overtime.
And in the overtime period, the faceoff would look to be in favor of the Longhorns, however a scrappy Buford team would force a turnover and the Wolves would get a good shot off but would not be able to find the net, however possession would go to Buford, who would call timeout to talk things over.
Once out of the break and play resumed, Buford would call on sophomore Drew Maloney, who score the Wolves goal that tied the game late in regulation, and the midfielder would come up big with the game wining goal as Buford picked up the 14-13 win to win the GHSA 7A championship.
"This was great, the boys fought really, really, really hard, Buford head coach, Tyler Botts said as he praised Lambert for their toughness, which they expected. "They came out really fast, which is kind of the opposite the first time. We settled in and it just allowed us to go one by one," Botts said. The win gives Buford their first state title in program history.
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