It's the final week of the high school football season and Buford is one of 10 teams in the state left playing. That's become a regular theme for the Wolves this decade. Buford will play in its eighth state championship game on Friday against Calhoun in the Georgia Dome.

The Wolves have the chance to three-peat for the second time this decade, a feat no other team has ever accomplished.

Buford has won six state championships in its history (five this decade and one in 1978) but I get the feeling if they win a seventh it would be a little more special than the previous five.

You could argue that the 2003 and 2007 teams were the best ever at Buford. The '03 squad completed the first three-peat and had a 45-game winning streak. Record setting running back Darius Walker guided those teams.

The 2007 squad had a record-setting offense that scored 45.4 points per game and had 20 players go on to play college ball, including five with major Division I schools.

But this year's team is a little different. One, it has a rare regular season loss on its record. It does have the big names in Jessel Curry (Auburn commitment), Du'Von Millsap (South Carolina) and Kolton Houston (Georgia), but 16 seniors is one of the smallest senior classes in recent years. It's not your typical senior-laden squad, which means the Wolves have had to play a lot of sophomores and juniors.

Remember, this is also the same Buford squad that had to deal with the drama of losing two high-profile players in the offseason. Running back Storm Johnson transfered to Loganville and has committed to Miami and defensive back Daunte Carr transferred to Gainesville and committed to Stanford.

Throw in all the injuries the Wolves have endured and I think a state title this year would mean more than the previous five.

Buford vs. Calhoun matchup
Buford will have to get past Calhoun in order to hoist a seventh state championship trophy. Here's a quick look at the matchup.

° This is a rematch of last year's Class AA state title game that Buford won 45-21
° Buford's only loss this season was in Game 3 to Lovett 28-21. Calhoun defeated Lovett in the semifinals last week 49-41
° The other common opponent between Buford and Calhoun is Avondale. Buford won 41-0 and Calhoun won 42-14.
° Calhoun has won 25 of it last 26 games. The lone loss was in last year's state championship game to Buford
° Calhoun's only state championship came in 1952

Championship schedule
If you plan on heading to the Dome for a football filled weekend or catching the games on TV, here's the schedule and some of the top players to watch.

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Friday
Class AA
4:30 p.m. — Buford (13-1) vs. Calhoun (14-0)
Buford: OL/DL Kolton Houston (Georgia), FB/LB Jessel Curry (Auburn), OL/DL Du'Von Millsap (South Carolina), DE A.J. Cunningham (Uncommitted)
Calhoun: WR Da'Rick Rogers (Georgia), QB Nash Nance (Vanderbilt), DB Cody Ralston (Central Florida), RB Kedron Aker (Uncommitted)

Class AAAA
8 p.m. — Sandy Creek (13-1) vs. Clarke Central (12-2)
Sandy Creek: DB Isaiah Johnson (Georgia Tech), RB Rajion Neal (Mississippi State), DL Lacy Coleman (Louisville), WR Jarrett Davis (Louisville), WR Devon Hughes (Buffalo)
Clarke Central: LB Ryan Faust (Uncommitted), OL Alan Posey (Uncommitted)

Saturday
Class A
1 p.m. — Wilcox County (12-2) vs. Savannah Christian (14-0)
Wilcox County: N/A
Savannah Christian: N/A

Class AAA
4:30 p.m. — Peach County (14-0) vs. Gainesville (14-0)
Peach County: WR Lamar Zanders (Uncommitted), WR Patrick Taylor (Uncommitted), DL Kelcey Lewis (Uncommitted)
Gainesville: WR Tai-ier Jones (Notre Dame), DB Blake Sims (Alabama), DB Daunte Carr (Stanford)

Class AAAAA
8 p.m. — Northside-Warner Robins (13-1) vs. Camden County (12-2)
Northside-Warner Robins: DB/WR Brison Williams (South Carolina), DB Brandon Brown (Uncommitted)
Camden County: RB Ean Days (Uncommitted), RB Aundre Johnson (Uncommitted)

Exciting W
I don't know how many Buford games I've covered over the years, but Friday's 38-28 win over Fitzgerald in the Class AA semifinals was the most exciting one.
Seems like every other game I've covered of Buford the outcome was decided by halftime. The only game that could rival Friday's win was last year's regular season victory over Blessed Trinity. Cody Getz scoring on a 51-yard TD in the final seconds was pretty exciting. But the pressure of the playoffs made Friday's win more exciting to me.

It wasn't until Andrew Swope recovered a fumble with 4:33 left in the game that you felt like Buford was going to win. To me that's far more exciting than to watch a 35-point blowout.

Southern hospitality
I gotta say I was pretty impressed with the Buford crowd that made the trip to South Georgia for the Fitzgerald game. I'm pretty sure the entire town was down there Friday. It seemed like everyone ate dinner before the game at Floyd's, which has some pretty good BBQ. Buford has always been known to travel well and they didn't disappoint.

Also have to say thanks to the Fitgerald coaches for their hospitality. They were kind enough to give me and the rest of the Daily Post sports staff a place to work after the game. They even had wireless Internet at the field house, which made me wonder how a small school like Fitzgerald could have wireless Internet, but schools in Gwinnett County don't. I'm just sayin' ...

Smartest play
The smartest play in Buford's win was quarterback Alex Ross' run for a first down and slide to stay in bounds in the fourth quarter. There was less than four minutes left to play in the game and A-Ross (as he prefers to be called) picked up the first down and stayed in bounds to keep the clocking running. That was huge. Fitzgerald didn't have any timeouts left and that pretty much ran out the clock.

I know it seems silly that was the smartest play, but almost every week I see players run out of bounds at the end of the game when they could keep the clock running. Ross could have easily run out of bounds and maybe picked up a few more yards, but he knew the situation, where the first down marker was and avoided a big hit from a defender by sliding. Very smart play.

Might as well use all four downs
Buford went for it on fourth down six times in Friday's win, converting five first downs. I don't blame Coach Jess Simpson for going for it every time. After seeing Fitzgerald move the ball so easily down the field for two TDs, you got the feeling they could score whenever they wanted to. The Buford defense had a few big stops, but sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

Recruiting to heat up
The annual recruiting fare at the Gwinnett Arena, which features high schools from across Metro Atlanta showcasing its top players to major colleges to Division II schools, will be on Monday.

As the football season winds down, recruiting will heat up for many of the top players in the county. Please keep me updated of any recruiting news from your team. You can e-mail me at brandon.brigman@gwinnettdailypost.com

All-county banquet
The Gwinnett County Touchdown Club will hold its annual all-county banquet this week. I'll be there to keep the paparazzi away from Daily Post sports editor and Gwinnett Prep Rally star Will Hammock, but come by and say hello if you can fight off all the fans.

The Gwinnett Daily Post plans to release its all-county team on Sunday, Dec. 27. Our team is picked by the Daily Post sports staff and is usually a little different from the coaches team.