High School Football Scores: Buford falls to Milton in tight Week 1 game

In a tight battle between two of the best high school football programs in Georgia, Alpharetta Milton‘s two scores were enough to sneak by Buford 13-10 on Saturday night.

The Wolves trailed 13-0 at one point, but rallied to within three points and had the ball for the final possession — albeit with only 16 seconds remaining.

Buford’s offense, led by first-year quarterback Dayton Raiola, struggled for much of the first half to get anything going as they fell behind by a touchdown. Their defense kept them in the game though, holding Milton’s offense to just 7 first-half points. The Eagles, led by Miami four-star quarterback commit Luke Nickel, managed just 109 yards in the first half, with 80 coming on their opening drive.

A lengthy storm after halftime delayed the start of the second half by nearly two hours, with both teams waiting impatiently to get things re-started.

Once the action got going, Milton wasted to time in scoring again with Nickel finding four-star wide receiver and Florida State commit CJ Wiley for a touchdown to extend the lead to double-digits. Buford managed to get a safety midway through the third quarter and added a touchdown early in the fourth to make it a three-point game.

It was a defensive battle from there on though, with the Eagles fending off a late Buford rally to secure a massive victory and the No. 1 ranking in the Peach State by the On3 Massey Ratings, a model that ranks sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.

Georgia High School Football Top 25 Scores

Here’s how each of the other top-25 teams in the Peach State fared over the weekend:

No. 1 Colquitt County: 45-28 WIN vs. Salt Lake City West (Utah)

No. 2 Buford: 13-10 LOSS at No. 8 Milton

No. 3 Mill Creek: 56-26 WIN at Lambert

No. 4 Walton: 30-21 WIN vs. Brookwood — Corky Kell-Dave Hunter Classic at Mercedes Benz Stadium

No. 5 Carrollton: 24-14 WIN at Woodward Academy

No. 6 Grayson: 20-19 LOSS vs. No. 25 Collins Hill

No. 7 Thomas County Central: 54-7 WIN vs. Monroe

No. 8 Milton: 13-10 WIN vs. Buford

No. 10 Coffee: 59-6 WIN at Bainbridge

No. 11 Langston Hughes: 52-21 WIN vs. No. 12 Westlake

No. 13 Lee County: 45-28 WIN vs. Warner Robins

No. 14 Ware County: 40-10 WIN at Appling County

No. 15 Camden County: 51-41 WIN at Brunswick

No. 16 Benedictine: 41-17 LOSS vs. Rabun Gap Nacoochee — at Georgia Southern University

No. 17 Valdosta: 64-19 WIN vs. Tucker

No. 18 Marist: 23-7 WIN vs. Jefferson

No. 19 Roswell: 21-6 WIN at Peachtree Ridge

No. 20 North Cobb: 49-21 WIN at Archer

No. 22 Cedar Grove: 42-7 LOSS vs. No. 23 Douglas County — Corky Kell-Dave Hunter Classic at Mercedes Benz Stadium

No. 24 Newton: 26-15 LOSS at Eastside