We Speak High School Football
Two-Way Star: Jameer Cantrell Scores on Offense and Defense as Buford Rolls to 22nd Straight Win
Some players change a game on one side of the ball. Buford senior Jameer Cantrell changed it on both sides in the same night.
Cantrell led the rushing effort with 111 yards on nine carries in Buford’s 43-0 Homecoming shutout of Collins Hill, and he found the end zone twice in two completely different ways. Facing third-and-1 in the second quarter, he broke a tackle and went 70 yards for a touchdown. He also scored on defense, returning an interception 26 yards for a touchdown.
His impact started even before the scoring. On the possession before Buford’s first touchdown, Cantrell made a touchdown-saving tackle, and the Wolves forced a fumble moments later to set up a short field. Defensive tackle Jalen Brewster finished that drive with a 2-yard touchdown run in a goal-line package, the first of Brewster’s first two touchdowns as a Wolf.
Quarterback D.J. Hunter finished 14 of 22 passing for 206 yards, accounted for touchdowns through the air and on the ground, and added a 29-yard scoring scramble with 32 seconds left in the first half. Ashton Thomas caught five passes for 73 yards, and Seven Rashad contributed 64 receiving yards.
Collins Hill made Buford work early, intercepting the Wolves’ first possession and holding them to 69 yards on 19 first-quarter snaps in a scoreless opening quarter. But a 19-point second quarter sent Buford into halftime in control, and the Wolves never looked back.
The win was Buford’s 22nd consecutive victory. The Wolves improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the region, and through those three region games they have outscored their opponents 149-7. Cantrell entered the Collins Hill game with 308 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on the season, plus a receiving touchdown — and then added the kind of two-way night that college coaches dream about.
Next up is a trip to Mill Creek, where the region’s two remaining unbeaten teams in league play meet with sole possession of the region lead on the line. If Cantrell keeps making plays in every phase, Buford’s streak will be hard to stop.
We Speak High School Football
Miller Grove Wolverines Hunting a Strong Finish After a Season of Fights
The Miller Grove Wolverines opened their season with a statement, and they have been fighting ever since. A 31-0 shutout of Chamblee in the opener showed what this Lithonia team can be, and the Wolverines have spent the fall proving that night was no fluke.
Miller Grove owns a 35-6 road win at McNair and a 20-8 win at Carver in Atlanta, victories built on defense and toughness. Look at those three wins together and a pattern emerges: Chamblee scored zero, McNair scored six and Carver scored eight. When the Wolverines win, they win with a defense that gives up almost nothing, and that identity travels anywhere. At 3-4, with 131 points scored and 135 allowed, nearly every Wolverines game this season has been a genuine fight, decided by which team made the plays late.
That includes the tough nights. The Wolverines fell 42-10 to a strong Columbia team on October 16 and dropped a 28-21 heartbreaker at M.L. King in an all-DeKalb battle earlier this season. Those are the kinds of games a program learns from.
That defensive identity is worth repeating, because it is rare: across their three wins, the Wolverines have allowed a total of 14 points. Fourteen. In an era of spread offenses and video-game scores, Miller Grove wins the old-fashioned way, with tackling, discipline and a defense that takes points personally. That travels in November, and it gives the Wolverines a real chance in every game left on the schedule.
The closing stretch gives Miller Grove every chance to finish the right way. South Atlanta visits on Friday, October 23, then the Wolverines travel to Cedar Grove on October 30 before closing at home against Redan.
Three games, three chances to turn a season of fights into a winning finish. In Lithonia, the Wolverines and their families have every reason to believe that is exactly what happens next.
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