COACH’S TAKE: Valdosta’s Rush Propst breaks down the Lee County-Buford matchup

Valdosta head football coach Rush Propst, whose team played both state finalists Buford and Lee County, breaks down the Class AAAAAA state championship game. His Wildcats lost 41-7 to Lee in the regular-season finale and lost 45-26 to Buford in the state semifinals.

On Buford’s offense

They’re good up front. I think the offensive line coach there, Matt Winslette, does a phenomenal job. They’re well-coached, fundamental and technique sound and what they do you don’t see a lot anymore. After 40 years of doing this, it used to be the norm. Reverse that 25 years ago to what I do now and other teams do now in the spread attack, it would have been a different animal for everybody. What Buford does now starts with the offensive line and their plethora of backs. It starts up front obviously. They establish the run game like they do with multiple tight end sets. They can hurt you out of 12, out of 22, out of 21, out of 13, a lot of personnel groupings, all bunched-up sets. They’re able to establish a really good run game throwing several backs at you. You’ve got to add extra hats to the box, even to get it slowed down, and their play-action pass is deadly. You don’t have to be a great quarterback, you just have to have a heady kid because they’re wide open throws a lot of the time.

On Lee’s defense

Lee County has tremendous team speed. They create issues for you because they tackle you behind the line of scrimmage, a lot of tackles for losses. They get you behind the chains. They sack you. They put pressure on you. They’re very exotic in their blitz packages. They’re not typical blitzes, not blitzes you see every day. To me, the key to the game is Buford staying in manageable downs and not in long-distance situations where they have to abandon the run. What Buford did to us, they were able to get us on a cold grass field. I think the weather next week will benefit Buford a little bit, although it is on turf. Teams down here don’t see that kind of weather. Lee County’s exotic blitzes, if you allow them to run those exotic blitzes and you run around and try to play in space, they’re going to eat you up. You have to keep them to a box. Buford’s not going to out-athlete you. They just put you in a bind with what they do.

On Lee’s offense

Lee County beats you with (Caleb) McDowell’s legs. He’s a really good running back, an SEC running back (who signed with South Carolina). What’s made them better the last five, six, seven weeks to me is the ability of (Chauncey) Magwood at quarterback. He’s a Kentucky commit at wide receiver who has gotten better as a quarterback. Early on, he was very erratic and he’s starting to throw the ball better. He’ll beat you by extending plays with his feet and he can hurt you with the run because he’s athletic. Can Buford stop McDowell and Magwood? They’re a 1-2 punch of two Division I athletes that can go up and down the field on you. When they do throw, Magwood has thrown it much better lately. His ability to throw balls down the field and extend plays when plays break down, those are huge factors in the football game.

On Buford’s defense

I think they’re okay on defense. We had 425 yards of offense on them and we missed some other opportunities. We felt like we could move the football on them. I think Buford’s okay on defense. I don’t think they’re tremendous. The statistics look good. Don’t take this wrong, but they haven’t played the teams we have, the teams Lee has, Colquitt (County), Lowndes, Warner Robins, Bainbridge. They played sort of a schedule that makes you look good on defense. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve got a solid football team and they’re well-coached on defense. But if you throw athlete to athlete, I think Lee County will have a lot of success or can have success offensively. Now if Buford rises and plays above their head on defense, that could be a key to the game. The difference to me is going to be Buford’s defense vs. Lee County’s offense. If Lee County can do what they’ve done, score a lot of points and Buford is struggling on defense, it’s going to be a long night. But if Buford can find a way to defend them, it gives them a huge advantage.

Keys to beating Buford

You have to find a way to make them play behind the chains. You’ve got to be really good on first down. If you’re good on first down and you get Buford in second-and-8, 9, 10 and keep them there, that next down is pivotal because you can get them in third-and-5 plus. Then you’ve got a great chance to get off the field. I want to see Buford in a spread in a third-down conversion out of the shotgun. That’s where I want to see them at. If you do that, it’s an advantage. Now that’s easier said than done. Buford has to be good on first down. They have to get four, five yards on first down, get to second-and-6, second-and-5. Then they have two downs to get a first down, and they can still run the ball on those two downs.

Keys to beating Lee

You’ve got to keep Lee’s defense from penetrating into your backfield and being where they get you behind the chains. Whether it’s a run or pass, their exotic blitzes and their ability to hit you in the backfield for tackles for losses causes problems. You’ve got to keep Lee’s defense from swarming around and putting you in second-and-12, 14, 15. Those things you’ve got to stay out of. If it’s an outside run play, they tackle you for a four-yard loss. If it’s an inside run play, it’s a one-yard loss. Buford has to be plus-yardage on first down and keep Lee out of the backfield. If you allow Lee to dial up those exotic blitzes on second and third down, you’ve got no chance.

Prediction

I think weather is going to be a factor to some degree. I don’t know what the forecast is. But I’ve got to believe that Lee, because of the running back, McDowell, I think that may be the difference in the game. I know Buford’s got good running backs and they do it by committee. I think Lee wins a very close game. Now if it’s 30 degrees, if it’s misting rain or rainy or if it’s really, really cold, it wouldn’t surprise me if Buford pulled it out.

Special Photo: Karl L. Moore