Game coverage
2nd-half surge propels Rome to 1st ever state championship
ATLANTA — No matter the opponent, no matter the injury, nothing could stop the Rome Wolves from a state championship.
Despite entering the game with one starting running back hurt and losing another in the second quarter, Rome rode a historic defense and quarterback Knox Kadum to a 16-7 win against Buford in the Class 5A state championship game Friday evening at the Georgia Dome.
It is Rome’s first football state championship and first championship for any sport since East and West Rome merged in 1992.
“This is better than I could ever think. This is the best feeling I’ve ever had,” senior offensive tackle Zach Kadum said. “I’m speechless right now. All I can think about is the fans and how I want to celebrate with them.”
The win comes in the second year of head coach John Reid’s rebuilding process, which appears to be way ahead of schedule. In the year before Reid came to the program, Rome won just three games and missed the playoffs.
Knox Kadum finished with 82 passing yards, but set the tone for the Wolves with 125 rushing yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. With Jamious Griffin getting injured in the second quarter, Marquez Kirby picked up 37 rushing yards and Jordan Watkins had 60 receiving yards on three catches.
Rome (13-2) trailed nearly the entire first half but took a 10-7 lead on a 26-yard touchdown run from Knox Kadum with 8:02 left in the third quarter. He added a 17yard touchdown run with a little more than a minute left in the game.
Both touchdowns came on fourth-down plays, with the sophomore quarterback simply finding holes in the line. Knox Kadum took his share of hits in the game, but he wasn’t going to let any of it get to him.
“That last touchdown was just all about heart, none of the hits mattered,” Knox Kadum said. “God I wanted that touchdown.”
The Rome defense held one of the best offenses in the state to just 112 total yards. A Buford team that entered the game averaging 285.9 rushing yards per game came away with only 82 against an athletic Rome unit.
K.J. Hicks, Ja’Quon Griffin, Trai Hodges and Malik Davis each finished with five tackles or more, as the defense allowed only two plays from scrimmage of more than 10 yards. Buford running backs Anthony Grant and Christian Turner were each held to just 36 yards.
No play was more symbolic for Rome’s defense than a fourth-and-inches stop with 1:44 left, giving Rome’s offense the ball and ensuring a victory. Ja’Quon Griffin, who finished with six tackles, took down Grant a yard behind the line of scrimmage to set off a wild celebration.
‘That last touchdown was just all about heart, none of the hits mattered.’ Knox Kadum Rome High quarterback
“They’re a running offense, but we’re a running defense, and ain’t nobody going to run on us,” Rome linebacker Jaylen Griffin said. “They came in averaging 200-something yards per game, we stopped that. We shut that down.”
Buford started the game with a 95-yard kickoff return from Grant, and T.D. Roof punched in a 1-yard touchdown on the next play. It would be the highlight of Buford’s day and kept the team in front the entire first half.
But the Rome defense had held seven of its last nine opponents to under 10 points, and it knew it could happen again.
“Being down four points at the half wasn’t part of the plan, but we planned on being close,” Reid said. “Because we knew they would get tired, and our defense just turned it up a notch on them.”
Rome failed to convert a single first down in the opening quarter, with Knox going 0-for5 and throwing an interception.
Reid’s squad had experienced slow starts in the playoffs before however, and it refused to panic on the big stage.
The offense woke up with the first drive of the second quarter, going 79 yards in 15 plays and finishing with a 24-yard Emmanuel Gonzalez field goal with 3:36 left in the half. Jamious Griffin went down midway
through the drive and would come out on crutches in the second half.
The drive assured Rome players that they could move on the vaunted Buford defense, and it gave them plenty of hope.
“We knew this was going to be a good game, and we knew this was a good defense,” Zach Kadum said. “We had to stay together, and by halftime we knew that we were going to win down front.”
Knox Kadum took off on a 41yard run on the third play of the second half, and only a few plays later he scored his first touchdown. Rome’s fans exploded with the score, and stayed loud for the remainder
‘We knew this was going to be a good game, and we knew this was a good defense. We had to stay together, and by halftime we knew that we were going to win down front.’ Zach Kadum Rome High football player
of the game.
Buford (13-2) only managed five first downs the rest of the game, never making it past the Rome 38-yard line. The way head coach Jess Simpson’s team had dominated most games had been taken away, and it became difficult to regroup.
“Running the ball, moving it on them, especially here in the last eight weeks, nobody has really done that,” Simpson said. “People that have scored on them scored early in the year, with long pass plays or in the kicking game. You just didn’t see people running on them this year.”
As the final seconds ticked away, Reid jumped up and down on the sideline and began to hug everyone he saw. He even hugged one of the officials, something he didn’t even notice in his euphoria.
“I would hug anybody when I just won a state championship,” Reid said.