No. 14 Mill Creek takes down No. 6 Buford — but loses to Lakers basketball?

Down goes Buford! Mill Creek wi—we now take you to Lakers preseason basketball.

We interrupt the Lakers-Warriors game to bring you this message:

If there were any doubts about Mill Creek (Hoschton, Ga.)—ranked No. 14 in the USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25—the question marks should be erased after Friday’s statement win over No. 6 Buford.

Now, it’s an exclamation point; not just in the state of Georgia but in the entire country.

The Hawks played tough all game, on both sides of the ball, with much of the focus on how/if the defense would stop—or at least slow down—the top quarterback in the land, Dylan Raiola.

And while there were consistent flashes of the Georgia commit’s greatness… case and point…

… Mill Creek applied just enough pressure to disrupt the Wolves’ passing attack while also benefiting from more than a few costly drops from Buford receivers.

From there, it was a matter of capitalizing on mistakes as the offense added to its 2023 highlight reel, including this one-handed grab from Trajean Greco.

“That guy” was all of us on that play.

And the fourth quarter didn’t disappoint, with Mill Creek converting a 4th down before Shane Throgmartin connected on a 21-yard strike to Justin Content for a touchdown to take the lead 31-24.

That put the ball back in the hands of Raiola and the Buford offense with 1:30 left in the game.

Yes!

Yes?

What?

It ended 31-24, with most people learning how the final seconds played out as they looked to see if Jack Nicholson was sitting courtside in his usual seats after the broadcast was launched into the App Cosmos in favor of Lakers preseason basketball.

From what I could tell, Jack wasn’t there. It’s preseason basketball.

But I digress — back to this incredible high school football game.

The win now catapults Mill Creek into serious top 10 consideration in next week’s Super 25 and, in the name of state supremacy and bragging rights, puts the Hawks atop the competitive 8-AAAAAAA Georgia standings.

Buford is by far out of the race, though. Especially not when you have a talent like Dylan Raiola running the offense.