Ultimate Away Game: Buford High to Play in Ireland in 2016

It’s one thing for a high school football team to cross several counties to play an away game.

It’s quite another thing to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The Buford High Wolves, one of Georgia’s top programs, will do just that in the 2016 season when they play in Dublin, Ireland, as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, which pits Georgia Tech against Boston College on Sept. 3.

Buford is one of six high school football teams to have committed to play in Dublin Friday Night Lights on Sept. 2, event organizers said in a press release. More prep teams are expected to be added, and matchups will be determined at a later date.

High School teams confirmed

• Belen Jesuit Preparatory School – Miami, Florida
• Blessed Trinity Catholic High School – Atlanta, Georgia
• Buford School – Buford, Georgia
• Marist School – Atlanta, Georgia
• Saint Peter’s Prep – Jersey City, New Jersey
• Prepa Tec Mexico – Mexico City, Mexico

Buford, currently ranked No. 2 in Georgia’s Class 4A, has won 11 state championships, including in seven of the last eight seasons.

“I’ve never been to Europe. I’ve been to Bogart [Ga.]. I’ve been to Hog Mountain. It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience,” head coach Jess Simpson told the Gwinnett Daily Post, which first reported the story.