Friday’s “Battle of Buckhead” between the Lovett Lions and Pace Academy Knights was shaping up to be another down-to-the-wire classic until the Lions used a 20-point, fourth-quarter outburst to run away with a 34-7 win over their crosstown rivals.
Up 14-7 with 9:50 left, the Lions took possession on an interception by senior Talen Frett. Five plays into their ensuing drive, Lions senior quarterback Quinn Carroll broke a 52-yard run on a counter play with 6:23 left, pushing their lead to 21-7. The Lions defense forced a turnover-on-downs Pace’s next possession, and Quinn again scored on a counter play similar to the previous score, making it 27-7 with two minutes remaining.
For good measure, Frett intercepted a second pass but returned this one 65 yards for a touchdown, bringing the score to its final margin with seven seconds left.
The Lions were led by senior Kalil Townes, who had a game-high 100 yards on 24 carries. Carroll finished with 88 yards on six carries and was 5-for-11 passing with two touchdowns to one interception. His leading receiver, senior Casani Bartlett, had 78 yards on two catches, both of which were touchdowns.
With the win, the Lions move to 4-0 heading into a bye week. The last time they opened with four wins was 2013, when they won the 2A championship.
“The game was a lot closer than the score indicates,” said Muschamp, in his 20th season coaching Lovett. “I’m really proud of our kids. We had two scrimmages and four physical football games in a row, so it’s been a six-week grind. We’re a little beat up, but we’ll get that handled this week with the opening, and take some time to recover. They’ve handled the challenge really well.”
The Lions are senior heavy with 26, with some playing prominent roles in season’s past, while others are adapting to new roles.
“We’re maturing into the team we want to be,” Muschamp said.
With the win over Pace the Lions concluded their non-region schedule, and will play 5-2A opponents the rest of the way. They return to the field Sept. 20 and will host KIPP (1-3), which has lost three straight and will play Washington (2-2) next week in its region opener. Other league opponents include Hapeville Charter, Holy Innocents’ and Therrell, all playoff teams last year.
“It’s a pretty tough region,” Muschamp said. “The teams in there are coming from 3A and 4A and all of them had good years, and the teams are well-coached with good athletes.”
The Lions will split off for the postseason and play in the 3A-A Private tournament as part of a new postseason format that Muschamp is likely no fan of.
“You can’t put what I think about that in the paper,” he said.
Though the playoff format is different, the Lions’ approach to Game 11 and beyond will be the same.
“Our goal is to continue to improve throughout the season,” Muschamp said. “We want to be playing our best football sometime in December.”
Cavaliers post 1st win over ranked Cook
With their 36-23 win over the No. 8 Cook Hornets, the Cavaliers are in the win column. Not that they were panicking over an 0-2 start because this is the third consecutive year they’ve done that, and they’ve reached the 2A quarterfinals each of the past two seasons.
The Cavs lost their opener to 4A’s Cass 42-7 at home, then traveled the following week to Alabama and lost 48-13 to Opelika, a 7A school.
“Our schedule is demanding but we believe that prepares us for down the road,” said Pete Wiggins, in his 20th season at Callaway. “When you see teams with more depth (than 2A schools), and the players are coached up, that stretches your football team in a bunch of different ways offensively, defensively, and on special teams. Our players will grow from it. They understand the challenges of playing a difficult schedule and they embrace it. Over the years, I feel like this has helped us. You can grow from the difficulties on Friday night and, for us, there’s not really any games off. Every game you have to prepare hard for, and it’s a whole lot like the playoffs.”
The Hornets rallied to take a 23-22 lead early in the fourth quarter thanks to a safety and a touchdown on the ensuing possession, but the Cavs quickly responded with two touchdown runs from Ant Reeves to put the game away. Reeves had 91 yards on eight carries. Quarterback Blake Harrington had 14 carries for 143 yards and was 9 of 16 passing for 125 yards and two touchdowns, one to Jeremiah Dunn (six catches for 75 yards), and the other to Bryceton Sanders (2-46).
Wiggins noted the team’s fight after losing the lead.
“Our kids handled the adversity really well,” he said. “We executed from that point on offensively. We had some big runs, and the O-line did really well getting to the second level and taking on their linebackers.”
Up next for the Cavs is a cross-classification game against their former region rivals , the Columbia Eagles (0-3), who are now in 6-2A. Wiggins sees similarities in the Cavs and Eagles, who have lost to 4A’s No. 4 Cartersville, 6A’s No. 2 Carrollton, and 3A’s No. 8 Douglass a combined 121-28.
“Coach Greg Barnett has done a great job when you look at their schedule,” Wiggins said. “They opened with three teams that, on Friday night, can beat anybody. They’re big schools with great players, who are well-coached, and that’s all they’ve played. They’re just like us, and I’m sure he also believes it makes them better. We know Columbia is going to have a very physical team, and their kids can make explosive plays. It will be a big challenge for us.”
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