'Returning experience' on defense key for Lovett season and area title

Lovett wins 'Battle For Buckhead' and area title

The Lovett Lions boys lacrosse team is in the midst of having their best season since their undefeated championship winning season of 2021-2022 when they completed the year at 23-0 and captured the Georgia High School Association 1A-5A state title after defeating the Westminster Wildcats.

On Thursday, the Lions and Wildcats faced off in another "Battle For Buckhead" installment, the Lions looking to claim another area title and improve to 13-1 on the season, while the Wildcats looked to play spoiler and keep their chances of claiming the area title alive with the win.

Once underway, the games first score would not come until nearly halfway through the opening quarter as a Moye Bishop goal would give the Lions the 1-0 lead and before the quarter came to an end, the Lions would get goals from Baker Weeden and Reid Miller to take 3-0 lead.

In the second quarter, the Lions would take a 5-0 lead but would surrender a goal to the Wildcats' TJ Black-Holmes as time was expiring in the period, however led 5-1 at halftime. Momentum would remain on Lovett's side throughout the second half despite just scoring one goal in the third quarter, as they would add five in the final period of play in route to the 11-3 win.

"Going into this year, we had a lot of returning experience on the defensive end and we put a lot of burden on them," Lovett head coach, Jim Buczek, said after Thursday's win as he explained how the Lions relied on their defense to lead them this season, asking them to "play up to our capabilities," in effort to allow their offense to bring their younger players up to speed.

"I think early on, offense kind of over performed in the early part of the season and then we came back from spring break and we haven't had a healthy lineup since, so we've had to really lean on the defense and you saw it tonight," Buczek said as he praised his players for their efforts to limit Westminster to just three goals. "And they had the ball probably most of the game, so really proud of them," Buczek said.

Lovett will now close out the regular season with three straight non-region games including their finale versus the GHSA Division III defending champions, Lambert.