Westminster 26, Lovett 23
Westminster held off Lovett 26-23 at Kilpatrick Stadium on Friday to win the Battle of Buckhead for the second consecutive year and the fifth time in seven seasons.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 3 in Class AAA, reeled off 26 points in a row before a 73-yard run by Lovett’s Jay Harris in the third quarter pulled the Lions within 26-15.
Quarterback Rankin Woley, a baseball commit to LSU, rushed for 118 yards on 16 carries to lead the Wildcats, while running back Isaiah Malcome added 97 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Woley also passed completed 5 of 7 passes for 40 yards.
Westminster (1-0) needed two late third-down conversions from Woley in the final five minutes to seal the win.
“In this series you never know what’s going to happen,” Westminster coach Gerry Romberg said. “The games always go down to the wire.”
Lovett drove 75 yards in 10 plays on the opening drive, ending with an 8-yard scoring run from quarterback Brady Tindall. Harris contributed 28 yards rushing on the drive.
Malcome, a junior who rushed for 1,642 yards last season, took a handoff from quarterback Rankin Woley and went 53 yards up the middle of the field to tie the score at 7 with 5:31 to play in the first quarter.
Westminster converted two interceptions from Tindall into scores to give the Wildcats a 20-7 lead late in the first quarter. Harrison Jones picked off a Tindall pass at the Lovett 34 and returned the ball to the 3, one play before Malcome scored his second rushing touchdown to put Westminster ahead 14-7.
On the next drive Tindall was intercepted by Stephen Ballard at the Lovett 46. The Lions forced fourth down, but a shovel pass from Harper Keller to Blake Huber resulted in a 27-yard touchdown.
“We lost a lot of kids who played a lot of big time football for us,” Lovett coach Mike Muschamp. “They are slowly growing together. We have to go through these situations to become the team we want to be.”
Harris capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive with a 5-yard run to pull Lovett within 3, but were not able to stop Woley on the final drive.
Lovett (0-2) got 135 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Harris and 85 yards rushing from Tindall. Tindall finished the game completing 13 of 21 passes for 126 yards.
Westminster 26, Lovett 23
W 20 3 3 0 26
L 7 0 8 8 23
L - Brady Tindall 8 run (Cole McGowan kick)
W - Isaiah Malcome 53 run (Blake Gillikin kick)
W - Malcome 3 run (Gillikin kick)
W - Blake Huber 27 pass from Harper Keller (pass failed)
W - Gillikin 42 FG
W - Gillikin 37 FG
L - Jay Harris (John Staton run)
L- Harris 5 run (Tindall run)
