When longtime Lovett coach Jim Buczek comments on his Lions team, his remarks stand in contrast to the common line other coaches may use about the team needing to improve a lot between the start of the season and the playoffs.
“We’ve been great from the first day,” said Buczek, who has coached the Lions since 2005, winning three state titles in his first five seasons. “I told them, this year’s group can be as good as we want to, and they’ve stepped up to the challenge.”
Led by 13 seniors, the Lions (10-0) are ranked No. 1 in Class 1A-5A. Among the seniors, all three starting attackers — Will Overly (Utah), Garrett Kelly (Tufts) and John Mori (Rhodes College) — will play at the next level, along with Will’s twin brother, Russ Overly, a defender who will play for Denver.
The Lions’ only close matches came against 6A-7A’s No. 5 Roswell (10-7) on Feb. 25 and Florida’s Montverde (12-11) on March 5. They are 3-0 in Area 2 play with two area games remaining.
Buczek doesn’t believe in his team out of overconfidence. Instead, he sees his program as one that can finally focus solely on lacrosse when it takes the field, not the outside factors that have ruined each of their last two seasons. The Lions played five games in 2020 before all spring sports were cancelled, and last year they lost two starting defenders to broken legs and navigated Covid shutdowns that forced them to play six games in 12 days.
“These guys are seniors, but they lost their sophomore year of development, and last year was crisis management from Day 1,” Buczek said.
For the first time since 2019, the Lions made their annual trip to Florida and went 2-0 against traditional powers Lake Highland and Montverde. Will Overly leads the team with 40 goals and 22 assists, followed by Kelly (38 goals, seven assists) and Mori (27 goals and 10 assists). Russ Overly is averaging 12 ground balls, a goal and three assists over his last three games.
A scheduling quirk gave the Lions a fifth week of preseason practice, and they took full advantage. By the time the season came, they were ready like never before.
“It was five weeks of playing no one but us,” Buczek said. “Our big thing is competition. We have an explosive offense, and there were days where the defense got it handed to them. Then, the defense would improve and get the best of the offense one day. We had five weeks to really sharpen everything up before the lights came on and we got to play other people. They were so appreciative to play against someone other than each other, and it carried over.”
Buczek describes his team as a “Run and gun, push-the-pace, spread offense,” with Russ Overly anchoring the defense as, “the best defender in the state, for my money.”
With seven games remaining, starting Tuesday hosting Marist, the Lions are closing in on a postseason berth with the goal of winning their first state title since 2009. They won the GHSA’s first state championship in 2005 and won again in 2008. But since the 2009 season, they’ve again reached the championship five different times, only to lose in overtime in each game — including when this year’s seniors were freshman.
“Every year our goal is to win the championship,” said Buczek. “We’ve done a really good job this year and we’re in a nice rhythm, so we just want to go 1-0 each match.”
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