Westlake 34, Lovejoy 0

Finishing second in the league is something the Lions haven’t done since 2013, but a 31-24 loss on Oct. 1 to region and community rival Langston Hughes, ranked No. 3, has ended Westlake’s run of consecutive region titles at seven.

But the loss to the Panthers, a game in which Westlake trailed 18-0 at halftime and 24-0 midway through the third quarter, taught the Lions a valuable lesson, according to head coach Bobby May.

“For us, it’s all about the week of practice we have. When we practice well, we play well,” May said. “Since the Langston Hughes game, we’ve had good weeks of practice.”

The results have been a 62-0 win over Morrow, a 65-18 win over North Atlanta and Friday’s dismantling of Lovejoy. Westlake, which averages 370 yards of offense and just shy of 40 points per game, started fast and scored all the points of the game in the first half.

Junior quarterback RJ Johnson had three touchdown passes in the first two periods. The first came on the Lions’ first drive of the game as he hooked up with senior Cayden Lee for a 24-yarder and a 7-0 lead. Then after two 4-yard touchdown runs by junior Jai’den Thomas, Johnson connected with freshman Christian Langford on a 70-yard scoring pass play and a 27-0 lead for the Lions, followed by a 9-yarder to Lee to close out the scoring.

“We try to focus on starting fast,” May said. “This was a big game, but we wanted to come in here and make sure we show up in the first quarter. I’m happy about the fact that we did that.”

With a running clock in the first half, Lovejoy got a total of just four possessions in the second half, two in each quarter. The Wildcats were able to move the ball on the Westlake reserves that played in the second half, but even those players were able to stiffen when they needed to.

The Lions forced Lovejoy to turn the ball over on downs the first three times they had the ball. On the Wildcats’ final possession of the game, they had the ball inside the Westlake 10-yard line as the final seconds were ticking off the clock. With the starters on the edge of the sideline, imploring their teammates to preserve the shutout, Westlake’s defenders tackled the Lovejoy runner behind the line of scrimmage as the horn sounded to end the game, giving the Lions’ their second shutout of the Wildcats in as many games. Westlake defeated Lovejoy last season, 51-0.

“Our kids wanted to go back in, but there was no need for that,” May said. “You put somebody back in just to get a shutout and they get hurt, then you look stupid. We’ve been able to get a lot of kids some playing time the last couple of weeks, so it was good to see them get that stop down there.”

Westlake will close out the regular season against a Tucker team that has struggled all season, but has clinched a playoff spot. May said the formula for next week will be the same: Start fast.

“We’re going to focus on having a good week of practice, and start fast,” May said. “When we start fast, I don’t think there is anyone that can beat us.”