Schools

Lovett; Whitefield wear down in second half

Lions fall at Buford while the Wolfpack are shutout in the second half in loss at Landmark Christian.

Lovett gave mighty Buford all it could handle for one half Friday night, but couldn’t withstand the Wolves’ punishing running game as Buford pulled away for a 35-7 win.

The loss at Buford’s Tom Riden Stadium was the first of the year for the Lions, who dropped to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in Region 6-AA play. Top-ranked Buford (6-0) is the four-time defending state champion and has gone 27-1 since Lovett defeated the Wolves 28-21 two seasons ago.

For a time Friday it looked as if the Lions could pull another shocker as they trailed Buford, which came into the game averaging 45 points per game, just 7-0 at the half. But behind the running of Andre Johnson (178 yards, two TDs) and Darrian Smith (84 yards, one score), the Wolves pulled away in the second half for their 19th straight win.

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Buford finished the night with 434 yards rushing on 46 yards.

"That's what (Buford) has done since I've been playing these guys," Lovett head coach Mike Muschamp told the Gwinnett Daily Post. "They just wear you down physically and that's what they did tonight. They just grind you up…Our kids will battle you and we played our rear ends off tonight. We just can't match up with (Buford) because they are too deep and too strong. That's Buford football."

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The fourth-ranked Lions finished with just 76 yards of total offense. They did manage to score only the third touchdown that Buford has allowed all season when quarterback Willie Candler scampered 28 yards for a score early in the fourth quarter.

Landmark Christian 34, Whitefield Academy 10

Whitefield Academy was outscored 21-0 in the second half and fell 34-10 at Region 5-A foe Landmark Christian on Friday night. The Wolfpack fell behind 13-0 early, but behind a scoring pass from Max Kemether to Max Rieves, and a 34-yard field from Thomas East, trailed just 13-10 at the half.

But it was all Landmark, 5-0 overall and 2-0 region, in the second half as Jeremiah Kirkland scored on a pair of 14-yard scoring runs and quarterback Cantrell Frazier tossed his second scoring pass of the game as the War Eagles pulled away for the victory.

Kemether finished 14 of 36 passing for 183 yards and a touchdown. However, the Pack was held to minus-5 yards rushing and went just 2-for-16 on third and fourth down conversions.

Lorenzo Carter, James Shultz and Max Rieves all posted at least six tackles for Whitefield, which dropped to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in region play.


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