This Friday, Lovejoy can secure its third perfect region record in as many seasons with a victory over Alcovy at Twelve Oaks Stadium.

During the last two years, the Wildcats owned the competition in Region 4-AAAA and have done the same thing in their last five Region 2-AAAAAA contests to claim the league championship.

“I’m happy that we were able to accomplish that,” Lovejoy coach Al Hughes said. “It’s been a great group of kids every since they have been on this campus. They’ve done an outstanding job.”

Before their bye, the Wildcats won their seventh straight game, a 51-6 rout of Newton on Oct. 26. Alejandro Bennifield threw two of his three touchdown passes to Ju’Michael Ramos, who caught seven passes for 134 yards. Travis Custis had three rushing TDs and Tyrell Brown returned a fumble for a score.

“We’re excited about how far we’ve come and where we’ve still got to go,” said Hughes, whose team has outscored its region opponents 260-9 so far.

Even though the Wildcats’ margin of victory has been very impressive in their last five games, Hughes still has concerns.

“The concern I have is that our kids haven’t played a whole game in quite a while,” he said. “We usually get about a half in and that is about the end of it. Because of the amount of points that get put on the board you have to take those guys out and let everybody else play.

“But sooner or later we are going to have to get back out there and play another four quarters,” Hughes said. “Our goal coming into this season was to get 70 to 80 snaps a game. We only had three games where we’ve met those goals. The rest of games we’ve gotten in between 25 and 30 snaps for our first group on offense—that is a big discrepancy.”

Maybe Lovejoy’s starters will get a chance Friday to play more against a tough Alcovy team, which has alternated wins and losses in its last seven games. Last Friday, the Tigers defeated Rockdale County 17-8.

“I expect coach [Kirk] Hoffman will have his people ready to play,” Hughes said. “There is no doubt in my mind. I’ve known him since he was a four-time state placer and three-time state champion in wrestling at Clarkston High School. He is a great competitor in his own right and an outstanding coach.”