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While Friday night’s matchup with CAK is only the second region game on Lakeway Christian’s schedule, it’s a crucial game for Division 2-AA East Region standings.

If the Lions win on Friday, they move on to a Grace Christian team that CAK defeated handily last week, followed by a Silverdale team that currently sits at 0-4 on the season.

“In Tennessee, region games are the only ones that matter. You don’t get points for out of region games, so you have to make the ones that do matter count,” Lakeway head coach Thad Wells said. “For us coming up to AA and joining this region, winning this game would add that much more validity to our program and make the path to the playoffs a lot easier for us. The way our schedule is set up, it gets tougher and tougher as the weeks go on, so this game is very big for us when it comes to the playoffs.”

CAK runs a spread offense, with an interesting set up on the offensive line. They have two big, physical O-linemen that both set up to the left of center. The bigger of the two is 6’3 338 pound guard Austin Delp.

Based on their personnel on the line, opposing defenses have a good idea of where they’d like to run the ball.

“On defense you always have to determine each week what your strength call is going to be,” Wells said. “Most of the time it’s going to be based on the field boundary or on numbers and where the tight end is lined up. This week is going to be the first time in my career where the linemen on their team dictate the strong side.”

When facing a spread offense, the interior linebackers have a big responsibility. With the opposing playmakers so spread out, they have a lot of field to cover and a lot of ground to make up both in coverage and in stopping the run.

“Overall with CAK it’s about what they do well within those formations that will dictate what we do with our linebackers,” Wells said. “We can’t afford to have our linebackers just sit back in pass drops, because we know they’re going to have to stop the run first, as is with almost every week in high school football.”

Additionally, CAK has two very talented playmakers at receiver with a lot of size and good top end speed. Luckily for the Lions, the secondary is a strength for their team.

“We really like our secondary guys, with Shajai Jackson, Jace Ballard and Jesse Stump,” Wells said. “Those guys are three really talented athletes that we have a lot of faith in and we know they’ll be important this week to try and prevent those chunk plays and those deep balls.”

Many of Grace Christian’s mistakes in their matchup with CAK were due to the Warriors’ lack of respect for their run game. Their linebackers were able to sit 5-6 yards back, allowing them to be able to drop into their coverages a lot more effectively.

Grace Christian didn’t have Shajai Jackson in their backfield, however, who has been giving opposing defensive coordinators headaches with his versatility all season long. The Lions will look to get him going early.

“We certainly have a lot of strategies for making sure that we get the ball to Shajai. Whether it’s running the ball between the tackles, outside the tackles, throwing short, throwing long, isolation plays so we can get him 1-on-1 with the defensive backs,” Wells said. “The best thing about Shajai is his versatility. He’s an every-down back. He can run inside, outside, and he’s a great third down back because of his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, and he can stretch you out as a receiver.”

CAK travels to Lakeway Christian on Friday, where kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

“I feel confident that our team can find success if they believe and continue to prepare this week. I feel they believe that they have a shot in this game, so I feel that if they continue to believe and continue to prepare then we’ll be ready to at least compete this week.”