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Following a week one loss to Knox Catholic, Lakeway Christian has found their stride.

They picked up wins against Volunteer and Notre Dame, beating each team by three scores. This week they match up with West Ridge, a team coming off a loss to Dobyns-Bennett a week ago.

DB, a team not typically regarded as pass-heavy, threw for five touchdowns in the game, exposing a potential vulnerability in the Wolves’ defense.

“We’ve got Shajai Jackson in the backfield and our offensive line has been playing great. We feel really good that we’ll be able to run the ball on most teams throughout the rest of our schedule, and at the same time we’ve got a lot of talent at receiver, we’ve got a great tight end in Caleb Davis and our quarterback is a senior who’s a great leader for us on the field,” Lakeway head coach Thad Wells said. “That being said, versus West Ridge we’re not specifically looking to be one way or the other because of what they do on defense. We’ll be going in thinking that we can keep it close to a balanced offense in terms of running and passing.”

On the offensive side, West Ridge likes to switch things up. They base out of a spread, but mix Wing-T sets as well and run a mix of runs, options and more traditional run plays.

“There’s a lot of people that like to have a complete change-up, so they’re spreading most of the time, but they’ll switch into this double-tight, double-wing offense,” Wells said. “Their package isn’t really deep in that set, but it causes enough of an issue that you need to spend some practice time on it. There’s an old defensive adage, ‘don’t chase ghosts’, but at the same time you have to keep your mind open to whatever they can potentially run.”

While they can find yardage in a variety of ways, the engine that makes the West Ridge offense go is quarterback Trey Frazier.

Against Volunteer, the teams’ only common opponent, Frazier ran for four touchdowns. He’s no slouch in the passing game either.

As a result, the Lions’ linebackers will have a big responsibility this week.

“We teach our linebackers based on the types of quarterbacks we’re getting that given week,” Wells said. “If we’re playing a quarterback that likes to stay in the pocket, they might have more traditional drops to get in passing lanes, but if it’s someone that can scramble then no matter what drop you’re taking you’re keeping your eyes on the quarterback.

“The worst thing that you can face is an athletic quarterback that can throw the ball over the middle, so hopefully we can shut that aspect down this week.”

This week’s matchup is a break from region play for the Lions before they host CAK next week. A win on Friday would make it three consecutive for Lakeway, giving them loads of momentum heading into next week’s matchup.

“Lakeway got a little bit of a taste of it last year,” Wells said. “We won our first three games, and any time you have that kind of momentum in a new program, the fans are really excited, and success breeds that kind of excitement. We have a specific mission here at Lakeway, and that’s to promote Christ. We know that success in anything gets peoples’ attention, so this week, even with it being a non-region game, we want to have success to get people excited. The more success you have, the more attention you get and the more opportunity you have to promote what it is you think is right to promote.”

Kickoff is set for Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Lakeway Christian Academy.