After passing a major elimination test Friday with a victory over Creekside, Chapel Hill is preparing for another must win this week against Lovejoy.

Twelve Oaks Stadium will be the site Friday night as the Panthers (5-3, 4-3) attempt to stay alive as they battle to make a return appearance in the state playoffs.

“When we started the season, our goal was for game 10 (at Westlake, Nov. 6) to mean something,” Chapel Hill coach Chris Parker said. “For that to happen, we must beat Lovejoy Friday.”

The coach was pleased with his team’s 27-12 victory over Creekside on Senior Night.

“We had a few bad snaps, but overall we played pretty well, especially under the playing conditions,” Parker said. “Last year, they beat us pretty good, so it’s one of our goals to never lose to any team twice in a row.”

Except for state-ranked Newnan, Parker has achieved that goal in his second year at the helm as he strives to build a strong program.

“Another goal is never to lose two weeks in a row during the season, and so far we haven’t done that either,” he added.

But this week, the Panthers are 100 percent concentrating on a vastly improved Lovejoy squad.

“Both Lovejoy and Pebblebrook are much stronger than last season, so that has made our region tougher,” added Parker.

Lovejoy (4-4, 3-4) is coached by Al Hughes, the dean of Clayton County coaches. Hughes has been at Lovejoy for well over a decade, coming down Highway 41 from Jonesboro.

“Lovejoy runs from the ’gun and they’ll spread a lot of people out. They’ll throw it some and are still a fairly young squad, with a lot of juniors,” Parker said. “They are solid, with good speed. One of their receivers is a track standout, who is capable of causing us some problems.”

Defensively, they use the old-style 50-front and try to stop the run first.

“They’ll try to force us to throw the football and that’s not our strong point,” Parker. said. “So, we’ll have to attempt to throw it or go man-to-man against them and run it anyway.”

Chapel Hill hopes to have success running the football behind Johnathan Parks and Mario Cannon while finding some plays for wingback Trent White to catch or throw the football.

Offensively, Parker says through eight games the Panthers have scored more points this season than last year.

“I know that’s hard to believe, but we do have six non-offensive touchdowns — three by our defensive unit and three from special teams,” he said.

Parker continues to stress special teams, one area which he refuses to lose to anybody.

“During the summer, while most teams are at passing camps, we spend a lot of time working on every aspect of special teams,” he said. “Now, we still work on our passing game, too, but to have good special teams, you’ve got to work at it during the summer.”

Parker’s main goal is for week 10 to mean something. That is, his goal is to either have clinched a playoff berth or be in a position to do that in the final week of the regular season.

“Only once in my 10 years of coaching has that not happened, and it was awful,” he recalled.

Assuming CHHS beats Lovejoy, a win the following week at Westlake would give the Panthers the No. 3 or No. 4 seed for the state playoffs. A loss to Westlake and CHHS would be involved in a tiebreaker, and could end up staying at home.

In Region 5-AAAA news from Saturday night, Mays defeated Villa Rica 34-14 in the Georgia Dome. The Mays win eliminated Douglas County from the region playoff race. DCHS has this week off before facing a sub-region A foe to be determined on Nov. 6.

In Friday’s other games, Alexander is at Banneker and Lithia Springs goes to Mays.