North Cobb Christian is about to face Lakeview Academy for the third straight season and will have to go to Gainesville to face the Lions.

The Eagles (3-4) haven’t had success thus far against Lakeview, losing both games by an average of 27.5 points, but they’ve made strides this season in their fourth year as a program.

They’re anxious to find out how well they can match up with the Lions this season but it could be a daunting task.

Lakeview returned nine players on offense and 10 on defense from a team that finished 4-4 last season, and the Lions are still ahead of North Cobb Christian in running the triple-option offense.

To get its first victory of the year, North Cobb Christian’s newly established triple-option offense must be on the field longer than Lakeview’s more polished one. The Eagles have gone over some of their shortcomings in their 34-6 loss to Towns County last week and worked on converting third downs.

“We’re going to have to be more consistent on offense,” North Cobb Christian coach Harry Miles said. “We’re going to have to get tough. We did not do well on third-down conversions.”

It was the shorter third-down conversions that hurt the Eagles the most. They would average 3 yards a play, would still have to punt, and were only

4-of-8 passing in the game.

Towns County eventually took advantage of its defense, getting off the field quickly.

The Indians conducted scoring drives of at least 10 plays to put the game out of reach. The Eagles are looking back at their win over Providence Christian, when they sustained long drives en route to a 49-21 victory.

“They did a good job keeping the ball out of our hands,” Miles said. “The way we have to approach each game is to get first downs together. If we can keep their offense off of the field, we’re doing our job.”

Miles praised North Cobb Christian’s performance on defense against Towns County. The Eagles just happened to be on the field too long.

Linebacker Elijah Weems, was leading Cobb County with 85 tackles going into last Friday’s game, and Patrick Martin is having a solid season on the defensive line.

“The defensive line has played with a high motor,” Miles said. “We have some guys who have done well this year and they’re young, which is good because we’ll see them back next year.”

North Cobb Christian is expected to establish the run on offensively behind quarterback and Kell transfer Kendall Crute and running backs John Town, Daniel Gallanos, Miller Forristall.