Churchill's Lakes Valley Conference debut ends in a 49-14 loss at South Lyon

SOUTH LYON — Livonia Churchill arrived at its first conference game as the only Livonia school with a win. It left with a 49-14 loss.

South Lyon handled the Chargers on Thursday night in the Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams, Churchill's first league game since leaving the Kensington Lakes Activities Association.

Churchill is now 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

A strong Week 1

The Chargers opened the season Aug. 27 at home with a 27-8 win over Canton in their Hall of Fame game, a result that made Churchill the only one of the three Livonia schools to start 1-0.

South Lyon came in the other direction. The Lions lost their opener 37-16 to Clarkston on Aug. 28, a game the conference lists as played at Michigan Stadium, before rebounding against Churchill. South Lyon is 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

A rough night across Livonia

Churchill, Franklin and Stevenson all joined the Lakes Valley Conference this school year, and all three lost their conference openers Thursday. Franklin fell 58-7 at Walled Lake Western and Stevenson lost 38-3 at home to South Lyon East.

That leaves the 12-team league split evenly after one week of conference play. Farmington, Milford, North Farmington, South Lyon, South Lyon East and Walled Lake Western sit at 1-0. The three Livonia schools are 0-1 along with Lakeland, Walled Lake Central and Walled Lake Northern.

What's next

Churchill returns home to face Lakeland on Friday, Sept. 11. The Eagles are 0-2 and 0-1 in the conference after a 54-26 loss at North Farmington, which gives the Chargers a reasonable chance to get back to .500.

Sources: Lakes Valley Conference official football page for standings, scores and schedule; The Detroit News Week 2 high school football scoreboard; MaxPreps Churchill Chargers football.