The Northview Chiefs found redemption Friday night, not only against a Chipley team who knocked them off last year in the Florida High School Athletic Association playoffs semifinal match up, but also by finding a big win after falling 48-42 last week in overtime versus Marianna.

The Chiefs fell behind early and were down 14-6 at halftime, but found the drive to finish that head coach Sid Wheatley emphasized after last week’s loss.

“We had what I thought was a big character win tonight,” Wheatley said. “We were down for the majority of the first half, but we finally got some things rolling and we started to play a little better and the offense was clicking and we got some points on the board in the second half.”

Wheatley said the second half made all the difference for his team.

“We talked (at half time) about what it was going to take,” Wheatley said. “We kind of used this team as an example after what happened last year in the playoffs. We were up 14-0 in that game and they just adjusted for the second half.”
The Chiefs certainly adjusted for Friday night’s second half, adding 44 second-half points to knock Chipley off in huge fashion.

“We had a tough loss last Friday, which kind of challenged them to finish this football game and show character,” Wheatley said. “I thought the kids responded really well.

NHS certainly responded well, evening things out at 22-all in the second half, on their way to the big victory. Chipley would find the end zone once more, to lead 29-22 momentarily before NHS added four straight touchdown drives to end the game.

Wheatley said his team’s ability to bounce back is a good sign of things to come throughout the rest of the year.

“We had a defensive interception return by Neino Robinon that was a big play and I really thought our conditioning kind of got the best of them throughout the game,” Wheatley said.

Next Friday, the Chiefs will Battle South Walton at home in Bratt, Fla.

“We don’t know much about them yet,” Wheatley said. “But we have some film we’re going to look at and we’ll be ready.”

Northview will take on South Walton next Friday at 7 p.m.