Northview fell behind early and gave up a couple big plays as Graceville, Fla. ended the Chiefs’ season with a 43-14 victory in the Class 1A regional playoffs Friday night.

“The game didn’t go as planned,” NHS head football coach Derek Marshman said. “They jumped out on us real quick, but we responded real well. We came back and took a 14-9 lead.”

Marshman said the game started to slip out of the Chiefs’ hands soon afterward.

“We had trouble tackling on the perimeter, and gave up a couple of big plays,” he said. “The game spiraled out of control by the end of the first half. We thought we ended the game better than we started.”

Marshman said on the season, this group of players is great, noting that the 14 seniors did a good job of being leaders.

“They practiced hard, and played hard,” he said. “They’re going to go home, and some of them will have football ahead of them, some of them will be men and leaders of their communities in the future.
“The great thing about this game is that it teaches you life lessons,” he said. “This is a great group of guys that are going to do great things.”