By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP
Advance Managing Editor
The Northview Chiefs want one simple thing from this week's preseason contest n to improve.
The Chiefs will travel Friday to Chipley High School to participate in a jamboree with the host school and Blountstown. Graceville will also be present, but they and the Chiefs will not be matched up against one another.
The game will be set up into four halfs beginning at 6 p.m. The first half will feature Blountstown against Graceville, second half, Chipley and Northview, third half, Blountstown versus Northview and the final half will feature Chipley and Graceville.
During summer practices, which began two weeks ago, the Chiefs have been led by Coach Bo Lambeth. Head coach David Williams was diagnosed with cancer last spring and has recently undergone treatments. Lambeth said it is too early to know if Williams will be on the sidelines Friday.
Lambeth said the Chiefs' primary goal for the practice game is simple n make progress. He said the players have shown improvement each week and as long as that trend continues, he and the other coaches will be satisfied.
The Chiefs showed a lot of improvement during Williams' first year at head coach last season. In 1999, the Chiefs suffered through a 0-10 campaign. But, last year they finished with an overall record of 5-5. Several of the losses were extremely close contests.
Two positions the Chiefs feel fairly comfortable with so far this summer are linebacker and quarterback. Kyle Williams, a senior, will return for his second season at QB for the Chiefs.
Along with their preseason contest, the Chiefs will face off with Chipley again in the eighth game of the regular season. Lambeth said they should be a tough team to practice with.
As for Blountstown, the Chiefs are flying blind.
Lambeth said he does not worry about injuries that may occur during the practice game. He just wants the players to treat it like a real game.