By By Tim Cottrell
Fresh off a disappointing loss to Holmes County, the Northview Chiefs (3-1, 0-0) will once again man the buses for a long road trip, this time to Marianna, Fla., to take on the Marianna Bulldogs (2-2).
In the loss to Holmes County, the Chiefs squandered four opportunities inside the Blue Devil 15, and suffered a few defensive breakdowns in the first half to fall behind by two scores. Northview head coach Cody Keene said he was expecting to make some changes to give his team a better chance to succeed.
"I'm going to try to find kids who want to play hard on defense," Keene said. "We didn't play well defensively Friday night. We've got to get better. We were inside the 15 four times and didn't score on any of them. They drove the ball too much. We tackled poorly. Thankfully, it's things that can be fixed."
The Bulldogs defeated Holmes County 28-21 in the first game of the season. Keene said the Chiefs were facing their best competition yet this week.
"They're a good football team," he said. "They lost to Port St. Joe and Taylor. They'll be the best team we've played so far. They'll line up and run the football. They've got better speed and better tacklers than we have."
Heading into the contest, the Chiefs will be mostly unhindered by injuries.
"Kenny Wilson is still out for the season, but he's been out since the first game," Keene said. "Everyone else is ok. We've just got the regular bumps and bruises of football, but nothing to keep anyone from playing."
Keene said the only way the Chiefs would come away as winners this weekend would be to outwork the Bulldogs.
"We have got to be able to eliminate mistakes and make plays defensively," Keene said. "They're going to run the ball, so our defense has to get the ball back to our offense. We've got to give great effort from everybody on every play. We had two or three kids giving great effort last week, but we need it from everybody this week."
The Chiefs will take on Marianna Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Marianna.