By By Matthew Nascone
Friday night started out all right for the Northview Chiefs, but it ended miserably to the tune of 39-0.
"We just got beat by a better football team," NHS head coach Cody Keene said. "But I am proud of how hard our guys played."
The Chiefs received the kickoff in the first half and took the ball 29 yards, but had to punt. Kyle Sebestyen booted the ball 46 yards and pinned the Vernon Yellow Jackets on their own five-yard line.
The Yellow Jackets scored first on a 95-yard drive that took 5:30 off the clock and broke the scoreless tie on a rushing touchdown.
The Yellow Jackets suffered injuries to their top two tailbacks as NHS senior defensive end Cedric McKinley was firing on all cylinders. McKinley took both backs out on the same drive.
"We got some guys banged up because Northview came out and hit us pretty good," VHS head coach Jeff Webb said. "So I don't know if we accomplished anything except a win."
The bright spot for the Chiefs on the night was the play of the defense in the second half. After allowing 32 points in the first half, the defense only allowed seven points in the second half.
"I asked our guys at halftime to play hard in the second half because that will define where we are headed as a program and they did what I asked of them," Keene said.
NHS sophomore running back Nakita Myles was named the First National Bank &Trust Most Valuable Player of the game following the third quarter. Miles rushed for 86 yards on 20 carries and was the workhorse for the Chiefs.
"He always works hard," Keene said. "He is going to be a tremendous player in the future. He is a good back now and if he continues to get stronger and work on his speed he is going to be something special in the next couple years."
With the win Vernon improves to 10-1 and the Chiefs drop to 6-4. Keene said he did find a positive in the loss.
"I hate we didn't look better tonight, but Vernon has a tremendous football team and some tremendous athletes," Keene said. "Tonight may have not seemed like an indication, but we are heading in the right direction."
Keene said the Chiefs are going to start working towards next year starting tomorrow.
"We don't ever stop in the weight room," he said. "We will work hard on our off-season program and we will work on getting a little bigger and stronger up front. We will because these guys work hard."