Northview reaches semifinals
Published 9:28 am Wednesday, December 1, 2010
With a win this Friday night, the Northview Chiefs will reach the promise land, a berth in the FHSAA state championship game held in Orlando, Fla. on Dec. 10.
The Chiefs (11-1) have already made it the farthest they ever have in the playoffs now that they have secured a trip to the semifinals against Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Fla. this Friday.
Northview is hoping they can continue their dream season by topping Trinity and reach the championship game hosted at the Citrus Bowl.
Chiefs head coach Sid Wheatley said Trinity is a strong team with good skill players.
“They have a great team,” he said. “This is the time of the season though where you expected everyone to have a great football team. They have some very good skill people, so we need to be strong in our gang tackling and play smart in our assignments.”
The Chiefs have played well on both sides of the ball throughout the season, but the offense is relied on to eat up the clock.
Wheatley said if his team can eat up clock with good drives then they have a good chance.
“Offensively, we need to come off of the ball well and control the line of scrimmage,” he said. “We have been able to eat up the clock with controlled drives. If we can hang on to the ball and drive then we just need to punch it in when we get to the red zone.”
Trinity will run a Wing-T offense with some wildcat formations being thrown in, according to Wheatley.
He said they have the No. 4 running back in the nation, so they will try to get him the ball.
“They base out of the Wing-T and have some wildcat,” Wheatley said. “They have a couple of skill guys that they will try to get the ball too especially one of their running backs. We have to be sure to swarm to the ball and tackle. If we do that then we have a good shot in this game.”
A win would give the Chiefs their first berth in the state championship game.
Wheatley said it would be a tremendous accomplishment for his team.
“It’ll be huge for us if we win,” he said. “We are as deep as we have ever been already and I told our kids that they are only four quarters away form a berth in the state championship.”
Northview and Trinity kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Fla.