With the district championship locked up, the Northview Chiefs traveled to Pensacola, Fla., Thursday night for an interclass match up to take on the West Florida Jaguars, a district champion in Class 5A.

The Chiefs (6-3, 3-0) faced a tough battle going against the Jaguars (9-1), which proved to be a lot to handle, with the larger school coming away with a 33-20 victory over the Chiefs.

The first half of the match up proved to be the difference in the game as the Jaguars used their offense to push out to a 27-7 lead by halftime.

Defensive mishaps put the Chiefs in a hole in the first two quarters, head coach Sid Wheatley said.

“We knew coming in that they had an explosive offense capable of making plays,” he said. “And they made several big plays in the first half. Our defense was gashed in the secondary with our guys not getting their heads around on some plays and it put us in a hole.”

Offensively, the Chiefs looked to keep pace with the Jaguars, but could only manage one score with Roderick Woods scoring from six yards out to put the Chiefs down 14-7 in the matchup.

With the Jaguars continuously making big plays, the Chiefs moved the ball but could not get any scores in the end zone to stay close.

The lack of scoring was a simple case of the Chiefs stopping themselves, Wheatley said.

“Offensively, we moved the ball against them, but we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said.

Following halftime, the momentum swung towards the Chiefs as they outscored the Jaguars 13-6 in the third and fourth quarters.

Leading by 20, the Jaguars put three points on the scoreboard with a field goal in the third quarter to pull ahead 30-7, while the Chiefs put a touchdown drive together capped off by an 11-yard dash to the end zone by La’Mikal Kyles to make the score 30-14.

Northview pulled within 10 points in the fourth quarter with Woods scoring his second toucdown of the game with this one coming from four yards out.

The Jaguars put the game way late in the final quarter with another field goal to put them up by the final 33-20.

Winning the second half was a big challenge that Wheatley and his coaching staff gave their team at halftime.

“We challenged our guys at halftime to come out and win the second half,” he said. “We told our offense to make plays and our defense to get stops. We only gave up six points in the second half, which was a big win for us.”

The Chiefs now move into the playoffs and will host Wewahitchka High School next week. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.