The Northview Chiefs may not have won their game against West Florida, but head coach Sid Wheatley was proud of their overall showing.

“I told the kids after the game I thought we fought them tooth and nail all night,” Wheatley said. “There for a while it was just kind of a shootout. They’d score, we’d score. They’d score, we’d score. We needed that one big stop that we were unable to get. I thought our tackling kind of hurt us in open space and they were getting yards after the catch, but as far as the effort and the belief that we had that we could come out here and compete and have an opportunity to win, I thought we performed well.”

The Chiefs lost by a final score of 41-28, but as Wheatley said, the score was back and forth the whole game. Early turnovers may have had a negative impact on the final result. The team had three fumbles in the game, one of which they recovered and two that resulted in turnovers.

“It was big. I think it’s just a matter of ball security,” Wheatley said when asked if the cold weather may have had an impact.  “On one of them, it looked like maybe one of my guys was down. The thing we try to preach is you never know what’s going to be called, so you’ve got to hand on to the ball even after you hit the ground—get up and give it to the referee and that hurt us. Take away those two—we’re really driving down there and I feel like we’re going to punch it in. That may have a big impact play on the outcome.”

The Chiefs received the opening kickoff and were starting to gain momentum when the first fumble occurred.

The Jaguars didn’t waste the opportunity, converting the turnover into the first score of the game. Quarterback Joey Baker had his first rushing touchdown from one yard out to put the Jaguars on top 7-0.

After West Florida gambled and tried to fake a punt but were unsuccessful, the Chiefs capitalized on the resulting good field position. LaMikal Kyles ran in a touchdown from 3 yards out to tie it at 7-7.

Once again, Joey Baker answered with another rushing touchdown, this one from five yards out to make it 14-7 in favor of the Jaguars.
The Chiefs put together a strong offensive drive, but were unable to convert it into points just before the end of the first half.

While Brannon Freeman had a huge tackle on third down to stop the Jaguars short of the first down, they were able to convert the first down on the following fourth down play.

This time, Baker threw a pass for a touchdown to make it 21-7.

On the following drive, the Chiefs answered with an 11-yard touchdown run by Freeman to cut the lead to 21-14.

The Jaguars tried to continue to build their lead, but once again, Freeman was the man on the scene for the Chiefs when he intercepted Baker’s pass to the end zone.

The Chiefs offense converted the interception into a touchdown when LaMikal Kyles found the end zone from two yards out to tie the game at 21-21.

Once again, Joey Baker brought his team back, throwing a deep pass more than 40 yards for a touchdown to put West Florida in the lead 28-21.

Yet again, LaMikal Kyles kept the Chiefs in the fight. Kyles had a pass reception of 33 yards from Kevin Vaughan. Three plays later, he was in the end zone after rushing for three yards. His run tied the game at 28-28.

Baker put the Jaguars back on top with a one yard touchdown run to make the score 35-28.

However, the next offensive drive sputtered, ending in a punt.

The defense was unable to stop Baker and his Jaguars offensive teammates. Baker threw another touchdown, this one from about 25 yards out.

Juron Myles, who showed great hustle all night, managed to block the extra point, making the score 41-28.

The Chiefs made several pass receptions and were past midfield in their comeback attempt, but a Kevin Vaughan pass was intercepted, effectively ending the game.

While the Chiefs lost the game, they left knowing they had stayed close with an undefeated team that is in the much higher 5A classification. The Jaguars are the same team who defeated Gulf Breeze by a score of 37-14.

The Northview Chiefs will host Cottondale in a playoff game in Bratt on Friday, Nov. 16 with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.