FlaVarsity.com - Niceville (Fla.) recaptures District in a shootout

November 6, 2009

Michael Coelho
FlaVarsity.com
Special to

NICEVILLE - To say that Crestview's entire season was riding on this one final game was a drastic understatement. What exactly was on the line? A Crestview loss would end the season for the Bulldogs and send them home placing third in the district with Niceville taking home the district title. A Bulldog win would force a 3-way shootout with Niceville and Fort Walton Beach to decide which teams will represent district 2-4A in the playoffs. Perhaps most importantly ultimate pride was on the line as the last time Crestview (5-4) beat rival Niceville (9-0) not a single player on either roster was born yet.

However all this emotion was not enough to stop the top ranked Eagles from polishing off their undefeated season and winning their sixth district title in the last seven years with a 56-38 victory, in front of a standing room only crowd on "black-out" night at Eagle Stadium.

Crestview's intensity was on full display in the early going when halfback Chris Pickett started the scoring off with a tree yard touchdown run after the Bulldogs had recovered a rare fumble from the Niceville offense. Niceville would answer back two drives later when senior running back Roy Finch took his fourth down carry two yards into the end zone for one of his four touchdowns on the night which capped off an 11 play 80 yard drive.

Niceville added six more when junior Spencer Pullen ran it in from a yard out however a botched snap on the extra point would allow Crestview to retake the lead after DD Johnson took the ball from 5 yards out and found the end zone.

Niceville limped into the locker room with a 21 - 17 lead and then made some crucial adjustments. Changes were made on both sides of the ball and Niceville came into the second half ready for war and did not let Crestview get a whiff of the lead for the remainder of the night. The Eagles scored on every possession in the second half and held off a late surge from the Bulldogs to recapture the district title after losing it a year ago to Pine Forest.

"It feels great to finish the season with a district championship and a no. 1 ranking but we are not the type of team to let any of that get to our head" stated senior lineman Mark Barrett, "we will enjoy the home field, but we understand that we are going to have to face five great teams to accomplish what we set out to do."

The first on the list of five teams will be a rematch with the Pace Patriots whom Niceville handled 42 -28 in their first matchup of the season.

When asked about preparing for Pace senior defensive end Daniel Spencer emphasized the value of the upcoming off week "were going to be sure to keep our focus during practice and study a lot this week"

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