By Andrew Garner

Editor

Northview couldn’t get its defensive act together in a 56-24 loss to Class 6A Gulf Breeze tonight at home.

The Chiefs entered the contest after an off week, which was used to regroup and get healthy.

NHS head football coach Sid Wheatley said overall, it wasn’t a good showing.

“You can’t turn the ball over in games like this,” Wheatley said. “We didn’t play good defense all night. They’ve got a good football team. I knew they were going to score some points.”

By the end of the first quarter, NHS held a respectable 12-7 lead over the Dolphins, but that would change in a hurry.

Gulf Breeze’s Tyler Phelps rushed in from 2 yards with 11:23 left in the second.

Then, Northview’s Luke Ward coughed up the ball on the kick off return, and the Dolphins made the Chiefs pay as Phelps found the end zone again from 4 yards to give his team a 23-12 advantage.

The Chiefs answered when quarterback Gavin Grant found Brandon Spencer for a score from the Dolphins’ 20.

The Dolphins tacked on another score just before halftime when Tristan Covell scooted in from the 1 to make it 31-18 with the successful 2-point try.

Sheppard threw another good pass for a score with 7:52 left in the third quarter, and after a turnover by NHS, the Dolphins scored again when Covell found the 18-yard box for a 46-18 lead.

The Dolphins added a 42-yard field goal by Trey Wright, and a Phelps to Clark Gouget TD pass to go way ahead.

Grant connected with Jacob Dunsford for 3 yards to bump into the Dolphins’ lead at 49-24 midway through the fourth quarter.

Wheatley said not being able to get off the field on defense hurt the team.

“That was obviously our downfall tonight,” he said.

Northview travels to face Chipley next week.