By LEXXI BAGGETT
News Sports Writer
Northview’s homecoming week is always something to write about! Hallways are decorated. Tee pees line the halls. Flags are flying inside the school. It’s just a prideful time, regardless of the school’s actual win/loss record. The homecoming dance itself had to be rescheduled, since Hurricane Nate decided to visit as well.
This year, the dance will be held in November, but all of this week’s activities were a blast. The annual homecoming parade topped everything, with over 40 entries, including horses, wagons, antique cars, and floats. Candy was in great supply, but student participation was unprecedented!
This year’s homecoming queen was Senior Celeste North. Her runners up were Anna Nelson (1st) and Bailee Hinote (2nd). Junior Maid – Madison Sherouse. Sophomore Maid – Cloe Smith. Freshman Maid – Frankie Daw. After the traditional crowning and recognition ceremony, the game began, and although the outcome was not what was hoped for, homecoming memories still prevail.
With another defeat, Northview’s record is now 1 -7. This was after losing Friday night’s homecoming to Pensacola Catholic who also had only one win under its belt. With a final score of 41 to 22, the Pensacola Crusaders crushed the Chiefs’ hopes of ending their losing streak, especially since it was homecoming.
Turnovers and fumbles plagued the Chiefs right off the bat, but things looked promising when sophomore running back Trent Peebles scored an easy 6 points, and Northview was ahead. The extra point was no good, but the Chiefs seemed positive anyway.
During the second quarter, however, Pensacola Catholic plowed ahead and kept in the lead for the rest of the game. Their junior running back, Christian Murphy, found a hole in Northview’s defense, and he filled it with a quick 6 points. Then after a Chiefs’ fumble and only a few minutes later, the Crusaders picked up another touchdown. Still during the second quarter, the Chiefs had a turnover, and the Crusaders capitalized on that with a 45-yard touchdown pass, followed by 2 more touchdowns.
With a score of 35 to 6, it was a brutal second quarter, and the Crusaders were not even finished. They added another touchdown during the third quarter, but the Chiefs did answer with a quick recovered fumble from Daniel Merit, and then another touchdown from freshman Jayden Jackson in the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs have no game this Friday night and will spend this week working on both offense and defense skills.
“We did well with moving the ball,” Head Coach Derek Marshman said. He added that Catholic is a much larger school, and they are able to substitute players easily – something a lot of smaller schools cannot do.
Regardless, on October 27, Northview will host the Baker Gators who have yet to lose a game. Obviously the prediction is that Northview may not be a challenge for Baker this year, but it’s all in the cards! See you then.