High School Football: No. 5 Northview upsets No. 4 Jay on the road to advance to semifinals

Before the Northview-Jay game, a Chiefs assistant coach told every play that gave him a high-five, “What an opportunity.”

An opportunity to beat Jay for the second time this year. An opportunity to prove those who “doubted” Northview all season long wrong, according to running back Joe Wright. An opportunity for a fresh reset into playoffs, where regular-season records are thrown out the door.

And most importantly, an opportunity to extend their season at least one more week.

Northview took advantage of that opportunity, and secured a 31-13 win against Jay on a rainy Friday night at Benny Russell Field at Merle V. North Stadium to advance to the Region 1-1R semifinals next week against first-seeded Bozeman.

“We always talk to them – especially this week – about how the record’s 0-0. … What you did before has no bearing on what happens now,” Northview head coach Wes Summerford said. “We played a really tough schedule. … At the end of the day, I told the kids, ‘You’ll be better for what we went through.’ They embraced this week of practice, had a great week and played great on Friday night.”

Initially a game where the Chiefs were up by just one touchdown at halftime – thanks to some strong defense from both teams, including an interception from Jay’s Grayson Shehan – Northview took total control just one play into the third quarter.

A 56-yard run from Wright up the middle of the field, bursting right through the Jay defense, gave the Chiefs a 21-7 lead 19 seconds into the second half. A few more traded drives with turnovers on downs and punts eventually saw Northview expand its lead after a Devin Kelly 40-yard touchdown late in the third frame where he worked his way outside and down the sideline into the end zone.

While Jay did get one touchdown back thanks to a pass from Hayden Morris to Ethan McDonald – a 12-yard pass up the middle on a slant route with 9:18 left in the game – the Royals couldn’t snag the ensuing onside kick, and the Chiefs drained too much of the clock on its next two drives, relying heavily on the run game, for Jay to muster a comeback.

Northview put a dagger in the game after a 32-yard field goal from Brandon Ferguson with less than 20 seconds left in the game.

Jay finishes with a 7-4 record, capturing its first winning season since 2018 and first seven-win season in 15 years. Second-year head coach Brian Watson said the message to his seniors is merely a “thank you,” since he had 12 players from the class of 2024 – six of which were first-year players.

“Just a thank you to that group of seniors for believing in me because even though we were in a lot of games last year, we still finished with a 4-6 record (with a forfeit). … I’m just proud of them for sticking with me when they couldn’t have,” Watson said. “I’m just excited (for the future). … We only started two seniors on defense tonight. So we’re still young. We have some seniors, but we’re very young.”

Northview (4-6) advances to the semifinals where the Chiefs will travel to No. 1 Bozeman (Panama City), which had a first-round bye for the playoffs. The Bucks are undefeated (10-0) on the season and are the fourth-best team for the rural division in the state.

Friday will be the inaugural game between the teams.

“It feels great because I feel like we’ve been doubted all season. We’ve had a tough schedule,” Wright said of the win. “It’s just as much ours as it is Bozeman’s.”

“The message is, and I always tell them, that it’s a boxing match right now. If you want to stay out, you’ve got to win the round,” Summerford said. “Now we’ve got to win round two.”

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Rain forces the run game

Northview was already planning on running the ball, between Devin Kelly, Joe Wright and quarterback Wyatt Scruggs. It’s a three-headed monster that Wes Summerford believes makes it hard for people to pick up on who’s going to get the nod on any given play.

The trio, unofficially, combined for 420 yards rushing. All four of Northview’s touchdowns came on the ground. Wright scored on a 7-yarder and 56-yarder, while Kelly crossed the goal line on runs of 49 yards and 40 yards.

Northview threw the ball just one time – and it was the interception just before halftime.

Against a young and undersized Jay defensive line, Northview ran right through them – and sometimes over them, as Wright jumped to avoid a few diving tackles.

“It gives people fits to try and stop three guys. I think that was the plan the whole time. We thought the rain would work in our favor,” Summerford said. “This kind of defines Northview football.”

“They know we’re not going to pass it, so we can run it down their throats all game,” Wright said. “They can’t stop it.”

On the opposing side, Jay – which saw Brock Stout carry most of its run game – had a tough time breaking through the Northview defense. With several dives up the middle, the Chiefs created what seemed like an impenetrable wall.

Brian Watson said the Royals planned on utilizing the pass game more, featuring quarterback Hayden Morris, but the rain thwarted those plans. Stout was limited to just 92 yards rushing unofficially, with a 5-yard run for a touchdown. His longest run was a 19-yard gain.

Morris also ran the ball on a few quarterback keepers, but it was for minimal yardage.

“We know (Northview) had a huge advantage on the offensive and defensive lines. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but our plan was to throw the ball a lot tonight,” Watson said. “You’ve got to give credit to (Northview). They smashed us. They came in and pounded us. … That’s not the difference in the game, but (the rain) really didn’t help us that much.”

Dual-threat running back package is ‘a perfect balance’

Speaking of Northview’s run game, Kelly and Wright have two very specific roles on the team in terms of who’s going to do what.

Whenever Wright has the ball, expect him to be a hard-nosed running back that runs up the middle of the field, trying to break through opposing team’s defensive lines. Wright, who stands at 6-foot-1 and weighs 205 pounds – at least according to his Hudl page – is a true “downhill runner,” Summerford said.

Summerford made sure to emphasize just what Wright was doing one year ago for the Chiefs during their state runner-up season on offense: playing guard on the offensive line. Wright’s running ability wasn’t entirely needed with Jamarkus Jefferson in the backfield – along with a couple other seniors in Kaden Odom and Luke Bridges.

“Whenever (Jefferson) would stick his foot in the ground and get up field, I would know where the hole is, so it definitely helps,” Wright said when asked if playing guard helped his run game.

Kelly, on the other hand, is featured more on the outside run game. His speed killed, especially with two touchdowns with runs that were 40 yards or more.

There was one play that Summerford highlighted during the first half, where Kelly had limited room to get through the offensive line – maybe a couple feet – but he burst through and got to the edge of the field.

“I just know I have speed. Once I pick up the block, I’m gone,” Kelly said.

“That’s just the top-end speed he’s got,” Summerford said. “It’s a perfect balance between the two.”

‘There’s a lot of Coach Bell in what I do’

Watson, a 1992 Jay High School alumnus, is no stranger to the Royals’ football program. Even though it’s only his second year at the helm, he played football for Jay and spent 16 years as an assistant coach – 12 of which were as the team’s offensive coordinator.

Not only did Watson play under, and coach under, former Jay head coach Elijah Bell – who stepped down from the head coach position after the 2010 season – but now he’s hoping that Jay is starting to return to the success that Bell brought.

Jay reached the postseason for the first time since 2019 and hosted its first playoff game since 2018. Though, similar to 2019, the Royals’ season ended at the hands of rival Northview.

Watson told his players in the postgame huddle that Jay making the playoffs wasn’t a “one-time thing.”

“That’s the goal,” said Watson, referring to getting Jay back to its success in the late 2000s. “I played under (Elijah Bell), I coached under him – I was the offensive coordinator – so there’s a lot of Coach Bell in what I do. … There’s a lot of Kent Smith in me, too, from Pace because I coached under him when he was here.”

And to make sure it’s not a one-and-done appearance for the postseason, Watson noted that the message to his underclassmen is simple: hit the weights.

“We’ve just got to get in the weight room – that’s all it’s about. … We’re going to do what we do. We’ve just got to get stronger. We started two ninth-graders on the defensive line tonight,” Watson said. “We’re going to give them a couple weeks off, then get back at it.”

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: No. 5 Northview beats No. 4 Jay in FHSAA regional quarterfinals