WIN TO GET IN: Fort Walton Beach, Crestview and Choctaw need shootout to settle District 2-4A playoff seeding

By TRAVIS DOWNEY

Florida Freedom Newspapers
(850) 315-4476 | travisd@nwfdailynews.com

 The final seconds had just ticked off the scoreboard clock Friday at Steve Riggs Stadium and already Fort Walton Beach quarterback Luke Barnes was looking ahead to tonight's District 2-4A shootout.

"Revenge," Barnes said as a wry smile stretched across his face. "Revenge."

Barnes was referring to the possibility of the Vikings (8-1, 2-1) avenging their only loss of the season, a 14-13 setback at Crestview (5-4, 2-1).

The term could just have easily applied to Crestview, which will open tonight's playoff for the playoffs against a Choctawhatchee (5-4, 2-1) team that handed the Bulldogs' their lone district loss earlier this season on a last-second field goal.

Then again, after coming so close to winning the district crown themselves Friday, Choctaw will have a chip on its shoulder as well.

Throw in the emotion and passion that stews whenever these teams meet and the stage is set perfectly for a memorable night when the shootout gets underway at 7 p.m.

Choctaw and Crestview will play in the first 12-minute quarter with the winner advancing to play top-seeded Fort Walton Beach, who was awarded the No. 1 seed - not to mention host status - for having the best overall record through nine games.

If Fort Walton Beach wins, the Vikings would claim the district title and No.1 seed entering the playoffs with the loser being named district runner-up and securing the final playoff berth.

Should the Choctaw-Crestview winner defeat Fort Walton Beach, however, that team would be named district champion and force the Vikings and the loser of the first quarter game to play head-to-head for the runner-up position.

All of this coming on just two days rest after all three teams played their district finales Friday.

"Our kids are down but the thing about our situation is we're still in the same exact situation we were before (Friday's) game," Choctaw coach Greg Thomas said Saturday. "So is everybody else. Anything can happen in a quarter.

"You can go from winning the district to not even making it to the playoffs in the span of about an hour."

These circumstances make each team's use of its limited time to prepare that much more critical.

With such a quick turnaround between games, and so little time to allow the players time to recover from the bumps and bruises of a typical Friday night, Thomas limited the amount of physical work on Saturday and instead shifted the focus of the Indians' preparations to the mental side with film sessions planned for Monday morning.

"Really it's film study and just trying to get them ready for the emotion of what's taking place," Thomas said. "We were really drained after last night and I think our guys needed to get away from everything for a day and then get back to work."

Matt Brunson, whose Bulldogs enter tonight's shootout having won three straight after last week's 14-7 win over Navarre, believes his team is playing at a high level at just the right time.

"Our goal over the past three or four weeks has been to have some consistency in our ground game and I think we are achieving that," Brunson said. "We will get out our Fort Walton and Choctaw notes and make a couple of changes and go."

Each team's physical health will also play a factor.

Choctaw will be without running back Le'Keefe Robinson and starting center Donald Henderson after each sustained injuries in Friday's loss at Fort Walton Beach.

Several Vikings' players were either held out of last week's game or played limited minutes due to injuries of their own and Crestview has experienced its own bumps and bruises.

"Hopefully we can heal up and get some boo boos healed up for Monday night," Fort Walton Beach coach Mike Owens said.