Niceville (Florida) halts Choctawhatchee in Panhandle showdown

NICEVILLE, FL – The Choctawhatchee Indians took the short trek north, Friday night, to take on the Niceville

Eagles in a pivotal battle for both teams. Both squads were coming off strong performances last week and Niceville back it up this week, wearing down the Indians for a 42-21 victory.

Niceville (4-1) struck first in this contest as junior quarterback Kane Lafortune connected with junior wide receiver Jordan Bryant, on a critical passing down, to set up the Eagles inside the 10-yard line. Senior running back DJ Robinson, capitalized on this field position and punched it in to give the Eagles an early 7-0 lead.

Choctaw responded with a blocked punt which was returned for a touchdown to tie it up, but Niceville was not rattled as its offense exploded for four consecutive touchdowns to take control of the contest.

Maddax Fayard, who is one of the senior leaders and jack of all trades on offense, rushed for the next score, Lafortune then connected on a deep ball to sophomore wide receiver Robert Stith to extend the lead to 21-7, heading to halftime.

Niceville kept its foot on the gas in the third quarter as Lafortune found Robinson wide open on a swing route down the sidelines to increase the lead to 28-7 and junior running back, Uriah West, got in on the scoring fun as he rushed for his first rushing touchdown of the night to make it 35-7.

Choctaw continued to battle and senior quarterback Jesse Winslette tossed a touchdown pass to get the Indians back on the board, but West added his second touchdown run of the night, before Choctaw added a late TD to set the final score.

Niceville will look to improve to 5-1 next week when they host Crestview. Meanwhile, Choctaw will look to rebound when they host South Walton.

Niceville’s Kane Lafortune finds success early on

Most fans point to the flashy plays and touchdowns when determining how successful a team is on offense, but Lafortune highlighted a play early in the game which gave his offense confidence.

Niceville was having difficulties until Lafortune connected with Bryant on a zig route to setup the Eagles in scoring position.

When asked about that play, Lafortune said, “Oh, it was huge. I mean he had a great route, and then he made a guy miss and almost scored.”

This play proved to be crucial for Lafortune and the Eagles offense which gave them the confidence and momentum they needed.

Maddax Fayard keeps opposing defenses on their toes

“I mean it just keeps them guessing, and they don’t know what’s coming. Like, I just think it helps keep them honest,” Maddax Fayard said of Niceville’s two quarterback system.

Niceville continues to run the system with great success, and this should make defending them extremely difficult. Fayard, who is the compliment to Lafortune, proved difficult for the Indians to stop on Friday when he added another rushing touchdown along with a two-point conversion.

“They can’t cheat up on our pass plays, so I’ll go back and run it sometimes, and it keeps them honest,” added Fayard.

Anytime a team converts a two-point conversion, it is a big boost to the offense which was evident in this one.

Fayard agreed.

“I think that helped us out a lot. I mean, we have a really, really, really good kicker, and they were just coming off the edge real hard, so for us to get those points back just helped us out.”

The Eagles defense stifled the Indians rushing attack

Last week, Choctaw’s standout running back, Cole Tabb had great success rushing for over 100 yards with one touchdown. The Indians knew that they were going to have to rely on their star back to take the pressure off of Winslette.

Tabb was able to find some running room outside the tackles early in the game, but the Eagles defense keyed on him. After the first quarter, Niceville made some defensive adjustments and wherever Tabb ran, he was met by a swarm of Eagles. He was held under his rushing average for the season and failed to reach the end zone.

It was another impressive defensive showcase by the Eagle defense this season. This was the team’s third double digit win, and when you combine that with their high-powered offense, they will be scary team to face for the rest of their opponents.

-- Reed Green | reed_green1582@hotmail.com | @sblivefl