Chase Elliot — Catches, Chases And Wins Snowflake 100
December 5, 2010
Watch closely. Chase Elliott is ready to amaze at any moment.
A teenage sensation in every sense of the word, Elliott has only been racing for seven of his 15 years.
But each time he climbs into one of his trademark No. 9 cars, the improbable seems likely for the son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott.
It happened again in the Snowflake 100 on Saturday night at Five Flags Speedway.
Elliott started 31st out of 36 cars. When it was over, he wildly swung the checkered flag above his head as water, Red Bull and the crowd’s roar washed over him.
“It really shows how hard we worked for this,” said Elliott, who assumed the lead on Lap 86. “To have as many problems today … and to comeback, I’m just thankful.”
Elliott started near the tail end of the field after winning one of two last-chance qualifiers earlier Saturday. That was only necessary after he was disqualified following qualifying because officials ruled the nose of his car was too low.
None of it mattered. In fact, some of Elliott’s rivals thought the afternoon race might have helped him.
“He saw what was working,” said Bubba Pollard, who moved from third to second after Landon Cassill was disqualified in post-race inspection. “He’s a good little race-car driver, though.”
The good little race-car driver methodically made his way from the back of the pack while Augie Grill comfortably led for more than 70 laps (7 to 78).
Elliott began to lean on the throttle a little bit more at the midway point, as he cracked the top 10.
Then, he just began embarrassing drivers, especially coming out of Turn 4 where he shined.
He mowed down Pensacola’s Johanna Long, who finished a disappointing 13th after running in the top five early. He did away with today’s Snowball Derby polesitter Cale Gale.
Before you knew it, Elliott was up to fifth by Lap 70.
“I don’t believe it. The longer it went, the better he got,” papa Bill said.
The younger Elliott caught a burst of speed on Dwayne Buggay for third on Lap 78.
A lap later, Pollard past Grill for the lead, but the kid wasn’t far from making his final move.
“We had a good car; we just missed a little bit,” Pollard said. “I think I raced to hard at the beginning with Augie, but that’s how he races.”
After being the class of the field early, Grill fell back to sixth by the Snowflake’s end.
Long felt the sting of defeat, too, because the handling of her car continued to get worse as the race rolled on.
“It’s disappointing,” she said. “I expected so much.”
The expectations will culminate in today’s 43rd annual running of the Derby, America’s most prestigious short-track race.
It has been, unquestionably, a messy weekend out at Five Flags with some vicious crashes.
The Pro Late Models, though, proved their mettle by running green for the opening 34 laps before the first yellow came out. Dillon Oliver nudged Pensacola’s Tommy Rollins into the Turn 2 wall.
There was just one other yellow the rest of the way, as the race finished in a blazing time of right at an hour.
Nothing was as fast as Elliott, though.
“I thought at one point we were too loose,” he said.
Too loose? Now, that’s amazing.
Trinity Conquers Northview In State Semifinal Game (With Three Photo Galleries)
December 4, 2010
The Northview Chiefs’ state championship dreams were crushed Friday night by the Conquerors of Trinity Christian in Jacksonville, 49-14, in the Class 1A State Semifinals.
The finals stats were good for the Chiefs, controlling the ball three times more than Trinity, three times the running plays and twice as many passes. But five Conqueror drives in five minutes gave Trinity over three times the points on the board.
For more photos from the game, click here.
For a second photo gallery, click here.
For submitted fan photos, click here.
The Chiefs (11-2) took the lead with 5:47 to go in the first quarter on a 12-yard touchdown run from Dustin Yuhasz to cap an 80-yard, six minute drive. The point after kick was blocked, and Northview held a 6-0 lead. But on the next sequence, Trinity answered with a 12-yard touchdown run of their own and a good kick. The Conquerors were on top 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second, the Trinity advantage increased to 14-6 with a 22-yard touchdown pass with 8:35 on the clock.
“We did what we needed to do in the first half,” Northview Head Coach Sid Wheatley said.”We controlled the ball about 18 of 24 minutes in the first half. Taking the lead with that first touchdown was big, and overall we controlled the ball well.”
The first few minutes of the third were also looking up for the Chiefs. Trinity scored on a 15 yard run on the opening drive of the second half. Down 21-6, a 2-yard touchdown scramble from Roderick Woods put it at 21-12. The Chiefs were successful on a two point conversion attempt, put Northview within reach at 21-14.
But then there was the last five minutes of the third. “In those next five minutes, we lost the game. We didn’t play well at all during those five minutes,” Wheatley said.
In those five minutes, the Conquerors conquered the Chiefs with successive TD’s — a 20-yard pass, a 23-yard pass and a 23-yard fumble return — to end the quarter at 49-14. The fourth quarter was scoreless.
It was 1979 when the Eagles of Ernest Ward High School last brought the only modern time Class A football championship back to the area. Ernest Ward would later merge with the Century Blackcats to create Northview. Friday night marked the first ever Semifinal appearance by a Northview team.
“I”m extremely proud of the season we had. They were the first team to go that far in the playoffs, and that says a lot,” Wheatley said. “We are going to work hard and build on it next year.”
- For more photos from the game, click here.
- For a second photo gallery, click here.
- For submitted fan photos, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos on this page an in first listed gallery by Will Dickey, the Florida Times Union, click to enlarge. To purchase photo reprints from this article, visit jacksonville.com. Photos in the second gallery by Heather Leonard for NorthEscambia.com. Photos in fan photo gallery courtesy Megan Carroll and Wayne Holland for NorthEscambia.com.
Florida Hunters Could Be Required To Report Every Deer Harvested
December 2, 2010
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is considering new rule proposals requiring all hunters to tag harvested white-tailed deer and report the harvest to the FWC.
However, the commissioners directed staff to provide a menu of options regarding exempt hunters, showing how those hunters would report their harvest. Exempt hunters include individuals 65 and older and 16 and under.
Tagging and reporting game harvests is commonly done in many states, and FWC staff reviewed several other states’ harvest-reporting systems to see what might work well in Florida, according to a FWC news release The agency is seeking to craft a system where hunters would report their harvested deer, to better track where and how many deer are harvested in Florida.
FWC staff presented a draft proposal at five public meetings across the state and gathered input and feedback through an online poll.
The proposed harvest-reporting system would utilize a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week telephone and Internet system, and tags to attach to harvested deer.
Some of the information hunters would have to report includes their customer number, date of harvest, county, method of take, hunting with or without dogs, type of deer (antlered buck, button buck or doe) and number of antler points on bucks. All compiled statewide harvest data would be available to the public online and updated daily, but would not include hunters’ personal information.
“We want to make this system as friendly as possible for Florida’s hunters,” said Cory Morea, FWC biologist and deer management program coordinator. “We need the data to give Florida hunters what many of them have asked for – that is better management of the state’s deer herd, and at a more local level. This will give us one of the tools to enable us to do that.”
The new rules could be approved for final adoption at the February 2011 Commission meeting and would become effective July 1, 2011, and apply to the 2011-12 hunting season.
For more detailed information on the proposed harvest-reporting system, go to MyFWC.com/Deer.
Northview Splits Games With Ponce de Leon; Aggies Get Wins
November 30, 2010
The Northview Chiefs split games with Ponce de Leon Monday evening, while Tate picked up two wins
Northview — Ponce de Leon
In boys action, Northview’s Chiefs defeated the Ponce de Leon Pirates 48-41, while the Lady Chiefs fell 66-23.
The JV and varsity boys will host Pensacola Christian Academy on December 2, while the varsity and JV boys and girls will host the Baker Gators on December 3.
Tate 58 Gulf Breeze 57
The Aggies picked up a 58-57 big win on the road Monday against Gulf Breeze, taking the lead with just 7.3 seconds on the clock.
Tate 60 Niceville 46 (Girls)
The Lady Aggies defeated Niceville 60 to 46. Tate improved to 4-1 with the win. Courtney Brown led the Lady Aggies with 19 points .
Class 1-A Playoff Brackets
November 29, 2010
Northview will face Trinity Christian at 6:30 Central time Friday night in Jacksonville in the Class 1-A State Semifinals.
Video Highlights: Northview Beats Freeport For Regional Title
November 28, 2010
Here are video highlights by Keith Garrison from Northview’s win Friday night over Freeport.
For game details, click here for the NorthEscambia.com story.
(If you don’t see the video, it is because a setting at your home, work or school firewall or computer is blocking YouTube videos.)
Northview Chiefs Win Regional Championship
November 27, 2010
The Northview Chiefs made school history Friday night as the only team to ever bring home a Regional title. And for the Chiefs, the victory was also sweet revenge over Freeport, the only team to beat the Chiefs this season.
In the Regional 1-A finals, Northview (11-1) defeated Freeport (9-3) 21-12 to advance to the state semi-finals next week in Jacksonville.
“I can’t put into words how proud I am of this group,” Northview Head Coach Sid Wheatley said. “They went on the road to a tough place to play and a tough place to win. It was a huge win, a huge win for this football program.”
Less than a minute into the game at Freeport Stadium, Northview’s Taylor Martin picked off a Bulldog pass, returning it 35 yards. With a good kick from Lance Bushaw, the Chiefs held 7-0 lead with 11:12 to go in the first quarter.
“Taylor Martin’s interception was really, really big for us,” Wheatley said. “It was a really big boost for us and a good way to start a game.”
Freeport answered with a four-play, 70 yard drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown run. The Bulldogs missed the extra point kick, and the Chiefs held a 7-6 lead at the end of the first.
In the second quarter, the Chiefs drove hard on 16 plays for 62 yards, all the way down to fourth and goal from the Freeport four. Roderick Woods, who ended the night with 80 yards on 17 carries, plowed in for the touchdown. Bushaw put the pigskin through the uprights again, and the Chiefs held a 14-6 lead.
After a scoreless third quarter, La’Mikal Kyles was in the end zone in the fourth on a 43-yard dash through the Bulldog defense. Bushaw’s kick was once again good, and Northview was up 21-6 with 10:40 in the ballgame.
Freeport managed a two-yard touchdown run with 9:03 to go in the fourth.
Neither team could find the end zone on the following downs, and Northview sealed win with a big interception by Kyles with 1:49 remaining in the game. Kyles finished the game with 86 yards on a dozen carries.
“I thought we played extremely well on both sides of the ball. The defense made stops when we needed to, and the offense was able to produce enough points,” Wheatley said.
Northview will be on the road next week in the state semi-finals in Jacksonville to take on top-ranked Trinity Christian at 6:30 p.m. Central time. The winner of that game will be in the Class 1A state championship game in Orlando on December 10.
“It’s going to get tougher,” Wheatley said. “But we are in a routine, and we will continue to work to stand up to the challenge.”
Trinity Christian earned their trip to the semis with a 42-41 triple overtime win over Providence of Jacksonsville Friday night.
Pictured top: Northview defender Tyler Brooks closes in on the Bulldog’s quarterback Friday night in Freeport. Pictured top inset: La’Mikal Kyles scored a fourth quarter touchdown for the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. Pictured bottom inset: Taylor Martin returns an interception 35 years to put Northveiw on the board. Pictured below: The Chiefs score. Submitted photos and courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fans Welcome Their Region 1A Champion Chiefs
November 27, 2010
A crowd of Northview Chiefs fans gathered early Saturday morning to welcome the Region 1-A Champions back to Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
EA Cougars Win Thanksgiving Tournament
November 27, 2010
Escambia Academy opened their season by winning the Lowndes Academy Thanksgiving Tournament in Lowndesboro, Ala.
The EA Cougars (2-0, 0-0) won their first games against Evergreen’s Sparta Academy Warriors 57-54. The Cougars took the championship game 41-40 over the Longhorns of Marengo Academy from Linden, Ala.
Escambia Academy’s Darron McGhee finished as the Lowndes Academy Thanksgiving Tournament MVP. McGhee, Tanner Kirk and Keaton Maher were named to the All-Tournament team.
Pictured top: The Escambia Academy Cougars (front, L-R) Brandon Goddard, Jaylen Henry, Dillon Anderson, (back row) Tanner Boatwright, Tanner Kirk, Blake Quimby, Chris Macks, Keaton Maher, Jordan Sasser, Darren McGhee, coach Kevin Woods. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Northview Honors Volleyball Players
November 24, 2010
Several members of the Northview Lady Chiefs volleyball team were honored during the team’s annual banquet this week.
Receiving awards were:
Best Offensive Award
- JV – Lana Clayton
- JV – Paeton Hadley
- Varsity – Ashley Digmon
Best Defensive Award
JV – Danielle Steadham
Most Improved
- JV – Danielle Steadham
- Varsity – Morgan Payne
Coaches Award
- Varsity -Ashley Digmon
Best Attitude Award
- JV – Ali Martin
- JV – Danielle Steadham
- Varsity – Sarah Killam
- Varisty – Katie Wieborg
Effort Award
- JV – Paeton Hadley
- Varsity – Raylin Spence
Special Thanks!
- A special award was given to Kara Hardin for her continuous hard work for the volleyball team.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
