Late second quarter Chiefland mistakes and an explosive second half passing attack propelled Newberry to a 49-16 win in the Region 4-1R quarterfinals on Friday.
The visiting Indians (4-7), who beat Newberry in Chiefland, 49-7, last year in the regional quarterfinals, controlled the tempo early with a physical style of play the Panthers (9-2) had trouble matching for the first quarter and a half.
Chiefland’s running game and stout defense held Newberry in check and the Indians got on the board first with a Thomas Pettigrew 5-yard pass to Jon Adams followed by an Adams run for the 2-point conversion for an 8-0 lead with 2:27 left in the opening quarter.
On the next possession, Newberry nearly scored when quarterback Keil McGriff found Hayden Moore deep down the middle of the field for 53 yards to the 2-yard line, but the Chiefland defense was able to stop three runs and a pass for a turnover on downs.
The Indians clung to the lead until a short 15-yard punt set Newberry up at the Chiefland 40-yard line. A few plays later, Kaleb Woods snuck into the end zone from the 1-yard line and McGriff connected with Jonathan Powers on the 2-point conversion to tie the contest 8-all.
On the next drive, Chiefland’s Osten Jones was hit and fumbled, and Newberry’s Ian Hubbert recovered the ball at the 24-yard line with 52 seconds left in the half. Four plays later, Hayden Moore caught an 8-yard score, and Newberry went ahead 15-8 with 27 seconds left in the half.
“One thing we’ve had problems with throughout the entire year is responding when things start to go sideways,” Chiefland coach James Corbin said. “I think the fumble right before halftime, Osten Jones had two hands on the ball, and they just laid a hat right on the football and the ball popped out but giving up a touchdown right after that kind of put momentum on Newberry’s side.”
In the second half, Newberry switched to a spread offense after its running game had been shut down in the first half, and the change led to three McGriff third-quarter touchdown passes to Woods.
“They absolutely loaded the box and [Lawrence] Rivers played extremely well tonight, he was protecting the gaps,” Newberry coach Ed Johnson said. “We weren’t getting much success running the ball, so we had to spread it out and Keil made some big throws and the receivers made some big catches and runs.”
On the first play in the third quarter, McGriff passed deep down the left sideline to Woods for a 70-yard touchdown.
“That turnover was big, we were able to get those points late before the half and then we came out [in the third quarter] and scored,” Johnson said. “That was like a double whammy. You get those double scores and it’s hard to bounce back.”
From there, the floodgates opened up as McGriff connected on touchdown passes of 51 yards and 45 yards to Woods for a 35-8 lead after three quarters.
The fourth quarter opened with Jayden Holcombe intercepting a Pettigrew pass and returning it 33 yards for a score.
Chiefland’s last score of the game came on a trick play as Pettigrew hit Adams on a 5-yard pass on 3rd-and-19 from its own 11-yard line and Adams flipped it to Jones on a hook-and-ladder. Jones outraced the defense for the 89-yard score.
McGriff, who passed for 360 yards and five touchdowns, answered on the next possession and connected with Moore on a 37-yard score to put Newberry ahead 49-16 with 9:04 left in the game.
For Chiefland, it was a challenging season after losing 17 players to graduation last year along with its star running back, Dakota Fisher, who transferred to Fort White. But Corbin has a roster with a large number of juniors and sophomores returning.
“I want our expectations to be extraordinarily high here in Chiefland,” Corbin said. “I want the fans to be spoiled rotten and have expectations of state championship or final four every single year. So whenever you have those expectations, the season feels like a letdown.
“But ultimately to put things into perspective, Chiefland didn’t make the playoffs from 2004 to 2017 and since 2017, we haven’t missed the playoffs. So we’re really starting to build a strong culture here of winning and because of that, our schedule was considerably harder than most teams in 1R.”
Newberry will travel to No. 2 seed Hawthorne next Friday where they will face the defending Class 1R champions. The Hornets defeated the Panthers, 40-10, on Sept. 1.
“[Hawthorne is] a hostile environment, a really well coached team with some really, really good players,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a task for us. We’re going to have to play our best ball to give ourselves a chance over there, but I like where we’re at. I think we’ll prepare and hopefully be ready for the challenge.”
Thursday, Nov. 9
Class 4S-Region 1 Quarterfinal
Buchholz 59, Mosley (Lynn Haven) 0
Friday, Nov. 10
Class 3S-Region 1 Quarterfinal
No. 3 Choctaw (Fort Walton Beach) 37, No. 6 Columbia (Lake City) 14
Class 2S-Region 1 Quarterfinal
No. 4 Pensacola Catholic 41, No. 5 Suwannee (Live Oak) 6
Class 2S-Region 2 Quarterfinal
No. 1 Bradford (Starke) 42, No. 8 Atlantic (Port Orange) 0
No. 4 Eastside 28, No. 5 Palatka 27
No. 2 Yulee 36, No. 7 Keystone Heights 10
Class 1R-Region 3 Quarterfinal
No. 4 Lafayette (Mayo) 40, No. 5 Branford 2
No. 3 Union County (Lake Butler) 58, No. 6 Hilliard 8
Class 1R-Region 4 Quarterfinal
No. 4 Pahokee 56, No. 5 Dixie County (Cross City) 0
No. 3 Newberry 49, No. 6 Chiefland 16
