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CRESTVIEW — There is still plenty to play for as the Crestview football team heads to Panama City on Friday for a do-or-die District 2-6A game against Mosley. Kickoff at Tommy Oliver Stadium is at 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs (3-4, 1-2) are coming off a heartbreaking 13-8 loss to Navarre that saw the Raiders driving 90 yards for the winning touchdown in the final three minutes of play.
Crestview coach Kevin Pettis knows his team will need some help, but he said that with two district games left, the Bulldogs are very much alive for a spot in the playoffs.
“We are still in the hunt,” he said. “If we win out, we have to have Fort Walton Beach lose twice to be outright (in second place).”
After that, Crestview’s playoff equation becomes a bit more complicated, with the key factor being that the Bulldogs beat Mosley on Friday and end the season with a win over Niceville.
Friday’s loss to the Raiders was hard on Pettis.
“I felt like we had Navarre beat,” he said. “I felt like the call there with the bootleg to ice the game was a great call, but there was a holding call on it. It’s just one of those things where we have to make that play.” Crestview quarterback Dakota Davis scored on a bootleg, with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, only to have the score erased by a penalty.
“I felt that … we played well enough to win, but there are some other things that we’ve got to correct. We can’t get the ball inside the 30 twice on the first two drives and just get three points.”
With the Navarre game in the rearview mirror, Pettis turns his attention to the Dolphins (3-4, 0-3).
“They run the Wing-T (offense) and that’s tough to get ready for during the week because you don’t ever see it,” he said. They do a great job in their run game. They do a super job.
“It’s not going to be easy. Tommy Oliver is a tough place to play. You have to show up and play.”
Mosley will have extra incentive Friday, as longtime Dolphin coach Perry Brown will lead his team onto its home field for the last time in district play.
“Coach Brown does a fantastic job,” Pettis said. “This is his last year there. He is retiring at the end of the year and he wants to win every game he can at Tommy Oliver.”
Pettis is very familiar with Tommy Oliver Stadium, as it was his home field when he played high school football at Rutherford. Friday’s game will be the first for Pettis at Tommy Oliver Stadium as a coach and the first time he’s been on the field in a game since his senior season for the Rams.
“The last time I was involved in a game at Tommy Oliver was 1986, and we beat Bay High 9-5,” he said. “It’s exciting going back to Tommy Oliver. I had some great games there as a player and remember beating Pensacola Pine Forest there 35-10.
“It’s going to be fun going back to Tommy Oliver and I’m excited about going back and playing in front of my home crowd and my family will be there.”
Crestview tailback Micah Reed is coming off another big game, rushing for 178 yards on 37 carries, but Pettis said Reed will need some help for the Bulldogs to beat the Dolphins.
“I think everybody has tried to stop Micah, and our offensive line has done a good job, being so young,” he said. “But we have to find a different playmaker, especially as we get closer to the end. We have to do a better job of spreading the ball around.
“Mosley runs a 5-2 (defense) and will already have nine people in the box. They do a good job of getting people to the football and we know. We just have to do a good job and we have to figure it out.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs head to Panama City for must-win district game at Mosley