Pirates downed by Chiefs 10-7

The Sneads Pirates fell to the Northview Chiefs 10-7 Friday night in Bratt, ending their chances of making the postseason.

The Pirates fell to 4-3 in District 1-1A with the loss, while South Walton defeated Vernon 30-27 to improve to 7-1 in league play.

Freeport and South Walton will represent the district in the 1A state playoffs.

Sneads jumped out to a 7-0 advantage Friday night, taking advantage of a Northview fumble in the first quarter. Jeff Davis found the endzone from 5 yards out to put the Pirates on the board first.

However, the Chiefs answered with a touchdown on their ensuing possession to tie the game.

Northview chipped in a field goal in the closing seconds of the first half to take a three-point lead into the break. The Chiefs seals the victory by controlling the ball and the clock for much of the second half.

Sneads coach Don Dowling said he was proud of his team’s effort, but the size and physicality of Northview proved to be too much.

“The kids played their hearts out,” the coach said. “(The Chiefs) were huge. They were much bigger than us. The kids played pretty good. We had a heartbreaking loss in our last game (a 35-0 loss to South Walton), but we were much-improved from last week’s game.”

Next up for the Pirates is a another road game against the Bozeman Bucks, which improved to 6-2 Friday night with a 28-7 win over Baker.

Sneads has had problems on the road all season, falling to 0-4 with Friday night’s loss.

However, the Pirates are undefeated at home at 4-0, and Dowling said he hopes his team can keep it that way.

“The first thing we have to work on is trying to get a win on the road,” the coach said. “We’re going to try to break that streak.

“We’ve still got a goal of trying to be undefeated at home. We’ve got Marianna at home to finish the season, so we’ve still got some goals that we can reach. We’re out of the playoffs, but we’ve still got some things to play for.”