But it was to no avail as Brayden Sampson kicked the game-winning extra point with 52.6 seconds left in the game to give the Bulldogs a 43-42 victory.

It was Jules Miles who caught a 4-yard pass from Cameron Fernandez to tie the game and bring on Sampson for the kick.

Freeport’s winning drive covered 87 yards and took two minutes off the clock. It was aided by a questionable pass interference call that came from an official some 30 yards on the backside of the play. Another big turn on Freeport’s final possession came when Fernandez was sacked for a 14-yard loss on a third-down and 10.

Offsetting penalties were called on the play and instead of facing a fourth and 24, the Bulldogs had a mulligan on the third and 10 from the Freeport 23. Even the mulligan failed forcing Freeport to go for the first down as they trailed by six points with less than two minutes to play.

Fernandez hit Sampson with a 24-yard pass play to keep the drive alive.

If not for Baker’s own mistakes on offense, the Bulldogs would not have had the opportunity to score the game winner.

The Gators took possession of the ball on their own 19-yard line following a Freeport touchdown and proceeded to move the ball downfield marching 61 yards on 11 plays before the wheels came off.

A 3-yard run by Straight gave Baker a first down at the Bulldog 20 and then came the mistakes. Two illegal procedure penalties helped kill the drive.

Baker coach Barry Gardner took full responsibility for the costly penalties.

“That’s just us,” he said. “We have to do it the right way. It’s my job to do the right thing.

“There’s nobody’s fault but mine. If we get the first down we can score and run out the clock.”

The second penalty made it third and 11 from the 21. Straight carried twice and gained seven yards as the Bulldogs took over and went the distance for the score.

Freeport scored covering 63 yards on six plays. In reality the Bulldogs covered the 63 yards on two plays, a 41-yard pass from Fernandez to Sampson and Sampson scoring on a 22-yard run.

Baker responded with Lane Brewer going 44 yards for a touchdown after Straight gained 20 yards on two carries.

Baker held the Bulldogs in tact on Freeport’s second possession and then covered 47 yards on five plays to move in front on Straight’s first touchdown that came from five yards out.

Whether planned or not, Baker then executed an onside kick with Joseph Blackshear recovering the ball for the Gators at the 50. Thirteen plays later Straight was back in the end zone after a 7-yard run as Baker led 20-7 with 8:33 left in the half.

The teams then exchanged scores with a Fernandez hitting Sampson with a 5-yard touchdown pass and Straight scoring for the third time, this one on a 66-yard run.

Elijah Ritchie’s touchdown cut the Gator lead to 26-21 with 2:48 left in the first half.

Baker possessed the ball the remainder of the second quarter moving from its own to the Freeport 26 before time ran out in the half.

A 36-yard run and 2-point conversion by Straight with 7:58 left in the third quarter capped the opening drive of the half for the Gators.

Freeport’s answer was Fernandez to Miles for 79 yards.

There were 86 seconds left in the third quarter when Straight scored from five yards out and added the 2-point conversion to give the Gators a 42-29 lead.

In the little things that might make a difference, Freeport sat at 29 points after a bobbled snap on an extra point kick attempt led to a 2-point conversion. If not for that 2-point conversion, the Bulldog coaches would have been forced to make a decision on going for two or kicking the extra point after the final touchdown.

A 53-yard pass from Fernandez to Sampson closed the Gator lead to six points early in the fourth quarter setting up the dramatic finish.

Baker finished the night with 461 yards in total offense with Straight totaling 323.

Brewer had 104 yards rushing on 11 carries. Tyson McBride gained 27 yards on four carries, Connor Hamman six yards on four carries and Kase Armstrong two yards on his only carry of the night.

Armstrong was 1-of-3 passing for 17 yards and threw an interception in the closing seconds of the game as the Gators tried frantically to score.

As is the case with most teams in the ninth week of the season, the Gators were playing without some key players. Senior Judah Morse who is probably the best Baker defensive back is out for the remainder of the season with a broken arm.

Morse also is Baker’s starting kicker and had he been available perhaps Gardner might have tried a field goal from inside the 20 rather than going for the first down that gave the ball Freeport with just less than three minutes remaining.

One has to wonder if Freeport would have scored on as many long pass plays had Morse been available. Once again, Gardner wasn’t going to make any excuses despite playing a freshman in Morse’s place.

“We have put up players in a position to win,” he said. “We just didn’t win. You’re going to have some injuries.

“That’s just part of it. You have to get it done.”

“Freeport is a very talented team,” Baker coach Barry Gardner said. “They have a senior quarterback that can throw it and also leads the team in carries. They have three very capable receivers .

“You have to be aligned to stop the run and pass.”

Bulldog quarterback Cameron Fernandez has thrown for 1,175 yards and run for another 323. He has 12 touchdowns through the air and another two rushing scores.

Freshman Dylan Louthain leads the Bulldogs with 332 yards on the ground.

Sophomore Julius Miles and junior Brayden Sampson form a danger duo with Sampson averaging more than 20 yards a reception and Miles going for more than 19 yards a catch.

The method of preparation hasn’t changed much for the Gators despite having the game one day earlier than normal. Gardner didn’t try to reinvent the wheel for the Thursday game.

“The preparation is the same, we just moved it up a day,” Gardner said.

The way the schedule is shaping up the Gators could close out the season with four-straight wins and make the playoffs.

Gardner isn’t looking ahead on Thursday though because he knows wins in the final two weeks of the season might not mean anything if Baker doesn’t take care of Freeport.

“This is the biggest game of the year,” he said. “If we win, we still have a chance to make the playoffs.”

As has been the case throughout the season, Wyatt Straight was a workhorse for the Baker offense. Straight scored the only two touchdowns of the game and picked up 180 yards on 23 carries.

Connor Hamman had 40 yards rushing on five carries. Judah Morris and Layne Brewer each carried the ball three times for 28 yards as the Gators averaged 8.1 yards rushing per carry.

Straight also made his presence known on defense piling up eight tackles to lead the Gators.

Hamman had five tackles as did Tyson McBride and Calvin Wilks.

The Gators have a short week as they host Freeport on Thursday.

Baker coach Barry Gardner was happy with the win, but stressed the Gators still have to do better against the Bulldogs.

“We played with great effort tonight, but still made to many mistakes,” he said. “We overcame the mistakes with the effort.

“We have to play with the same effort against Freeport, but without the mistakes.”

Both teams have 1-5 records and have struggled at times to score touchdowns.

FAMU has scored 74 points this season. Baker has scored 78 points. So that’s a difference of a little less than a point per game in favor of the Gators.

Baker’s real advantage comes on defense where the Gators have allowed 143 points or 23.8 points per game to the 224 points or 37.3 points the Baby Rattlers are giving up.

Gator coach Barry Gardner refuses to overlook FAMU as he pointed out they have some talented athletes on the squad.

“They have a really good running back (Trayonn Wright) and a tight end/wide receiver (Fredrick Ervin who stands 6-foot-6) that can play on defense,” he said. “They run to the ball (on defense). We have to control the temp and we can’t turn the ball over. On defense, we have to tackle in space.”

“They might have the best quarterback in the Panhandle,” Bulldog coach Thomas Grant said of Mosley’s Sammy Freitas. Coach Whiddon does a great job putting then in situations to be successful. They have a kid that’s an Arkansas commit (Cameron Keyes) that’ll play offense and defense and DB receiver time.

“It’s going to be a challenge. We got to get out there and stop the run (on defense). And (offensively) try to put together some type of running game to take pressure off our quarterback.”

Grant said the Bulldogs have played 10 people on the offensive line trying to find the right combination to block for success.

“We’re continuing to try different people and move people around to get the best combination,” he said. “You know over the past four weeks it has not been the right combination, but we have another a couple other guys that will get an opportunity this week to show what they can do.”

Grant said the Bulldogs will have to be at their best on both sides of the ball against Mosley.

“They probably have one of the more complete offenses we will face,” he said. “The quarterback is such a good runner and good thrower.

“We have to play a complete game defensively. We have to stay in our passing lanes and not rush past the quarterback.  There’s a lot of different things that we know we have to be aware of at all times.”

The Gators had a chance to tie the game at 7-7 early in the third quarter. Baker had a first down inside the Northview 15-yard line and was unable to cash in.

The Chiefs flipped the field and on the ensuing possession went the length of the field for a touchdown to move in front 14-0.

The Northview score was followed by a Gator turnover as the wheels came off for Baker.

“We played extremely hard offensively, but we made some crucial mistakes on third down with penalties and missed assignments,” Gator coach Barry Gardner said. “Defensively, we gave up too many second (down) and longs and third and longs to get them off the field when they were behind the chains.”

Wyatt Straight continued his strong season picking up 98 yards on 23 carries to lead the Gator attack.

The homestanding Bulldogs were the outmatched team as the Timberwolves rolled to a 35-0 win. The final 7:40 of the game was played with a running clock.

The young team Bulldog coach Thomas Grant worried about in the preseason has yet to grow up.

Crestview managed just 105 yards in total offense. The Bulldogs had 31 yards in rushing on 16 attempts and completed 11 passes good for 74 yards.

Senior quarterback Turtle Nocher led Crestview with 10 yards rushing on two carries. He was also 7-of-15 passing for 41 yards.

The Bulldogs ran just one offensive play in Timberwolf territory all night and never made it to the Chiles 40-yard line.

“We’re really struggling on the offensive line and that’s kind of spreading through the offense,” Grant said. “When you can’t run the ball and get movement up front it’s really tough.

“It’s a lot of pressure when we really have to throw it almost every down.”

Adding injury to insult was the fact that senior Jaden Appleby suffered an injury to his right knee that he said might be torn ligaments. If tests prove that to be true, he will be done for the season and the Bulldogs will be missing a versatile play-maker and defender.

The Timberwolves spread the wealth when it came to scoring.

BB Potter first put Chiles on the scoreboard with 45-yard touchdown run with 1:52 left in the first quarter.

With just less than four minutes left in the first half, Chiles quarterback Taylor Jacobs Jr. hit Trevor Jacobs with a 23-yard touchdown pass.

Jacobs Jr. hit Jake Atwood with an 8-yard touchdown pass with 7:47 left in the third quarter. Ryan Summer ran the ball in from five yards out to push the Chiles lead to 28-0 on the next Timberwolf possession.

Jacobs Jr. closed out the scoring with a 27-yard run with 7:40 left in the fourth quarter to trigger the running clock.

As is the case on the offensive line, the Bulldogs are struggling on the defensive front as well.

“On their first touchdown we had a guy that had a chance to make the play at like three yards and he breaks it,” Grant said. “When you don’t have the guys in the front seven that can win one-on-one, you got to bring extra people (from the secondary) into the box and that puts you in a bind in coverage.

“It’s, ‘Do we want to put more guys in coverage or do we want to try to get to it before they start?’ Our philosophy is we want to get to the running back before they can start. Obviously, that didn’t work for us tonight.”

Keishawn Smith was Crestview’s second leading rusher with seven yards. Lazarius Parks had six yards on two carries.

Zy Tassin had the long Bulldog pass of the game of 18-yards that went to Patrick Rodgers. Rodgers led the Bulldogs in receiving with two catches for 22 yards. Appleby had to receptions for 16 yards and one run for four yards before his injury.

Both teams enter the game with 1-4 records. And the win for both teams came at the hands of Lighthouse Private Christian Academy.

Baker coach Barry Gardner isn’t going to be fooled by Northview’s record. He knows the Chiefs are always a dangerous team.

“They have two really good running backs they can play,” Gardner said. “The kid, number 17 (Wyatt Scruggs) has been there four years so those kids are good.  They’ve got a new quarterback that is throwing it and running it too.

“They’ve always been able to score.”

The Gators are coming off their first win of the season after beating Lighthouse 42-12 last week.

The win has been a positive as the team has prepared for Friday’s Homecoming game.

“You’re always going to practice harder when you win,” Gardner said. “You will do more stuff than when you lose.”

The team that wins will move a step closer to securing a spot in the playoffs so anything might happen when the longtime rivals square off on Friday.

The Timberwolves (2-3) have scored just 100 points this year. The Bulldogs (1-4) haven’t been much better scoring 106 points this year.

The big difference between the two teams comes on defense. Chiles has only allowed 61 points as opposed to the 164 points Crestview has allowed.

“We are looking to get out of our rut offensively, but Chiles is a very good team,” Bulldog coach Thomas Grant said. “They play really, really hard. They are a team that wants to run the ball.

“Even when they spread us out, they want to be able to hand the ball off to one of their many backs. Defensively, they have a good defensive line and a good set of linebackers. They really get after you in the run game.”

Grant said the Bulldogs have spent the week concentrating on ways the can get better

“We are just trying to get better at what we do,” he said. “It would be nice to try and establish some sort of running game. When you can’t run the ball it’s really hard to call plays.

“At Niceville there were missed assignments up front so it makes it really tough. We’ve been getting back to individuals working on double teams, getting back to the next level. It’s been getting back to fundamentals and trying to get better every day.”

Grant said the Bulldogs were often caught flatfooted on defense against the Eagles and they have been playing with some adjustments on defense.

“We had guys that were unblocked that weren’t making the play,” he said. “We moved people around this week to try and figure things out.”