“We played hard,” Gator coach Barry Gardner said. “But the biggest difference in this game is we had zero turnovers.

“I’m proud of the kids. We had good games from several older players as well as several younger players.”

Nobody had a better game than running back Wyatt Straight as he shredded the Stingray defense for 244 yards and five touchdowns on 23 carries.

Straight scored two TDs in the first quarter as Baker took a 14-6 lead.

Judah Morse didn’t score any touchdowns, but he did gain 37 yards on five carries and kicked all six Gator extra points.

The Gators scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, two by Straight on runs of 14 and 15 yards. The other Baker score came on the only Gator pass of the game when Kase Armstrong hit Riley Renfro with a 7-yard touchdown pass.

The Gators were in control with a 35-6 lead at the half and never looked back as they coasted to the win.

Straight scored his five and final touchdown of the game from five yards out with about seven minutes left in the third quarter.

Lane Brewer led the Baker defense with seven tackles. Maddox Smith and Tyson McBride each had four tackles.

The Gators host Northview on Friday.

Crestview would have several times when it was hard to break through for a crucial tackle or first down. The Bulldogs didn’t back down for 48 minutes as they fell to Niceville 42-21.

Although Crestview was missing several key starters, including senior quarterback Turtle Nocher, for undisclosed team reasons, the Bulldogs were impressive on their opening drive, which ended in a fumble lost.

Freshman quarterback Zy Tassin gave a glimpse of Crestview’s bright future the next three years in taking the team 75 yards on seven plays before the Bulldogs lost a fumble deep in Eagle territory. Tassin had a run of 17 yards on the drive and a pair of pass completions to sophomore Patrick Rodgers of 23 and 28 yards.

But Niceville not only flipped the field on its first possession of the game, it scored a touchdown. The Eagles covered 95 yards on 12 plays in four minutes and 21 seconds. Senior running back capped the drive with a 3-yard scoring run.

The score was still 7-0 in favor of the Eagles when the Bulldogs took over on their own 2-yard line.

Crestview didn’t march the length of the field for a score. It was more like the Bulldogs sprinted.

Lazarius Parks had a carry for no gain on the first play of the drive. Tassin gained seven yards to move the ball to the 9-yard line and give Crestview a manageable third-and-three play. A delay of game penalty made it third down and eight.

Two plays later Parks was crossing the goal line on a 46-yard reception of a Tassin pass with 9:02 left in the first half. The Tassin to Parks connection came one play after Tassin found Rodgers for 50 yards to get the Bulldogs out of the shadow of their goal line.

Ethan Myers kicked the extra point to tie the game at 7-7.

The Eagles scored two touchdowns in those final nine minutes of the half to take a 20-7 lead into the half.

A mental mistake by the Eagles on the opening kick of the third quarter put the Bulldogs in business deep in Niceville territory.

The kick returners for Niceville failed to remember that a kickoff is a live ball as it bounced freely until the Bulldogs covered it at the Eagle 6-yard line.

The connection of Tassin to Rodgers struck again from five yards out as the Bulldogs cut the Eagle lead to 20-13.

“When we get in the red zone (inside the Niceville 20) and fizzle out, that’s tough,” Bulldog coach Thomas Grant said. “We had some opportunities on offense. We got the long onside kick and converted (for a score). But we have to do a better job of converting and staying on the field.

“Right now we just have to get better. We are not as talented in some positions (as the team has been in the past). I’m proud of our effort, but we just have to keep building.”

Niceville had a 16-0 run in the final 10 minutes of the third quarter to take control of the game.

The Eagles led 36-13 with just less than eight minutes showing on the clock in the fourth quarter when Fayard broke free for a 24-yard touchdown run.

Tassin finished off his impressive performance with a shuffle pass to Jayden Appleby that covered 80 yards for a touchdown. Appleby caught the ball near the Bulldog bench and worked his way through the Niceville defense like a cab driver in New York getting through traffic while in a hurry to the airport.

Appleby landed in the endzone with 7:33 left in the game. Tassin scored on the 2-point conversion to close out the scoring in the game.  

Tassin finished the game with 265 yards in total offense. He was 8-of-18 passing for 233 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He also led the team in rushing with 32 yards.

Rodgers had four catches for 107 yards and two scores. Parks had the one catch for 46 yards and he TD. Appleby’s only reception went for the touchdown.

The Bulldogs will be back at home on Friday night when Tallahassee Chiles comes to town for Homecoming 2023.

Statistically, they were.

Baker had 241 yards in total offense, all on the ground. The Gators ran 51 plays, 47 of them running plays.

Jay had 149 yards in total offense on 34 plays. The Royals ran 21 times for 49 yards and gained 100 yards through the air on 6-of-19 passing by Hayden Morris.

Jay’s Brock Stout, who entered Friday’s game averaging 156 yards a game rushing. Baker held Stout to 46 yards on 19 carries. His longest run of the night was nine yards.

Baker’s Wyatt Straight had four times more rushing yards than Stout with 187. And he did it on just six more carries.

Gator miscues and Jay’s passing game were the differences in the game.

“We had the ball inside their 15 four times and only scored three points,” Baker coach Barry Gardner said. “And then we fumbled five times. We’ve had 16 fumbles in four games.

“We have to do a better job taking care of the ball.”

The three points Gardner mentioned came on a 28-yard field goal by Judah Morse with 7:40 left in the second quarter.

Four minutes later Grayson Shehan scored on a 3-yard run.

A 28-yard pass from Morris to Shehan was the big play in the 57-yard drive.

A 20-yard touchdown pass from Morris to Tucker Nowling on Jay’s first possession of the second half. Ethan McDonald scored the 2-point conversion to push the Royal lead to 14-3.

Down by 11 with a little more than 20 minutes left in the game the Gators had no margin for error, but the errors continued as they had throughout the night.

Jay won the opening toss and deferred to the second half. The Gators promptly drove the ball downfield getting to the Royal 15-yard line before a holding penalty caused the drive to stall.

The Royals gained six yards on three passing plays on their first possession of the night before punting. The three plays were the only plays Jay ran in the first quarter as the Gators were relentless in their running game.

Baker moved 63 yards on nine plays on its second drive of the night which carried from the first quarter into the second quarter. The Gators had a third-and-goal at the Jay 5-yard line before losing six yards on a bad pitch. The Morse field goal capped the drive.

Riley Renfro scored what looked to be a 29-yard touchdown for Baker early in the fourth quarter, but a holding penalty negated the touchdown.

The Gators were still in business on the same drive and looked to have picked up a first down on a fourth-and-6 from the Royal 13. But an inadvertent whistle by the officials forced the down to be played over and the Royals stopped Straight short of the yard to gain.

Baker didn’t lose any of its five fumbles, but each one stalled what looked to be a promising drive.

Mistakes aside, Gardner a lot of good things from the Gators.

“The (offensive) linemen played hard, the backs played hard,” he said. “Our defense played very hard, but we can’t turn the ball over.

“If we can build on how hard we are playing on not turn it over we can be very successful.”

Straight was followed in rushing by Tyson McBride with 30 yards on six carries. Layne Brewer had 17 yards on six carries. Renfro, after having the touchdown called back on the hold, ended the night with eight yards on five carries.

Nowling led the Royals with 59 receiving yards on three catches.

Pace 28, Crestview 0: The Bulldogs fell to 1-3 on the season with the loss to the Patriots. Crestview has an open date this week before traveling to Niceville on Sept. 29 for a big district game with the Eagles.

Last week the Bulldogs got a steady dose of Choctaw’s Cole Tabb, who ran for more than 300 yards.

Crestview faces another ground attack only the Patriots will come at the Bulldogs with multiple rushers.

“They’re going to try and bloody our nose,” Bulldog coach Thomas Grant said. “They do a great job over there at Pace, coach Kent Smith and his staff. I think they have one of the premier staffs in the Panhandle.

“Their quarterback, number 10 (Nick Simmons), is a warrior. Number eight (Xakery Wiedner) finished in the top 10 in the state in the 100 (meter dash) and is their receiver.”

Grant said Pace has a great offensive line led by sophomore Grant Wise, who already has scholarship offers from Florida, Florida State and two-time defending national champion Georgia.

“They do a really good job and have a really good (offensive) scheme,” Grant said.

It was hard to compare the Pace stable of running backs to Choctaw’s Tabb.

“Pace has some really good players,” Grant said. “I think their scheme and what they do is tough and different because the quarterback could run it.

“They bring motion where the receiver can get a pitch and run it. There’s definitely more options to their offense than just three (Tabb). But last week three was good enough to beat us pretty much by himself.”

Friday marks the first time the young Bulldog team plays a real game on the road and Grant doesn’t know what to expect.

“I think we’re so young the kids are just living day by day and it’s the next game,” he said. “I don’t think they’re really too concerned with it, but we’ll find out Friday night.”

Grant said the Bulldogs will need to run the football and control the line of scrimmage.

“If they give us the box (running room), we have to be able to get four or five yards,” he said. “We have to be able to convert on third down and keep their offense off the field.”

The Bulldogs have an open date on Sept. 22 before traveling to Niceville on Sept. 29 for the first district game of the year.

Grant said the open date is coming just at the right time.

“I think it’s big for us because we’re getting some players back,” he said. “It’s going to come at a very, a very pivotal time for us to get some players healthy.

“We will be able to examine how the first four games went and see how we need to adjust moving forward.”