The Chiefland football team picked up its first victory of the season last Friday with a 50-32 win at Wildwood in a matchup of 2022 Class 1R state playoff teams.
Leading the way was junior running back Osten Jones, who finished with 312 yards and six touchdowns on 24 carries.
He has been recognized as the Pavlik Orthodontics Athlete of the Week for the week of Aug. 28.
“Osten is an absolute workhorse of a running back,” said Chiefland football coach James Corbin. “He never stops fighting for extra yardage and is a slippery runner, making him exceptionally difficult to tackle in open space.”
Jones averaged 13 yards per carry on Friday and had three more touchdowns called back on holding penalties.
“Against Wildwood, the game plan was to run the ball first, but we had other people we wanted to get involved and throw the ball around a little as well,” Corbin said. “However, once the game began, Osten’s performance demanded we continued to feed him the ball and that’s what we did.”
Corbin said this could be a sign of things to come this year.
“His character and work ethic have translated to the field and I believe this is going to be a really exciting year for him,” he said.
Chiefland (1-1) will host 1-0 Suwannee (Live Oak) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Last week, Newberry volleyball player Hailey Tharp was named the inaugural Pavlik Orthodontics Athlete of the Week after averaging a double-double in five matches.
Coaches can email their nominations each week, along with stats, no later than Sunday night to mike.ridaught@mainstreetdailynews.com.