Fort Walton Beach, FL — To say a 45-8 running-clock game resembled any semblance of a competitive game is crafting a false narrative. Yet there Fort Walton Beach was, forcing Niceville into two fourth downs and 17 plays on the opening drive. There Fort Walton was cutting the deficit to a two-possession score in the third quarter on a Parker Hill touchdown run and two-point conversion. There Fort Walton was a stop later in the third quarter with the ball and, dare I say, an inkling of hope. But this is Niceville (3-0). A team that's won 20 straight regular-season games. A team that hasn't lost to a county rival since 2018. A team that hasn't lost to the Vikings since 2007. A team that looks just as strong — if not stronger — than last year's Final Four team in outscoring foes 119-25 on the season. There was no hope. Simply making the perennial power Eagles work for a running-clock win is considered a moral victory these days, and that's just what the Vikings did in a contest where tailback Micah Turner scored four times and Niceville's defense dominated once again. "We come over to their house early in the year, they're going to play hard. The scoreboard doesn't fully indicate the battle that really was," Thompson said. "We were fortunate with some turnovers, some special teams mishaps. This was a battle of a game. "It's a good win against a good Fort Walton team." That actual victory, though, remains elusive for the Vikings, who fell to 0-3 in the defeat that delivered all the pomp and circumstance you'd expect from the pair of heated rivals and also reinforced the obvious: Niceville is really good at football. The scoreless streak for the Vikings' offense reached 10 quarters after a flat first half. Quarterback TJ Seiuli was knocked out early after a hard hit to the head on the defensive end. Fort Walton couldn't establish the run. And, even when Niceville had two early turnovers on a night it'd cough up the ball three times, Chip Petree's crew simply couldn't capitalize with just 49 total yards at halftime. But, with Parker Hill slotting into quarterback, the Vikings mounted a 70-yard drive to begin the third quarter and finally snapped the offensive scoreless streak with Hill's 1-yard plunge and subsequent two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 24-8. Asked about what Petree told the team at halftime, Parker replied: "Just play your hardest." "We need to work harder as a team," added Parker, who added an interception in the loss and now has both of Fort Walton's touchdowns on the year. Offensive MVP: Micah Turner, Niceville running back Turner, fresh off 120 yards and a pair of scores against Choctaw, wouldn't, no couldn't be contained. And now there may be a quarterback controversy. I kid, of course, but Turner looked like a natural taking snaps and carving up Fort Walton in the wildcat. After Azareyeh Thomas opened the right with a 3-yard score on a jet sweep, Turner had touchdown runs of 4, 3, 2 and 3 yards and finished with 107 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries. Asked about what was working, Turner didn't hesitate to point out the catalyst. Well, catalysts, as in his big men in the trenches. AUSTIN FIRESTONE. RYAN DRISCOLL. ERIC TRAPP. JOE HANSON. ANDREW TRUBE. "The O-Line blocking, that's all it was," said Turner, who was nearly matched by quarterback Addie Moore's 90 rushing yards. "Earlier in the half, I wasn't really hitting it. They just said to start trusting them, and I always trust them so that started happening." What's happening is, after disappearing in the opener, Turner has 327 rushing yards and six touchdowns the past two weeks. "Micah went back to work after that Lincoln game and he's a man on a mission," Thompson said. Defensive MVP: Austin Firestone With the injury to Seuili and the Fort Walton offense scuffling again to a scoreless first half, Fort Walton threw the entire playbook at Niceville. That included the triple option to start the second half. Firestone, the man who doesn't take a snap off and makes the defensive line go, said his crew welcomed the challenge and adapted. By night's end the Northwestern commit delivered 10 tackles and five for a loss to help extend Niceville's win streak to 14 over the Vikings. "It was interesting because we scouted them all week," he said. "Fort Walton is really good at throwing little wrinkles in there and they kind of came out with some of their spring playbook. So we were a little familiar with it, but it definitely caught us off-guard. Thompson on Charles Labee overcoming some kicking woes against Choctaw and booting a 45-yarder to give the Eagles a 17-0 lead in the second quarter: "We got nothing but confidence in the guys wearing the Flyin' N. I told Charles coming in we were going to let (Logan Marise) do the extra points and Charles would do the long stuff. We got in a situation where we needed a (45-yarder) and we put Charles in and he came through."