Crestview, FL — CRESTVIEW — Examine Niceville's 6-0 résumé, and a couple of themes resonate for a team ranked fifth in 4S in the latest FHSAA RPI poll. The first is the Eagles' ability to win close game — defeated Chiles by 3, Vanguard by 8, Choctaw by 10 and now Crestview by four. The second is Niceville's ability to fell Okaloosa rivals. Since Grant Thompson took over in 2019, the Eagles haven't lost an Okaloosa County championship, something near and dear to his Middle School roots heart. That includes five straight wins over archrival Crestview, which had won four straight over the Eagles when Thompson took over the program from John Hicks. "Okaloosa County title ... it always good to get a title," Thompson beamed. But — and yes, there is a but — this 6-0 start has been a bit tense at times. Not the walk in the park you'd come to expect for Niceville, known for barreling through the regular season with running clocks and second-team units getting extended playing time. Come Friday night at a packed Jack Foster Stadium — the Big Red Machine and Eagle Pride bands and student sections battling all night — Crestview outplayed Niceville for 42 minutes. Better defensively. Better in the run game. Better in the kicking game. Better in the turnover game. Better. But games are won and lost in 48 minutes. And Niceville found a way as great programs are prone to do. Michael "BayBay" Turner scored on a goal-line run to cut the lead to 9-7 with 6:21 left to play, and DJ Shorts tacked on an 18-yard run up the right side to put the Eagles up for good with 4:11 left on the clock. From there the defense capped off the second-half shutout. "We're a young team on the road, playing these guys who did a great job and came ready to play," Thompson said. "They were ready to play at a level that I hadn't seen them ready to play since I've been here. So we were just hanging on. "Another great job by our defense. Coach Martin is a baller." Here are the takeaways from the win ... Without Fayard, Niceville loses No ifs, ands or buts about it. The man is uncoverable. Six games in, the junior has 40 catches for 664 yards and five touchdowns. He leads all of 4S in receiving yards and frankly no one runs a better route in the Panhandle. Drops consumed him in 2021, when he finished with just 10 catches for 127 yards and a score. Now the guy's a Venus flytrap. "Just all mental. Believe in yourself and you can do anything." he said of the maturation. A few plays stand out from Friday night's 12 catches for 135 yards off the right arm of Harrison Orr, who despite being sick all week completed 20-of-30 passes for 240 yards. Down 9-0 early in the fourth quarter and Niceville facing a fourth-and-7, Fayard ran a flat route up the left side to the first-down marker, looked back just in time, dove to the ground and caught a low bullet from Harrison Orr. If he can't haul that in, Niceville's drive ends and the Bulldogs take over a midfield with a 9-0 lead and eight minutes to play. Turner later punched it in from 3 yards out to cut the deficit to 9-7. "Just make a play, make it a catch," Fayard said of his mentality. "It was coming. I knew it." On the ensuing drive, Niceville getting the ball back at their own 40, Orr and Fayard connected again on a 42-yarder up the left sideline that set up DJ Shorts' game-winning 18-yard touchdown run. "What a baller. I can't say enough about Maddax Fayard," Thompson said. "Other than I'm glad he's on my team and I have him for two years." Niceville can't be thrown on Six games in, no foe has had success scoring on Niceville's secondary. Crestview had 29 passing yards, zero touchdowns. Choctaw 56 yards, zero touchdowns. Chiles 105 yards, zero touchdowns. FWB 0 yards, 0 scores. Vanguard one touchdown. North Miami Beach, 121 yards and one touchdown. Added up, opponents have completed just 49-of-114 passes (42.9%). Credit defensive backs coach and alumnus Sean Moorer. Credit the aforementioned defensive coordinator Kody Martin. Credit a secondary led by Jayden Sheppard, or a ball-hawking linebacking crew that can easily drop back in coverage. Uriah West's pass deflection sealed the win and ended the night of Brazan, who finished just 5-of-19 for 29 yards through the air. For West, who fumbled a handoff earlier in the night that led to a 15-yard loss, the second-half shutout was a statement — similar to when Niceville shut out Choctaw last week in the second half of a 23-13 comeback win. "It was the motivation at halftime, talking to each other, getting our minds right really," said West, who felt vindicated when he batted that pass down. "I fumbled. I had to get up on it. Ya know, I just shut my mouth and knew I had to do some work, show something for it. "100%, I knew we'd get that stop." Crestview and that blitz deserved better When's the last time Niceville was shut out through three quarters? Certainly not under Thompson. Maybe not in this millennium. From the start, the Bulldogs brought the blitz. Orr was sacked five times, including a strip that was recovered in the first half by Randy Thomas, and he also threw an interception under that immense pressure. "Me personally, I haven't seen a blitz like that against our O-Line," Fayard said. "I didn't expect that. I don't think any of us expected that." By night's end the Bulldogs had 15 tackles for loss and limited Niceville to 30 rushing yards on 28 carries. The bulk of that came in the final 8 minutes, when Niceville finally wore Crestview down in the passing game enough to execute its red zone offense to perfection. Crestview had its chances to expand the lead, most notably up 9-7 and picking up 7 yards on first down with a chance to work the clock. But the Dawgs put the ball in the air on back-to-back plays and the incompletions forced a punt with not even 40 seconds dripping off the clock. The tight loss has become a theme for Crestview, which could easily be 5-0. They lost to Gulf Breeze 24-21, Choctaw 35-34 and now Niceville 13-9. Now 2-3 and well outside the playoffs, the Dawgs travel to Chiles next week. Niceville travels to top-ranked Pine Forest in what appears to be an early candidate for Game of the Year.