By Travis Coleman
Contributing Writer
Twitter – @tcole2025
It has been two very different seasons on the gridiron for the Williston Red Devils and the Chiefland Indians.
While Williston has struggled this year to the tune of a 3-6 season, Chiefland has thrived, amassing an 8-1 record with an impressive 27-20 win over Dixie County included in their resume. While Chiefland is a lock for the playoffs, Williston is on the outside looking in, and almost certainly needs to defeat the Indians to have a chance of sneaking in.
A rivalry game always gives teams a reason to believe that they can win the game. Williston will need to dig deep into this line of thinking if they want a chance.
Clinging to their playoff hopes, they are led by senior cornerback and running back Quinyon Mitchell. The team runs through him on offense, where he has amassed 983 yards and 11 touchdowns, and defense, where he routinely shuts down the opponent’s best wide receiver. If Williston wants any chance of winning this game, it will come by using Mitchell’s legs to control the game so their porous defense doesn’t have to be on the field all night against a potent Chiefland offense.
Chiefland is led by dual-threat quarterback Ty Corbin, who has orchestrated a magical season for the Indians. He leads an offense that is averaging close to 40 points every time they take the field. Corbin himself has thrown for 534 yards and six touchdowns, as well as rushed for 356 yards and 10 touchdowns in the eight games Chiefland has recorded on MaxPreps.
Also leading the charge for the Indians on offense is senior running back Kirk Williams who has 701 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Chiefland’s latest game was a 57-0 demolishing of St. Francis Catholic Academy (Gainesville), while Williston was handled relatively easily in Dixie County (Cross City), 28-6.
If Chiefland does what they’ve done all year in the rushing game, Williston will be hard pressed to keep up after surrendering another large total to the Dixie County rushers. Including the Dixie County game, Williston has allowed four 200-yard games, one 300-yard game, and two 400-yard games to opposing teams on the ground.
Meanwhile, Chiefland has rushed for over 200 yards three times and over 300 yards three times as well.
The game between the two county rivals will be played on Friday, November 2nd, in Chiefland. Good luck to both teams as they look to close out their respective seasons with a win.