Sports Archive

The regular season is winding down and the Florida High School Athletic Association rankings listed on MaxPreps for football carry a little more weight at this point in the year.

The University of West Florida Argos are ranked No. 23 in this weeek’s American Football Coaches Poll.

Emory Williams put together a breakout kind of game for the East Carolina Pirates in their 42-9 win over NC Central last month.

The former Milton Panther completed 25 of his 36 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns.

Pensacola State’s women’s soccer team is a Region 8 Division II champion for the fourth year in a row.

After winning 3-2 in comeback fashion on Oct. 15 over Pasco-Hernando, the Pirates beat the same team the next day by a 3-1 score to clinch the crown.

Jay and Navarre are postseason bound in volleyball.

The Royals are the No. 1 seed in Rural Region 1 while the Raiders are the eighth seed in Region 1-6A.

When Jay’s volleyball team wrapped up practice on Oct. 7, it had no idea it wouldn’t practice again for a week and had no clue what was ahead in terms of playing the district tournament.

While the Royals knew Hurricane Isaias was targeting Northwest Florida, the storm hit the north end of Santa Rosa County harder than expected on Oct. 9, devastating the area.

Milton lost in three sets to the powerhouse Dolphins Friday night in Gulf Breeze in a District 1-5A volleyball semifinal.

But the scoreboard only tells part of the story. It doesn’t show the victory the Panthers earned by playing a match a week after Hurricane Isaias ripped through their community, downing trees and power lines, damaging homes and destroying their school’s gymnasium.

Pace’s volleyball team could have folded when it trailed late in the fourth set against the Navarre Raiders in the District 1-6A title match Thursday night.

But the Patriots kept fighting, kept hanging around, and at one point, they got within 24-23, reviving hope of forcing a fifth and decisive set.

After two weeks of no Friday Night Lights because of Hurricane Isaias and its aftermath, football will be back next week for high school teams in Santa Rosa County.

But the schedule is going to look a little different than it did prior to the storm, which hit the area hard on Oct. 9.

Although there hasn’t been football for two weeks in Santa Rosa County, the FHSAA regional rankings continue to be updated.