Pace’s girls soccer team is headed to the Region 1-6A tournament for the second consecutive year and will play in Tallahassee against Chiles on Feb. 13 in the quarterfinal round.
The Patriots were the District 1-6A runner-up and are facing off against Chiles for the second time this season.
Pace claimed the Region 1-3A crown in traditional for the second consecutive season and tied rival Navarre for the title in Olympic at Flagler Palm Coast last Thursday.
The reigning state champion Patriots won 57-53 over Navarre in the traditional competition and ended up in a 42-42 tie with the Raiders in Olympic.
It’s been more than a decade since Pace’s boys soccer team has put together a winning season — head coach Rick Carroll noted at least 14 years – and the Patriots are pleased with the strides they have made.
Central took eight lifters to the District 1-1A meet earlier this month. Seven punched a ticket to the regional.
That alone is impressive, what makes the accomplishment even more noteworthy is that the Jaguars are only in their second year as a program, and just their first being eligible to compete in the postseason.
In the moments after Pace’s girls soccer team lost 2-0 to rival Navarre in the District 1-6A championship game last Tuesday night, there was emotion. Some tears, too. And pain as well.
The Patriots were hoping this was their year to claim a district title, a title that would have been their first since 2014, but it wasn’t in the cards.
District tournaments for area girls and boys basketball teams get rolling on Monday, with Milton’s boys basketball team and Jay’s girls basketball team going in as No. 1 seeds in their respective tournaments.
Central’s boys basketball team needed a win Monday night, and the Jaguars were able to get that done, topping Santa Rosa Christian 45-29.
Coming into the night on a four-game losing streak, Central raced out to a 17-7 lead after one quarter and rolled from there as it improved to 10-11.
Lakin Mathews changed the tide of Central’s game against Navarre with a couple of quick shots.
The eighth grade standout drilled back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter against the Raiders Monday night and helped carry the Jaguars to a 60-49 win.
The 3A regional weightlifting meet takes place this week and area teams will be well-represented there.
Reigning state champion Pace has 20 qualifiers in Olympic and traditional while Milton has nine lifters in each competition.
After 80 minutes of leave-it-all-on-the-field girls soccer, and after two exhausting 10-minute overtime periods, all of it ending in a 1-1 tie, a penalty kick shootout decided who advanced to the District 1-6A championship game.
Lexi Basel took the first attempt for Pace and missed an opportunity to give the Patriots a big lift early against reigning state champion Gulf Breeze. What Basel didn’t do was miss out on her chance for redemption.
