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.
Milton’s girls soccer team saw its season come to an end Wednesday night with a 3-0 loss to Tate in a District 1-6A quarterfinal on a rainy night at Pete Gindl Stadium in Cantonment.
Pace took the first step on the quest for a repeat as girls weightlifting state champions by winning the District 1-3A titles in Olympic and traditional last Thursday at Niceville while Milton sent a reminder that it is indeed a team on the rise.
Hayden Bowman knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner with a little over six minutes to play in the fourth quarter of a low-scoring affair with Pensacola Catholic last Tuesday night.
It was a big shot in a big moment on a night when offense was tough to come by for both teams, and it was enough to keep Pace ahead for good in a 28-23 win on the road, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Dylan Porter isn’t a leader in any of the statistical categories for Milton’s boys basketball team. But he brings something to the team that won’t show up on a stat sheet or in a box score.
“I try to be a beacon, be that energy on the court. People feed off that when I play well,” Porter said.
