It was a back-and-forth volleyball match between rivals Milton and Jay that had come down to a decisive final set, the pressure rising to another level inside a gym full of energy Thursday night.
As expected, it was tight, the Panthers and Royals trading points, but ultimately, Milton, ahead 10-9 finished strong, scoring five of the final seven points to seal the deal on a 15-11 victory.
Milton is the lone team in the north end of Santa Rosa County that will be in action Friday night as Pace and Jay both have bye weeks.
The Panthers play at home for the second consecutive week as they take on Escambia in a non-district game.
The state championship games for all classifications will be held at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee Dec. 7-9.
The FHSAA made the announcement Thursday morning.
Pace and Milton competed at the Patriot Invitational Saturday at the University of West Florida.
The Patriot girls finished fourth while the boys placed sixth. The Panther boys placed ninth and the girls took 12th.
Eli Tyner and Alyssa Clark led the way for Pace’s cross-country teams at the Wildcat Invitational Saturday on the Pensacola State Campus in Milton.
Clark won the girls race with a time of 21:39.00 while Tyner took second overall for the boys, crossing the finish line in 17:43.40.
Milton and Gulf Breeze combined for 115 points in a wild District 1-4S opener, but the Dolphins scored most of those points in a 73-42 win.
The festivities began with just over five minutes left in the first quarter when Ethan Diamond connected with his dynamic playmaker, Rayvon Cottrell, for a 40-yard catch and run that would set the Panthers up inside 5-yard line.
