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.
Here are the FHSAA regional rankings that were released Tuesday. The top eight teams in 6A will make the regional tournament while the top four teams in 1A will earn a regional berth.
As a freshman on the varsity girls basketball team at Pace, Emily Neal was tasked one night with going up against Rachel Leggett, then a star at Navarre but now a college standout at South Alabama.
It wasn’t easy facing one of the area’s top players but Neal handled it well.
It’s district tournament time in soccer and the girls teams from Navarre and Pace are among the contenders for a crown.
Both tournaments get underway this week and will be played at the Ashton Brosnaham Complex in Pensacola.
Kaylee Gilbreath is a multi-sport athlete currently playing a key role for the Jay Royals girls basketball team.
She’ll tell you softball is her favorite sport, but the sophomore standout said that basketball is rising up the charts on her favorite list.
Never mind that the television cameras were focused in on Milton’s game against Crestview in a District 1-6A battle last Tuesday night.
The Panthers were ready for the moment and got the job done on the road against the Bulldogs, winning 55-48 and avenging an earlier season loss to Crestview.
