Quent Blackwell has been around football his whole life.
His dad, a former standout at Escambia, earning all-decade recognition along-side players like NFL legend Emmitt Smith, is a coach at Milton and inspired his son to want to play the game as well.
Jonathan Acuff is an offensive lineman, a position that is often more in the shadows than the spotlight.
That said, it doesn’t make the Milton senior any less of a competitor. He is fierce when it comes to that.
Nathan Caston needed one out. One out to seal the deal on a no-hitter. One out to close the door on a shutout win over Yukon, Oklahoma, in the Tate Aggie Classic.
But as he fired a pitch at the plate in the seventh inning on a chilly Wednesday evening in mid-March, he had a feeling his no-hit bid was probably done.
Milton’s softball team ended its pre-spring break schedule with three consecutive losses. Two of those were by a run. The other was a shutout loss to Pace, one of the nation’s best teams.
But while the season hasn’t started off as expected, the Panthers aren’t hanging their heads. They simply keep pushing forward.
On the sign of one of the local business along the road to Milton High School are words congratulating Aireaana Gavere on her state championship in girls wrestling.
Even on the school’s campus, as Gavere poses for a few photos with her medal and bracket, a couple of coaches walk by and congratulate her.
Kaleb Nobles talks with his team after the end of a University of West Florida spring practice on a sun-splashed morning in early March.
The first-year head coach of the program tells his players he is proud of the work they have put in and likes the way they have handled everything this spring.
A lot is running through the mind of Emma Turner when she’s behind the plate catching for an unbeaten Pace softball team on course to contend for a state title.
If the ball is hit, she has to be ready to communicate with her teammates. If the ball is popped up, fouled off or is thrown toward her at the plate, the junior standout has to be ready for that scenario as well.
What was just supposed to be a normal Thursday night game turned into a thriller with a late rally as the Pace Patriots opened District 1-6A play against the Gulf Breeze Dolphins.
The Patriots entered this game with a 5-1 record, and would improve to 6-1 after a late scoring rally propelled them to a 10-4 victory.
A few rain drops fell just before game time, and the clouds hung around, but nothing put a damper on the experience the Milton Panthers were able to soak in during a game against West Florida Tech on the home turf of the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.
And though the scoreboard didn’t favor the Panthers in the end – they lost 3-1 to the Jaguars – the chance to play at Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola was still memorable.
