Sports Archive

No one needs to tell Rachel Leggett twice that the expectations are at a new level for the Navarre girls basketball team.

After winning a district championship for the first time since 2016 and making an historic run to the Elite Eight, the target that was starting to appear on the backs of the Raiders the last few years has now grown to the point where it’s hard to miss.

Navarre will be well-represented in the NCAA Division I women’s soccer tournament.

Three former Raiders are on teams playing in the postseason, with two squaring off against each other in the opening round as Emily Madril and Florida State will take on Hailey Bastian and South Alabama.

Four top 10 finishes highlighted Navarre’s performance at the Region 1-3A swim meet last Wednesday at the Morcom Aquatic Center in Tallahassee.

Leading the way was the girls 400 Freestyle Relay team of Jenna Cavanaugh, Grace Koch, Ava Parker and Claire Sczesny. The team finished ninth overall in a time of 3:57.16.

Emilia Collins was getting set for a bonus lift in the bench press Thursday afternoon when head coach Garrett Bagley called for her teammates to come over and watch Collins in action.

It wasn’t going to count in her final tally. The Navarre standout hit 265 for her final actual bench press.

Navarre’s football team went into last week with its playoff hopes intact.

But its dream of a postseason berth officially ended Sunday afternoon as the Raiders were not among the 32 teams selected for the 7A playoffs.

Overlooking the defense of the University of West Florida football team can be easy to do amid the fireworks that are consistently on display courtesy of the offense.

Yes, the offense still rolled up more than 500 yards and scored over 40 points in a Gulf South Conference battle against West Alabama Saturday afternoon, but it was the defense that headlined the fourth-ranked Argos’ 47-7 win at Tiger Stadium.

Silence filled the Navarre locker room late Friday night. Coaches and players tried to lift each other’s spirits in the wake of arguably the most difficult defeat of the season.

Losing hurts. Losing a rivalry game hurts even more.

Michael Carter played in his first NFL game in prime time Thursday night. 

And once again, the former Navarre Raider paved the way for the New York Jets in rushing.

As if there already isn’t enough fuel for the fire when Navarre and Gulf Breeze play their annual rivalry game, the flames are a little hotter this week because of everything riding on the showdown.

In addition to bragging rights and a trophy, both teams will be fighting for their playoff lives in the 2021 edition of the Beach Bowl Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Bennett C. Russell Stadium.

Navarre goes into the final week of the regular season with its playoff hopes still alive.

The Raiders are in that position after their 29-22 win over Crestview last Friday catapulted them back into the top eight of the latest set of 7A regional rankings.