Sports Archive

TJ Peltier is moving to the loud music playing inside the weight room. He’s adding weights to the bar and lifting with unmatched focus as he ramps up his workouts ahead of Saturday’s 3A state weightlifting meet in St. Cloud.

Peltier is a high-energy guy. He feeds off emotion. And he is always doing his best to hype up his teammates.

Mackenzie England caught the ball in stride near the middle of the field and turned up the jets as she outran the entire Leon defense on her way to the end zone.

It was one of several special moments for Navarre’s flag football team in its historic 40-6 win over the Lions in the quarterfinal round of the district tournament Monday night at Bennett C. Russell Stadium.

The quest for the College Cup begins next week in women’s soccer and two former Navarre Raider standouts will be involved in that journey.

Emily Madril and Hailey Bastian are both headed to the tourney with their respective teams.

Once upon a time, flag football at Navarre was merely a dream. The closest players came to it was the annual powder puff game between the girls in the junior and senior classes.

Things have changed. The dream has become a reality as Navarre has made a name for itself in the sport.
It doesn’t surprise me. It shouldn’t surprise you either.

Reid Travis cherished the opportunity to celebrate senior night with his family and teammates in a year where uncertainty still lingers because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But one of his biggest fans was missing at last Tuesday’s game against West Florida Tech.

If softball involved splashing into second base instead of sliding, Navarre’s softball team would have played a game Thursday night.

But a scheduled battle with Choctaw wasn’t played because of the storms that rolled through earlier in the day.

For most athletes at Saturday’s District 1-4A meet in Tallahassee, it was their first time competing at that level.

And yet, if there were any nerves among the Raiders, they didn’t show. Several athletes rose to the occasion and punched an automatic bid to the regional.

Defense wins championships. And Navarre’s flag football team knows playing well on that side of the ball will be critical to success in the District 1-2A tournament that kicks off Monday night at home against Leon.

The winner moves on to play Chiles or Lincoln in the semifinal round Wednesday at Niceville.

Ten lifters will compete for Navarre at next Saturday’s 3A state weightlifting meet in St. Cloud. The Raiders are the reigning champs in 2A but moved up to 3A this season.

Navarre won’t go into this year’s meet favored to win it but the Raiders do have several lifters who could place at state, including TJ Peltier, who is ranked second in his weight class.

Defense has become a trademark of the 2021 edition of Navarre’s flag football team, and if a reminder was needed, it was sent out Thursday night under the lights of Bennett C. Russell Stadium.

Every time Gulf Breeze tried to make a big play, Navarre shut it down on its way to a 13-0 win over the rival Dolphins on senior night.