Sports Archive

Expectations were high for Navarre’s Rachel Leggett, Talin Griffin and Tyson Morgan at the 4A state track meet Saturday in Jacksonville.

And while the dream of a title didn’t become a reality for them at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium, not all was lost.

A little more than a month ago, Rachel Leggett was still trying to get to the 5-foot-6 mark in the high jump while Talin Griffin and Tyson Morgan were battling injuries that kept them from competing in the pole vault.

Today at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, all three Navarre athletes are heading into the 4A state track meet with high expectations and the belief they can contend for a title.

In those final moments of an historic flag football season Friday, the players on the Navarre sideline were still clapping, still encouraging each other to not give up.

Forget about the 15-point deficit they were staring up at or that their dream of a state championship was about to end on a sun-splashed afternoon in Jacksonville.

The state championship is now only within reach for four schools.

Navarre is among the elite still standing heading into Friday’s 3 p.m. 2A state semifinal against Newsome at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville.

Michael Carter held a cellphone in his hand, smiling and saying thank you several times to New York Jets General Manager Joe Douglas, who was on the other end of the line. 

Carter then put his head down for a moment before looking up and shouting an emphatic ‘Yeah!’ raising his arms in the air as his family cheered in the background.

They squeezed one more inning of baseball out of the 2021 season last Tuesday night, hoping perhaps that it would lead to at least one more day.

The Navarre Raiders forced Crestview into extra innings in a tightly played District 1-6A quarterfinal game in which mistakes were few and far between and both sides did their job from an execution standpoint.

With the sun starting to set over Hensley Stadium in Niceville last Tuesday night, that sinking feeling of a season ending started to take hold of Navarre’s softball team.

It wasn’t a lack of effort or determination against Tate that kept the Raiders from advancing in the District 1-6A tournament.

I’ve never been one to put a lot of stock into rankings, be it preseason, in-season or postseason. They have as much value as the lint in my pocket. Maybe less.

Apparently, rankings mean even less than I first thought based on how the Region 1-2A bracket was set up for flag football.

Tailor Ernst and Rachel Leggett pulled away briefly from the celebration near the sideline, pushed off each other while smiling and then brought it in for a high five and a hug.

A minute or so earlier, the Navarre duo connected on a clutch scoring strike on fourth down. Ernst dropped back and found Leggett in traffic. She caught the ball and turned up the jets down the left sideline on her way to the end zone.