Nick Benton runs and jumps for fun; football is serious business.
“I can’t imagine my life without football,” the Navarre High School standout said recently. “I do track to have something to do.”
Navarre High School’s 2013 baseball campaign began with a road trip to Fort Walton Beach on Feb. 12. First-year coach David Meredith was hoping to get off to a good start and the team responded by opening the season with a 4-3 victory against the host Vikings.
The Navarre High School softball season opened last week and the results could not have been better for coach Scott Murphy. The Lady Raiders shut out Choctawhatchee’s Indians 8-0 in their season debut Feb. 5 at home. Two days later, Navarre crushed Washington 16-0 in their first away game.
Jay Warren is the latest Navarre High School player recruited to play football at the highest level of college competition. The senior running back last week signed a national letter-of-intent to play at Florida Atlantic University, joining 2012 teammate Jordan Leggett and former Raiders Sterling Lovelady and Billy Mitchell at NCAA Football Bowl Series (formerly known as Division I) programs.
The 2012 Navarre High School football team had plenty to celebrate. Two months after the school’s greatest gridiron season yet ended with a state semifinal loss to Gainesville, the Raiders and their supporters could set aside that disappointment and appreciate their accomplishments.
The Navarre High School boys’ basketball season came to an end in the first round of District 1-6A tournament play in Pace last week. The Raiders lost Feb. 5 to the Milton Panthers 69-41.
Navarre High School’s girls’ weightlifting team on Saturday will travel to Kissimmee hoping finally to wrestle home the first-place state trophy. The Lady Raiders finished in second place four straight years, twice by one point and once by two points.
Navarre High School’s softball team opened the season with 12-1 and 11-1 preseason home wins against Gulf Breeze and Milton, respectively. Both games ended early because the “mercy rule” was in effect. As the scores might indicate, the Raiders’ pitching was spectacular and the defense played errorless ball.
