After losing a heartbreaker to Tate in their district opener, it was critical that the Raiders not fall to 0-2 in District 1-6A play. When Navarre traveled to Pensacola Feb. 27 to face Escambia High School in a makeup game, the Raiders made sure that didn’t happen. Navarre broke open a game that was tied after five innings and recorded their first district win, 9-5, over the Gators.
The powerhouse Pine Forest Eagles won the boys’ and girls’ team titles at the first Steven Garst Memorial Track and Field Invitational on Saturday, March 2, at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola.
The Navarre High School softball team continued its hitting drought Feb. 20 at Pace and lost its third game in a row, 3-1, to the Patriots. Two days later the Raiders found their bats again and overwhelmed Catholic 15-0 in Navarre.
Normally when a pitcher throws a no-hitter, he gets credited with a win and can expect to be mobbed on the mound at the end of the game. Unfortunately for Navarre High School hurler Jeff Rutledge, neither of these things happened Feb. 21 in Cantonment. Rutledge, who was making his first varsity start, did not allow a hit in six innings of work against the Tate Aggies, but one unearned run by the hosts proved to be the difference in the game.
The Navarre High School softball team played Pensacola on Feb. 12 and won easily by a 10-0 score. Two days later, the Lady Raiders played at Fort Walton Beach on Feb. 14 and were shutout by the Vikings. The next evening, they took on Tate at home and everything went wrong for the Raiders. Their defense let them down and their pitching was pounded by the Aggie hitters.
In the first boys’ weightlifting meet of the season, Navarre High School lifters held on to a narrow 48-42 win at home over Pace on Feb. 12. Three days later they competed in the Fort Walton Beach Invitational and placed second out of the six teams entered.
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.
