Local football standout Doug Baldwin and his Seattle Seahawk teammates entered MetLife Stadium Sunday looking for the franchise’s first Super Bowl title, and 60 minutes of game time later they achieved their season-long goal by defeating Denver 43 to 8. But for Baldwin it was more. It was the culmination of a dream he had shared with his high school football coach at Gulf Breeze many years before.
The magical season for the Lady Raiders came to an end on Jan. 30 at Pace in the Regional semifinal game. With 3:21 left on the game clock, the Raiders suffered a painful double extra time 2 – 1 loss at the hands of the Patriots.
The Raiders traveled to Tallahassee on Jan. 31 to meet Chiles High School in the regional quarterfinals. The Raiders gave the heavily favored Timberwolves all they could handle for 100 minutes before losing on penalty kicks.
Gulf Breeze alum and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin is preparing with his teammates for the Super Bowl Sunday against the Denver Broncos in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Seahawks traveled cross-country and arrived Sunday in New York. The team’s first practice was Monday. Before departing from Seattle, Baldwin spoke with members of the media about the Seahawks’ season and the upcoming battle with the Denver Broncos.
At the sectionals or state qualifying meet held at Choctaw on Jan. 22, the Raiders finished first out of the 15 schools with 87 points. Pine Forest was second with 37 and Niceville finished third with 20.
The Raiders won the first game of the district playoffs, 4 – 1 over Crestview on Jan. 21 at Ashton-Brosnaham Park. In round two, they played Pace the next night and came away with a 2 – 1 win. However, the winning streak was broken by Niceville on Jan. 24 in a 2-0 loss.
Kirk Herbstreit, football analyst for ESPN’s College GameDay, will be the featured speaker at the All Sports Association annual awards banquet Friday, Feb. 6 at the Emerald Coast Convention Center.
The second-seeded Navarre Lady Raiders drew a tough schedule in the district playoffs starting with Crestview in the first round. The next night, they were scheduled to play Niceville; a team they had never beaten. If they won both, then they would probably face number one seed, Pace.
The Raiders celebrated Senior Night on Jan. 15 by blanking Catholic 2 – 0. Two days later, they closed out the regular season with a 1 – 1 tie against Gulf Breeze.
