Sports Archive

Cici Buffalino punctuated Navarre’s final game of the preseason Thursday night, punching in a goal that capped a shutout victory over Tate at the Navarre Soccer Complex. Buffalino’s contributions in a 6-0 win on a mild November evening are hardly a surprise. She scored nine goals last season as a freshman and is well on her way to another big year.

Basketball practice looks a little different this year for the girls team at Navarre. For the first time in quite some time Rachel Leggett is no longer on the team. One of the area’s best players during her career with the Raiders, Leggett has moved on to play college ball at South Alabama.

Michael Carter turned in his best rushing performance of the season and helped the New York Jets knock off the Buffalo Bills Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. The Navarre alum rushed for 76 yards, the second-most of his NFL career, and scored a touchdown in New York’s 20-17 victory.

All that matters now is the postseason in high school football. And the Navarre Raiders will be a part of it, earning the fifth seed and a date with Creekside in a Region 1-4S quarterfinal Friday night at Bennett C. Russell Stadium.

There was a sliver of hope for Navarre with 47 seconds left in the opening half its game against Niceville Friday night. For all the struggles the Raiders had in the opening half, they were finally on the scoreboard, with EJ Love scoring on a 1-yard run that cut the Eagle lead to seven.

One last box remains to be checked off for the Navarre football team on its revenge tour.

The Raiders will get an opportunity to do it tonight when Niceville comes to town in a battle of state-ranked teams.

Navarre is poised to be at home in the opening round of the playoffs after checking in at No. 4 in this week’s FHSAA Power Rankings.

The Raiders are coming off winning the District 1-4S championship, which assures them of a postseason berth. The title is their first since 2018.

Darius Cunningham was inspired at a young age to play basketball. His dad played while in high school and also in military leagues.

“He’d show me his old high school game tapes on VHS. He had to dig those out of the attic,” Cunningham said with a laugh.

When Rob Simon talks about his girls soccer team at Navarre, he points to two factors that will play a pivotal role in the Raiders’ success during the 2022-23.

One is depth. Twenty-three players are on the roster after a few days of highly competitive tryouts. That competitiveness should carry over to the season.

Drew Ottley played through pain a year ago at the 3A regional golf tournament in Spruce Creek, and because of it, had one of the toughest days of his high school career.

He shot a 94, the sprained ankle becoming almost too much to handle and spoiling his first ever trip to the regional.