Author: Brian Lester

At one point in the first quarter of Tuesday’s game against South Walton, it appeared as if Navarre’s girls basketball team had finally found its footing. Two free throws from Harmony Stafford and a layup by Angel Rhodes put the Raiders up 12-11 with 1:35 to go in the opening quarter.

Dillan Smith looks like a basketball player. The fact that the Navarre senior stands nearly 7 feet tall helps him fit that description well. What one might find surprising, though, is that when he was younger, Smith was a long way from being a hoops standout. He barely even played the game.

Jessica Farrer is a multi-sport athlete who probably could have played soccer in college if she chose to go that route. Instead, the Navarre senior will utilize her softball talents at the next level, signing with Bishop State last month to continue her career in that sport.

Navarre’s boys soccer team changed some things up to generate more offense and it paid off. In a game against Pace last Tuesday night at Patriot Stadium, the Raiders scored nearly as many goals in one game as they have all season in a 4-4 tie with their county rival.

On a chilly Thursday night at Bennett C. Russell Stadium, Navarre’s girls soccer team comes off the field stinging from its second consecutive one-goal loss. This time, it’s Mosley that hands the Raiders a 2-1 defeat. Two days earlier, South Walton did the same.

With time wining down in the final seconds of the first half against Fort Walton Beach Thursday night, Trista Wolk pulled up for a 3-pointer in front of the Viking bench and drilled it. Navarre now led 26-19 and carried that advantage into halftime of this showdown between two of the area’s best teams. It appeared the Raiders were on their way to staying unbeaten.

Garrett Bagley runs with his lifters through a series of warm-up exercises inside the weight room on a Wednesday afternoon in late November, the whistle blowing signaling a start and stop for each one. His Raiders, the reigning 3A back-to-back state champions, were supposed to compete in a meet against state runner-up Pace on this day, but a miscommunication issue eliminated that possibility.