Ryan Davenport clenched his fist and threw punches in the air after every point his Navarre Raiders scored as they mounted a memorable comeback against Fort Walton Beach in a District 2-6A semifinal Tuesday night.

Players on the bench jumped up and down, cheering on their teammates, their smiles growing wider as Navarre inched closer to victory. On the court, the Raiders hit hard, executed passes, serves and sets and played the kind of defense it needed to play to win in a pressure-packed moment.

Branden Heinke had a rough go of it during his final year of cross-country and track at Navarre.

The shin splints? They were brutal. But he tried to push past the pain.

Luke Morris pulled off his jersey as he crossed the finish line last Thursday afternoon. Sweaty and exhausted, Morris was pleased he pushed through another race on a warm October afternoon.

It’s been a challenging season for Morris, who missed the first few weeks of it battling injuries and COVID, but he’s back at it and hoping to wrap up his senior season on a high note.

Austin Reed has always owned the moment. Good or bad. 

Late Saturday night, the University of West Florida quarterback shouldered a lot of the blame for the Argos’ loss to West Georgia in a battle of Top 25 teams.

Perhaps it is only fitting that the University of West Florida’s first football game in nearly two years at Blue Wahoos Stadium is a battle of nationally ranked opponents.

The top-ranked Argos put their perfect record on the line today against No. 12 West Georgia in a Gulf South Conference showdown.