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.

A beautiful day. A beautiful game. 

And at the end of it, the University of West Florida football team found itself on the doorstep of the NCAA Division II national championship game, the sixth-ranked Argos punching their ticket to the final four with a 45-14 win over Wingate Saturday afternoon at Pen Air Field.