There was still life in the dugout in the seventh inning of Monday night’s game against Milton, the players encouraging each other to continue to believe.

Never mind that the Raiders trailed by four runs. They refused to quit.

Kamal Rustom needed to be at his best to prevail in the 169-pound weight division of the Navarre Invitational Wednesday afternoon.

Addie Moore of Niceville was nearly toe-to-toe with Rustom, but the Raider lifter came out on top in the end with a combined lift of 515 pounds, which was just enough to edge his fiercest competition by 5 pounds at the biggest boys weightlifting meet of the year for the Raiders up to this point.

Joy was on the face of players like Austin Reed and Shea Campbell. Optimism was in the tone of head coach Pete Shinnick’s voice.

Here on a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon at Pen Air Field, the University of West Florida football team was glad to be back on the field for a game. Even if it was just a spring game.