In those final moments of an historic flag football season Friday, the players on the Navarre sideline were still clapping, still encouraging each other to not give up.

Forget about the 15-point deficit they were staring up at or that their dream of a state championship was about to end on a sun-splashed afternoon in Jacksonville.

Michael Carter held a cellphone in his hand, smiling and saying thank you several times to New York Jets General Manager Joe Douglas, who was on the other end of the line. 

Carter then put his head down for a moment before looking up and shouting an emphatic ‘Yeah!’ raising his arms in the air as his family cheered in the background.

Tailor Ernst and Rachel Leggett pulled away briefly from the celebration near the sideline, pushed off each other while smiling and then brought it in for a high five and a hug.

A minute or so earlier, the Navarre duo connected on a clutch scoring strike on fourth down. Ernst dropped back and found Leggett in traffic. She caught the ball and turned up the jets down the left sideline on her way to the end zone.

The quest for the College Cup begins next week in women’s soccer and two former Navarre Raider standouts will be involved in that journey.

Emily Madril and Hailey Bastian are both headed to the tourney with their respective teams.

For most athletes at Saturday’s District 1-4A meet in Tallahassee, it was their first time competing at that level.

And yet, if there were any nerves among the Raiders, they didn’t show. Several athletes rose to the occasion and punched an automatic bid to the regional.

Defense wins championships. And Navarre’s flag football team knows playing well on that side of the ball will be critical to success in the District 1-2A tournament that kicks off Monday night at home against Leon.

The winner moves on to play Chiles or Lincoln in the semifinal round Wednesday at Niceville.