Any last glimmer of hope for a win for the Navarre Raiders vanished late Friday night when Chiles returned an interception for a touchdown. The Timberwolves led Navarre 49-31 at that point. Less than two minutes remained. Frustration set in. That feeling of dealing with defeat cut deep one more time. Raider head coach Jay […]
Navarre is ranked eighth in the latest Region 1 playoff poll, leaving its streak of consecutive playoff appearances (seven) in jeopardy. The Raiders were seventh last week. The top eight in the final poll make the playoffs. Navarre sports an RPI of .529, barely ahead of Fletcher (.527). Edgewater is still ranked first with an […]
Fate twisted in the wrong direction for Navarre Friday night. Down four and poised to score, the Raiders missed on a golden opportunity to take control against Chiles in the fourth quarter. The ball was knocked out of Xayvion Thomas’ hands on a catch near the sideline. The Timberwolves recovered the fumble and eventually turned […]
Navarre is looking to build on its momentum Friday night when it faces Chiles in its homecoming game. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Bennett C. Russell Stadium. Fresh off their second shutout of the season– a 10-0 win over Tate — the Raiders are eager to take care of business and remain in the hunt […]
Homecoming is Friday night, adding excitement throughout the week leading up to the game. Navarre isn’t getting caught up in the hype of homecoming as every game means more. Instead, they remain focused on a showdown with Chiles at Bennett C. Russell Stadium Friday night. “We have to put the homecoming and pep rally stuff […]
Winning makes everything better. And for the first time in nearly a month, the Navarre Raiders experienced the thrill of victory. They brought their longest losing streak in a decade to an end Friday night. A 10-0 win over Tate at Pete Grindl Stadium in Cantonment ended the slide at three. The players savored the moment […]
Navarre is on the road Friday looking to end a three-game losing streak. The Raiders head to Cantonment to take on Tate in a 7 p.m. District 1-7A game at Pete Gindl Stadium. It’s the first meeting between the two teams since the second round of the playoffs in 2016. Navarre won that game 60-28. […]
Navarre finds itself in a video-game-like situation at this point in the high school football season. The Raiders are running out of lives in their quest to punch a ticket to the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season after a 20-7 loss to Niceville Friday night in District 1-7A play. The loss to the Eagles […]
With those final painful seconds ticking off the clock, the heartless reality of a three-game losing streak set to sink in, looks of disappointment were a common sight among the players on the Navarre sideline. The Raiders lost another football game Friday night, falling 20-7 to rival Niceville in a critical District 1-7A showdown at […]
Navarre finds itself in unfamiliar territory as it gets set to play Niceville Friday night. Coming off back-to-back losses for the first time since 2014, the Raiders (3-2) are hoping to bounce back against the unbeaten Eagles (5-0) in a 7:30 p.m. District 1-7A game at Bennett C. Russell Stadium. Navarre lost 24-6 to Pine […]
With a loss to Pine Forest behind them and a critical District 1-7A showdown with Niceville on the horizon Friday night at Bennett C. Russell Stadium, the Navarre Raiders find themselves in a rare spot. No one on the current roster has ever been on a Raider team that has lost more than one game […]
Navarre Raiders head coach Jay Walls stood outside the visiting locker room late Friday night and said to himself that ‘we have to get better.’ Those words summed up the night a difficult night that ended with the Raiders falling 24-6 to Pine Forest. It’s their second consecutive loss. Not since 2014 has Navarre lost […]
Navarre’s football team is looking to bounce back this week. Coming off a 35-20 loss to Lincoln in Tallahassee last Thursday, the Raiders play on the road one more time, traveling to Pensacola tonight to take on Pine Forest in a 7 p.m. showdown at Lon Wise Stadium. The Raiders (3-1) edged the Eagles 26-25 […]
Navarre stumbled for the first time this football season last Thursday. The Raiders didn’t have enough answers for Lincoln in a 35-20 loss at Gene Cox Stadium in Tallahassee. It was the first time in program history that the Raiders have played a district game as a 7A school. And while the scoreboard didn’t shine […]
The final score tells the ending of the story but not the whole story. Navarre had a chance to swing the momentum in its favor in this showdown with Lincoln Thursday night here in Tallahassee. Down seven early in the third quarter, the Raiders had forced the Trojans off the field on their opening drive […]
Navarre begins District 1-7A play under the lights on a Thursday night. The Raiders head on the road today to Tallahassee to take on Lincoln at Gene Cox Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m. EST. The Raiders (3-0) come in unbeaten and looking for their first win in a new district. They held on for a […]
Navarre makes its District 1-7A debut Thursday night when it heads to Tallahassee to take on Lincoln at Gene Cox Stadium. The Raiders moved up from 6A this season and haven’t played the Trojans since 2010, when they met in the playoffs. Lincoln prevailed 34-33. So, for the current players on Navarre’s team, a trip […]
Kobe Johnson threw the football into the air moments after getting it in his hands after a big play on defense. Moments earlier, the ball had been knocked out of a Milton receiver’s hands on a hard hit by Bailey Huston in the end zone. Johnson’s recovery of the fumble with 1:41 to go sealed […]
Navarre heads to Milton tonight for its first road game of the season. The Raiders and Panthers kick off at 7:30 p.m. at Haywood Hanna Panther Stadium. Navarre (2-0) is coming off its first shutout win of the season, blanking Pace 34-0. Milton (1-0) played its opener last week and won 36-6 over Pensacola. The […]
Trent Hall is off to a pretty good start to his varsity football career at Navarre. A week ago, the sophomore recovered a fumble and picked off a pass that sealed the deal on a 28-21 season-opening win over Gulf Breeze. On Friday night, Hall showed he can get the job done on the offensive […]
Business-like in the locker room Friday night, Navarre mildly celebrated its shutout win over Pace at Bennett C. Russell Stadium. There were a few cheers here and there in the wake of a 34-0 win. However, most of the excitement among the players seemed to stem from watching replays of Raider alum Dante Wright catching […]
Navarre is back in action tonight, hosting Pace in a non-district game at Bennett C. Russell Stadium. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. The Raiders are coming off a 28-21 season-opening win over Gulf Breeze in the Beach Bowl last week. The Patriots fell 29-13 to Choctaw in their opener. Navarre and Pace played twice last season, […]
Jeffrey Mattox wasn’t sure back in June what the future held for him as far as football was concerned. The senior linebacker was in a car accident and had temporary paralysis in his legs. He prayed to God to get through it. “I’m thankful for what He did for me. It was a setback, but […]
It went down to the wire, which is what a rivalry game is supposed to do. Navarre and Gulf Breeze battled until the end Friday night in the Beach Bowl. But instead of playing in week 10, reclassification and district changes pushed Navarre and Gulf Breeze into a season-opening showdown. Yet, this new twist to […]
Navarre ended last football season ranked sixth in the final Associated Press poll of the regular season. The Raiders start this year in the others receiving votes category, picking up seven, the most of any team outside the top 10 in the 7A poll. The lone team from District 1-7A to start the year in […]
Marlon Courtney scrambled around in the pocket looking to turn nothing into something. With defenders closing in, he made a decision. Let the ball fly 35 yards and have all the faith in the world that someone wearing a Navarre uniform would catch it. Tyler England turned out to be that someone. In the end […]
Carter Brasell stands on the stage in the high school cafeteria and the music begins to play. He’s singing “Every Time We Touch,” a hit song by Cascada more than a decade ago. As the tempo of the music picks up, so does Brasell’s voice. He gets his teammates pumped up, raising his arms in […]
Elijah Melendez and a handful of his Navarre football teammates could have found something else to do on a Saturday rather than show up at a young boy’s birthday party. But when they learned there was a birthday party and none of 6-year-old Gavin Carter’s friends attended, they rose to the occasion much the way […]
It’s lunchtime in the meeting room of the Navarre football fieldhouse. Culver’s is the food of choice for veteran Raider head coach Jay Walls. He’s finally sitting down to eat after a two-hour meeting with his staff on the final Thursday of the school year. In the seven seasons the football program has been under […]
Dawson Higginbotham found himself in a backup role last season. He’s expected to be a starter this year for an offensive line that should be one of the biggest in the area. “The atmosphere of playing varsity last year was great,” Higginbotham said. “It was a big step up. It definitely makes you work harder […]