Santa Rosa High School Sports

This may be biting the hand that feeds me here…but…are you serious?

This is the same thing that happened last Spring. Every Tuesday there was a baseball poll released (by the FSWA)…but not a single Softball poll all year long? Guess what’s happening right now…. Like clockwork every Tuesday you will find a football poll.

YET, there has not been ONE single Volleyball poll all year long.

I realize that football brings the big bucks, but come on. The volleyball girls put in the extra hours, they put in the blood, sweat and tears that comes along with athletics. Why show them ZERO respect?

My point is…don’t hold your breath for a Volleyball poll this year.

Below find my Football Score Predictions for this batch of football games coming up this Friday (9/5). You need to use these, I’m usually Nostradamus-like. You can find these and all kinds of other Santa Rosa Sports information over at our website http://sports.robertmcclure.com

Game 1 Gulf Breeze (0-0) vs Choctaw (0-0): Both Gulf Breeze and Choctaw looked a little sluggish in their respective kickoff classics last week as our Dolphins fell to Crestview and the Indians played to a two-quarter, 0-0 stalemate with Milton. Gulf Breeze is going to look a lot better this season as starting quarterback Kyle Schnackenberg settles into his role as a second-year starter, but I think it may take a few games for the Dolphins to get into the swing of things, which won’t bode well for their district opponents later in the season. I just don’t think they have the horses to keep up with Choctaw in Week 1. Choctaw wins 21-7

Game 2 Jay (0-0) vs Holmes Co. (0-0): The Royals shocked everybody last week as they came out of the gate slinging the ball around against Baker in an impressive 30-15 win over the Gators. As impressive as they looked last week, I think they’re going to show you even more in Week two as they dominate a pretty weak Holmes County team who is coming off a not-so-impressive 1-8 record last season. Royals win 45-0.

Game 3 Navarre (0-0) vs Rutherford (0-0): With a new coach and a new quarterback, the Raiders will definitely need a few games to get into the swing of things, much like their counterparts across town (Gulf Breeze). In a 20-3 loss to Pace in last week’s kickoff classic, the Raider offense mustered just 38 yards of total offense as Tre’Von Allen accounted for 12 of those yards on two carries. Navarre is “young” and this will unfortunately be a rebuilding year for the Raiders as they come off of the best two years in school history. The good thing is that the Rams are in the same predicament and are, for the most part, always awful. Navarre comes away with the win, 17-3.

Game 4 Pace (0-0) vs Pine Forest (0-0): This is supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Patriots. After losing that many starters to graduation last season, you’re not supposed to look as good as Pace did in last Friday night’s dominating kickoff classic win over Navarre. But what do you expect? Coach Lindsey will always have his guys ready to play and these days Pace doesn’t just rebuild…they reload. Yeah I know, that’s an over-used cliché, but it definitely applies in this case. The bad thing, re-loading year or not, the Pine Forest Eagles are no joke. The Eagles are senior laden and led by running back Shawn Morris and quarterback David Lawrence, the Eagles will feature one of the top offenses in the state. An early test for the young Patriots, I just don’t think they have the horses this year for Pine Forest. Pine Forest wins 24-10. 

Game of the Week Milton (0-0) vs Ft Walton (0-0): Coach McMillion and company didn’t reveal their hand in last week’s 0-0 stalemate with Choctaw in the kickoff classic. The Panther defense looked strong as did the Milton wide-outs, but their offense sputtered a bit. One scary moment did come when starting quarterback Mikey McMillion came out of the game injured, but sophomore backup Matt Floyd looked tremendous, showing poise beyond his years. McMillion should be back with no problems on Friday night, but I’m not sure that will be enough to get past a Fort Walton Beach team that looked STRONG in a 20-3 beat-down of Niceville. To win this game, the Panther defense will need to slow down Viking all-star Matt Coffee. Think the Panthers start out 0-1, falling 28-10.

The time is finally just around the corner….It’s what we, as fans, have waited for all summer long as we suffered through the start of Major League Baseball’s excruciating 364 day season and argue about how our football team did or didn’t recruit well… 

Yes….it’s finally football season.Our Santa Rosa High School squads began football practice this past Monday as coaches look to evaluate where they stand with less than three weeks before the begin of their regular season.

The area’s biggest story the past few years, the Pace Patriots, will have a tough road trying to get back to the playoffs as Head Coach Mickey Lindsey has the responsibility of replacing 14 starters vacant from last season’s Regional Championship team. Lindsey will look to his seasoned senior quarterback, Aaron Munoz for leadership in 2008 as Munoz looks to cap off a tremendous career at Pace High School while continuing to put up big numbers on the field.

The biggest district test for the Patriots will once again come from cross-town foe Milton, who lost their fair share of graduating seniors themselves. One of those big vacancies for the Panthers will be at Quarterback as coach’s son, Mikey McMillion, will look to take the reigns of the Milton offense from last season’s Division I signee, Dustin Land. The Panthers seemed to have re-loaded on the offensive and defensive side of the ball and are currently looking like the favorites in District 1-4A…but you never know when Milton and Pace meet up, anything could happen.Moving on down to the south-end of the county, you’re going into no-man’s land with more question marks than answers.  

The Navarre Raiders are coming off of their two best seasons in school history; including their first ever district championship and two trips to the playoffs. However, they will be breaking in a new coach and a new quarterback. Chad Lashley, former offensive coordinator for the Raiders, will be replacing legendary Raider’s coach, Larry Olsen following his retirement last season. Lashley’s spread offense was run to perfection by quarterback Austin Grimm’s hookups with wide receiver Chris Weaver last season, setting area high stats. But they’ll need to get it done this year with a new set of faces and an always tough district.

The Gulf Breeze Dolphins will be coming off of a rough season last year, finishing with a 2-8 record including a 35-14 loss to rival Navarre, just their second in the nine-year series. But Coach Nemith and the Dolphins have a year of experience under their belts and will be implementing a new offense which centers around starting quarterback Kyle Schnackenberg. The 08 Dolphin squad will face their toughest district challenges (Panama City Arnold and Pensacola) later in the year, giving them plenty of time to get the kinks worked out before district play begins.

 Heading back up to the North of the county we come to our final Santa Rosa county team…the Jay Royals. Coach Elijah Bell and the Royal faithful lost a log of very familiar names to graduation last season including standout quarterback Brandt Hendricks and all around utility player Devin Castleberry. But, look for some more familiar names such as Rush Hendricks and Dale Barlow to step up to the plate and right back in the hunt for their first district title since 2002. Their lone district loss last season came to the defending district champion Port St Joe Sharks, but with a stronger offensive and defensive line this year, look for the Royals to bounce their way right back into the playoffs for another consecutive year. 

For in-depth articles, scores, stats and district standings, visit http://sports.robertmcclure.com

Welcome to the Santa Rosa County Sports Blog section of the Santa Rosa Press Gazette. I’m Bryan Hathaway who, in addition to my other duties and responsibilities, maintain a little sports site you may have heard of (http://sports.robertmcclure.com).

 It’s summer, which means the Santa Rosa High School Sports news is extremely sllllooooowwwww for the next few weeks, but keep checking back periodically for my views on this or that.

 Boom………outta here.