One can only wonder what might have been for Lazarius Parks in his Crestview High School football career had he avoided injuries.
Parks, who, when healthy, was one of most dynamic play makers in the area from his running back position never played a full season, but he was plenty good.
Joe Brunson was born to play football.
The son of longtime Crestview and Baker coach Matt Brunson, who is now the head coach at Opp, Ala., Joe was a member of Baker’s 2020 state championship team playing running back and linebacker.
Kayleb Wagner was back in Baker for the holiday break last month after completing his first season of college football at Southern Illinois University.
Wagner redshirted and played in one game. He did score a touchdown in the game and will have four years of eligibility remaining.
It has been two months since Baker offensive lineman Kurt Armstrong announced his commitment to play football at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.
The 6-foot-4, 320-pound Armstrong made the commitment official on Wednesday as he signed with the Bears surrounded by family and friends in a celebration ceremony at the Crooked Tale Gastropub in Crestview.
Every new sports season brings an adventure all its own. Teams that are considered preseason contenders fall to postseason pretenders. Teams that nobody considered in the preseason catch fire and make a long run into the playoffs.
A senior, Braden Hood played his last football game for Crestview on Friday ending a career that has gone by too quickly.
Bulldog coach Thomas Grant can’t say enough good things about Hood and what he has meant to the Crestview program in the time he has been a Bulldog.
There will be no playoff run for the Crestview football team this year. Any trips Crestview players want to take to Niceville, Tallahassee or Pensacola to be a part of the playoffs will be on their own dime and they will be watching from the stands.
But for one final shining moment on Friday night at Jack Foster Stadium the Bulldogs gave themselves and their fans a sweet memory to last until next year. Crestview battled for four quarters against county rival Fort Walton Beach.
Jack Foster Stadium will be alive with the sights, sounds and smells of high school football one last time in 2023 on Friday when Crestview plays host to Fort Walton Beach.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
The Baker Gators football team headed north to Troy, Ala., on Friday to face Pike Liberal Arts Academy in what might be the last game of the season.
The Gators took care of Pike winning 32-24.
It as a perfect 10 for the Davidson Middle School football team this year.
The Panthers went undefeated with a 10-0 record to claim their second consecutive Okaloosa County Middle School Football Championship.
