CRESTVIEW — A week before opening District 3-6A play the Crestview High School football teams seems to be hitting its stride.

The Bulldogs hosted an always tough Pace Patriot team at Jack Foster Stadium Friday and for once the ball seemed to bounce Crestview’s way as the Bulldogs scored 17 points off three Patriot turnovers in a 45-28 win.

“We are going to get better,” Crestview Coach Tim Hatten said after the second straight Bulldog win. “I think we are better than that.

“I think we had an OK performance tonight. I wouldn’t call it an A by any means. We were able to make athletic plays, that, quite frankly we haven’t been able to make a bunch of in the past.”

Quarterback Corey Armstrong and wide receiver Andrews Adkins teamed up on scoring passes of 37 and 28 yards to power the Bulldog attack. Armstrong also scored on a 2-yard run to put Crestview  on the scoreboard.

Pace (2-3) struck first on its opening possession of the night. Tailback Anthony Johnson Jr. scored on a 61-yard run less than a minute into the game and it looked as if the Patriots were off and running.

Crestview (3-2) answered the Patriot score with a 9-play drive covering 36 yards that ended with Armstrong in the end zone.

Seth Kootsouradis connected on a 25-yard field goal three plays after Marcus Purcell recovered a Pace fumble deep in Patriot territory.

Johnson’s second score of the night put the Patriots up 14-10 with 4:19 left in the first quarter. The Pace lead lasted all of 19 seconds as Marquis McClain took a handoff from Armstrong and raced 62 yards down the north sideline for the go ahead score.

Less than a minute later Tatum Taylor fielded a Pace fumble on a bounce and took it 25 yards for a Bulldog touchdown as Crestview led 24-14 at the half.

A Johnson touchdown with 35 seconds left in the half cut the Bulldog led to three points, but that’s a close as the Patriots would get.

Johnson had 189 yards on 19 carries at the half, but things got tougher for him in the second half as the Bulldogs held him to 65 yards on 14 carries. Johnson finished the night with 254 yards rushing on 29 carries and three touchdowns.

Hatten pulled out all the stops in the third quarter when Kootsouradis hit Matt French with a 20-yard pass on a fake punt. Two plays later Armstrong hit Adkins with the 37-yard touchdown pass with 8:20 left in the third quarter.

Antryon Gloster scored on a 1-yard run to stretch the Bulldog lead to 38-21. Crestview’s final score came on the 28-yard pass from Armstrong to Adkins where Adkins high pointed the ball and took it away from the Pace defender.

Pace scored late in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run by Kieon Davis.

Crestview finished the game with 360 yards in total offense. The Bulldogs ran for 137 yards and threw for 223.

Armstrong was 12-of-18 for 203 yards and two touchdowns. Adkins had five catches for 109 yard. McClain led Crestview with 84 yards rushing.

Pace had 387 yards in total offense. The Patriots ran for 337 yards and threw for 50.

Patriot quarterback Ashton Stephens was 5-of-10 passing. Ty Oxford had two catches for 25 yards.

The Bulldogs host Choctaw on Friday.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Adkins, Armstrong come up big as Crestview beats Pace (PHOTOS)

BAKER — There is a good chance that Baker School’s volleyball team will have to deal with some adversity in its quest for a 13th straight district title.

An injury here or there, a player getting sick on the day of a big match or some other unforeseen situation could test the makeup of Baker

If one of those improbable scenarios happens the Gators can look at Thursday night’s District 1-1A match with Central as a blueprint for success.

Baker senior libero Lena Daoud, in a freak accident, suffered an injury to her left knee in the final seconds of the pregame warm ups.

The Gators seemed to be in a temporary state of shock as the match started, but quickly rallied to win in straight sets 25-17, 25-18, 25-22.

Baker Coach Tommiko Parks said Daoud’s injury caught the Gators off guard, but not unprepared.

“At the beginning of the year we make sure everybody knows every position on the floor,” she said. “That’s one of our things that we do because you never know when something is going to come up when someone gets sick or someone does get injured.

“But she (Daoud) is going to be OK. It was a little mishap where she didn’t play tonight be she should be back next week.”

Baker (7-2, 5-0) jumped out to a quick 2-0 start in the first set as Ayajah Coleman opened the match with an ace in serve for the Gators. When Baker scored the next point it looked as if Daoud’s absence might be a problem at all.

Central responded with a 7-0 run and seemed to be on the verge of taking control of the set. But a Taylor Brunson kill for the Gators ended any thought of a Jaguar upset before it started.

Brunson was in serve as Baker ran off another five points. Emily Stewart finished the Gator run with a kill as Baker led 8-7.

The teams traded serving errors and Baker led 9-8. A kill by Baker’s Brittany Brunson made the score 10-8 and as Parks said, the other players were picking up the slack in Daoud’s absence.

Baker’s lead was 12-11 when Jessica Black took over in serve for the Gators. The aces and a Taylor Brunson kill later the Gators had control of the set 16-11 on the way to going up 1-0 in the match.

Baker never trailed in the second set as Brittany Brunson, Taylor Brunson, Ashley Black, Jessica Black and Stewart took over for Baker.

Things started out badly for the Gators in the third set as Central tried to extend the match.

With a 19-10 lead in the set the Jaguars seemed to have the Gators on the ropes.

Coleman stepped up with a kill and block to make the score 19-12, but Gators still had a big hill to climb. And climb that hill is just what the Gators did.

Baker’s defense buckled down and the offense took charge as the Gators went on a 13-3 run to finish the set and the match.

Three of Baker’s last five points, including the set winner, were on Taylor Brunson aces.

Parks was especially pleased with the way the Gators played down the stretch in the third set.

“They showed a little pride in their ability,” she said. “The last timeout we called we asked them to step up. They took that punch in the gut so to speak that we talk about and they were able to play volleyball the way they know how to play volleyball.

“They served them tough and played well in the front row. I’m very proud of the way they played in the face of some adversity.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker deals with adversity to beat Central (PHOTOS)

CRESTVIEW — When Crestview High School's football team — coming off a 53-6 win over the International School of Broward — hosts Pace on Friday. The Patriots (2-2) will stick with a script that has worked well for them under Coach Mickey Lindsey. Look for Pace to line up in a Power-I offense, emphasizing the run game. The Patriots also will occasionally go to a spread formation.

The Patriots have rushed for 842 yards this season, while only throwing for 197 yards. Anthony Johnson Jr. — who leads Pace's ground attack with 616 yards  rushing — ran for 360 yards against Fort Walton Beach in the season opener. When Pace does throw the ball, quarterback Ashton Stephens will enter the fray; he has completed .387 of his passes this year.

Crestview Coach Tim Hatten doesn’t expect too much different from Pace. “They are not going to take a bunch of chances on defense and … they are going try and run the football," he said.

Hatten hopes last week’s win over the Pumas will be a building block for Friday’s game. “Success breeds success,” he said. “You can only learn so much from failure. We were probably at the brink of being damaged by failure.  

“We needed a win, and we got it. We did what we needed to do and had the game under control in the first quarter. We got to play everyone we needed to play, and rest everyone we needed to rest. We got some good reps so that was good for us.”

Hatten downplayed that this was the last game before the Bulldogs (2-2) open District 3-6A play next week. “I don’t know that you value one (game) more than the other,” he said. “You just line up and play to your strengths every ball game."

The Bulldogs had no turnovers against Broward, and Hatten said they were solid in the kicking game. Crestview will need those strengths against Pace. “It’s a whole new ball game Friday night,” he said. “Everything starts over. As soon as the whistle blows, you don’t even want to think about the week before.

“If we play good defense and don’t have any turnovers, we have a chance to play with any team we have left on our schedule. If we don’t, we get beat.”

UPCOMING

WHAT: Crestview High School vs. Pace

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Crestview High School Jack Foster Stadium

Crestview-Pace football information

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs to play strengths against Patriots

BAKER — Baker School Coach Matt Brunson said he hopes his team can learn from last week's 65-48 loss to Walton and move forward when the Gators travel to Destin Friday night to face Rocky Bayou Christian School.

“I told the guys… ‘The rearview mirror is very small and we are going to rip it off and throw it out, because we are looking through the front windshield and it’s very big and very bright,” Brunson said.

“We lost to two very good football teams (Walton and Blountstown). We’ve made improvements from the adversity we’ve dealt with in those losses. We are excited to see what the future holds.”

That future begins with a rivalry between the Gators and Knights (1-2). Brunson has several connections with Rocky Bayou's coaching staff. Knight Coach Josh Childers briefly played for Brunson at Crestview. Childers’ father, Jeff, is the longtime team chaplain for Crestview's football team.

“I’ve got a great deal of respect for his (Josh Childers) dad and the job he does as the youth pastor at First Baptist Church (Crestview)," Brunson said. “Josh has developed into a fine coach. He’s had back-to-back conference championships in his league and he does a great job at Rocky Bayou.”

Brunson said the Knights will line up in a spread offense similar to the one run by Walton. “They spread you out like Walton spread us out and try to create running lanes,” he said. “We have to stop the run first and get them into third-down situations where we know they’ve got to throw, and then we’ve got to defend the pass well and be able to bring pressure (on the quarterback).

“It will be a good matchup and again, we’ve got to keep working on defending the spread. They are a 3-4 defense just like we’ve been working against the last few weeks, and he does a good job defensively as well.”

The Gators open District 1-1A play next week, but Brunson won’t be overlooking the Knights. “They were ahead of us last year at the half and it was a very good ball game,” he said. “ Going down to their place — they play at Destin Middle School — it’s an awesome venue to play a high school football game.

“We will have our hands full and hopefully we will get better this week and get this back on track. It would be big for our guys to get a win this week so we could carry that momentum into the Jay game.”

UPCOMING

WHAT: Baker School vs. Rocky Bayou Christian

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Destin Middle School, 4608 Legendary Marina Drive

Baker-Rocky Bayou Information

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Brunson excited about Baker's future

LAUREL HILL  — The best thing about freshmen and juniors is they become sophomores and seniors.

A Laurel Hill School volleyball team comprised of only freshmen and juniors will have to wait another year before they’ll have those sophomores and seniors. In the mean time Coach Kent Zessin will do his best to coach up his young squad in hopes of making a run in next month’s District 1-1A tournament.

The inexperience of the Hoboes showed Tuesday night in a district showdown with Central. Laurel Hill dropped the first two sets to the Jaguars before rallying in the third set.

When the final points were scored Central took the match 3-1 by scores of 25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22.

“We have three freshmen and six juniors and no seniors,” Zessin said. “There is a big difference between that junior year and senior year as far as game competition and seeing different things and reading different things until it becomes natural.

“That usually happens their senior year. Your older kids are usually a little better.”

Older players also are able to play with more consistency. The lack of consistency was a big part of the problem for Laurel Hill (3-5, 0-3) on Tuesday.

“Every time we would get a run we could never completely finish it out,” Zessin said. We would play parts and pieces of a game at times, but we could never put a complete run or game together.

“Hats off to Central. They played a good game. They kept us off balance by putting the ball over (the net) on the first and second hits and doing stuff we are not used to.”

The first set played out in would become the theme of the match. The Jaguars took a lead of four or five points only to see the Hoboes come charging back to tie or briefly take the lead.

A Kaylyn McLaney kill for Laurel Hill tied the first set at 14-14 before the Jaguars closed out the set with an 11-4 run.

The Hoboes got off to a fast start in the second set and led 6-2 after a Micah McVay ace. Laurel Hill’s biggest lead of the set came at 17-11 after a block by Kylee Seymour and a kill by Kaylee L’Homme.

Central came back and took a 20-19 lead before holding off a late charge by the Hoboes to go up 2-0 in the match.

The Hoboes showed their metal in the third set as they refused to go down quietly before the home crowd. Laurel Hill took the set to give the home fans some hope.

Laurel Hill led 6-4 early in the fourth set, but was unable to finish off the Jaguars.

“We have to do a better job of all three phases of the game and that’s pass, set and hit,” Zessin said. “We weren’t consistent enough for us to win tonight.

“The main thing is going out and doing repetitions over and over and over and stress perfection in the repetition itself. At the same time you can allow players to see that they can have success in a match and they can do it against a good team. That’s part of the growing of a young team with no seniors.”

Central 3, Laurel Hill 1: 25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22

Laurel Hill: Bailey Stokes 1 ace, 3 assists, 7 digs; Micah McVay 2 aces, 10 digs; Kaylyn McLaney 2 aces, 2 blocks, 5 digs, 3 kills; Olivia Stewart 18 digs; Lauren Mitchel 1 ace; Rachel Welsh 5 aces, 5 digs, 3 kills; Kylee Seymour 4 blocks, 6 kills; Kaylee L’Homme 3 aces, 3 blocks, 7 kills.

Laurel Hill volleyball box

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Inconsistency hurts Laurel Hill in loss to Central

BAKER — It looked as if Baker School was in good shape as the first quarter of Friday night’s football game against Walton High School ended.

The Gators led 27-13, but the night was still young, and the Braves were just getting started.

Walton scored 52 points in the final three quarters as senior running back Azende Rey led the Braves to a 65-48 win. Rey had 212 yards rushing on 22 carries and one pass reception for 47 yards en route to a six-touchdown performance.

The Braves, a Class 4A team, finished the game with 479 yards in total offense. Walton would have had more than 500 yards in offense if not for a bad snap on punt that set the Braves back 31 yards.

Baker, a 1A school, had 311 yards in total offense.

Gator Coach Matt Brunson isn’t used to seeing his defense give up 65 points. And he refused to use playing a 4A school coached by Jimmy Ray Stephens, a former offensive line coach at the University of Florida and the University of Tennessee, as an excuse for his team.

“There is no consolation in a loss,” Brunson said. “But we are proud of our offensive production, obviously. We definitely have some work to do defensively.

“We shouldn’t give up 65 against anybody, even Mr. Stephens.”

Walton’s speed was a big factor in the Braves scoring 65 points. Walton had four plays that went for more than 40 yards and two other plays that went for more than 30 yards.

Baker's only hope was to force Walton turnovers, and that’s how the Gators built the early lead.

Baker’s first two touchdowns came off Walton fumbles.

An Austin Davis score from two yards out, with 9:42 left in the first quarter, came after Baker recovered a bad snap by the Braves at the Walton 25-yard line.

Gator linebacker Oakley Kimbrell scored a touchdown on a 22-yard recovery of a Walton fumble 14 seconds after the Davis touchdown.

There would be no more breaks until midway through the third quarter when a snap, on what would have been Walton’s first punt, soared over Jace Fielder’s head, giving Baker a first and goal inside the 10-yard line. Three plays later, Montae Barto scored, cutting the Walton lead to 48-34, with 5:03 left in the third quarter.

Baker (2-2) never got closer as the Braves rolled to their season's fourth win.

WALTON 65, BAKER 48

Walton                        13        28        17        7—65

Baker                          27          0          7        14—48

First Quarter

Baker – Austin Davis 2 run (Josh Springle kick); 9:42

Baker – Oakley Kimbrel 22 fumble return (kick blocked); 9:28

Walton – Azende Rey 39 run (kick failed); 7:30

Baker – Jamaal Day 12 pass from Jon Beck (Springle kick); 4:21

Walton – Rey 1 run (Thomas Brack kick); 2:20

Baker – Beck 50 run (Springle kick); 0:38

Second Quarter

Walton – Rey 9 run (Brack kick); 10:43

Walton – Juanyeh Thomas 30 interception (Brack kick); 8:36

Walton – Kelvic Thompson 55 pass from Jace Fielder (Brack kick); 4:31

Walton – Rey 1 run (Brack kick); 0:25.9

Third Quarter

Walton – Fielder 31 run (Brack kick); 10:22

Baker – Montae Barto 3 run (Springle kick); 5:53

Walton – Brack 39 field goal; 3:28

Walton – Rey 9 run (Brack kick) 2:26

Fourth Quarter

Baker – Barto 3 run (Springle kick); 11:11

Walton – Rey 46 run (Brack kick); 8:41

Baker – Dillon Nixon 51 pass from Beck (Springle kick); 4:37

                                  Walton             Baker

First downs                 22                    15

Rushes-yards              28-219             36-142

Passing yard               262                  169

Comp-Att-Int              12-20-0            13-23-2

Fumbles-lost                4-3                   0-0                  

Penalty-yards             17-155             11-105

Individual Stats

Rushing

Walton: Rey 22-212, Phillips 6-22, Thomas 1-30, Holmes 1-0, Fielder 8-(47). Baker: Jon Beck 11-53, Austin Davis 7-23, Montae Barto 10-37, Jalen Ciurleo 5-27, Chris Roller 3-2.

Passing

Walton: Fielder 12-20-0 262. Baker: Jon Beck 13-23-2 162

Receiving

Walton: Hicks 1-18, Moore 1-5, Kelly 3-71, Glenn 3-55. Rey 1-47, Thompson 3-66. Baker: Kalee Ciurleo 1-22, Dillon Nixon 4-82, Montae Barto 3-34, Jamaal Day 3-15, Jalen Ciurleo 2-16.

Baker-Walton Box

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Brunson: 'There is no consolation in a loss'

BAKER — Defense took a holiday Friday night as the Baker School football team hosted Walton at Doug Griffith Memorial Stadium.

The Gators and Braves combined for 16 scores and 113 points. The offenses ran a combined 107 plays for 790 yards. And the teams were flagged for 260 yards on 28 penalties.

When the final horn sounded the Braves, led by Azende` Rey’s six touchdowns, had a 65-48 win.

Things looked different in the early going as the Class 1A Gators turned a pair of early turnovers by the Class 4A Braves into a quick lead.

An errant snap over the head of Walton quarterback Jace Fielder was recovered by Baker’s Jalen Ciurleo at the Walton 25-yard line 70 seconds into the game.

Austin Davis capped the short drive that took four plays with a 1-yard touchdown run with 9:42 left in the first quarter. Josh Springle added the extra point to make it 7-0 Baker.

Fourteen seconds later Oakley Kimbrel scored for the Gators on a 22-yard fumble recovery and less than three minutes into the game Baker (2-2) was up 13-0.

But the Braves (4-0) came roaring back behind Rey who scored the first of his TDs on a 39-yard run with 7:30 left in the first quarter.

The Gators with a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Jon Beck finding Jamaal Day with a 12-yard touchdown pass.

A 1-yard touchdown run for Walton by Rey was followed by a 50-yard scoring run by Baker’s Beck as the first quarter ended with Baker up 27-13.

The rest of the game belonged to Walton. The Braves scored 28 unanswered points in the second quarter. Sandwiched between touchdown runs by Rey of nine yards and a yard was a 30-yard interception return by Juanyeh Thomas and a 55-yard pass and catch from Jaces Fielder to Kelvic Thompson.

Fielder scored on a 31-yard run in the third quarter and Rey scored his fifth touchdown of the game to go along with a Thomas Brack field goal.

 Montea Barto scored the first of his two touchdowns for Baker in the third quarter. He picked his second touchdown in the fourth quarter. Baker’s last score came on a 51-yard pass from Beck to Dillon Nixon.

Even with the game well in hand late in the fourth quarter Walton head man Jimmy Ray Stephens kept most of his starters in the game giving only Rey a little break in the final three or four minutes of the game. By that time the dynamic senior had finished off his big night with his sixth touchdown.

Baker Coach Matt Brunson admitted Walton’s speed was probably the difference in the game.

“Our kids competed to the end,” he said. “We knew Walton would probably win in the speed department. Mr. Stephens (Walton coach Jimmy Ray Stephens) and his group did an awesome job right up to the final whistle."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker can't match Walton's speed