Sports Archive

Brent Zessin, who is in his fifth year as the Baker School boys basketball coach, has been coaching close to three decades. He knows what makes a team special.

And as the minister of education at First Baptist Church of Florala, it’s fair to say he preaches the basics.

Sometimes the best surprise is no surprise.
The Baker boys basketball team host Central on Tuesday night and there were no surprises for the Gators. Baker took an early 12-2 after the first quarter and never looked back on the way to a 47-32 win.

With the game on the line against Milton on Monday night, Crestview’s boys basketball team toed the line, the free throw line.
The Bulldogs hit 14-of-15 shots from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. The end result was a 53-43 win over the Panthers.

Crestview’s boys basketball team finally had some breathing room on Friday night.
The Bulldogs entered Friday’s game with rival Niceville with a perfect 4-0 record. Crestview won those four games by a total of 14 points. The largest margin of victory was a 6-point win in overtime against Tate in the first game of the season.

Many Baby Boomers are likely to remember the cartoon character Quick Draw McGraw.
McGraw was an animated horse that served as a lawman and was the fastest and deadliest shot in the West. The Baker Lady Gators basketball team has its own Quick Draw McGraw in sophomore point guard McKenzie McGraw.

Samantha Kerrell has made a college decision. The Crestview High School volleyball senior will be taking her skills an hour north to Andalusia, Ala., where she will play for Lurleen B. Wallace Community College.

“I actually looked at a few other colleges and they’re good,” she said. “It’s close to home and I just really feel like I had a place there and the coach (Janie Wiggins) and the team wanted me.

It has been a few weeks since Baker’s volleyball team fell to Liberty County in the state championship match last month. As is the case with all things, time marches on at a clip faster than any of us want to think about.

Chelsea Medley starts her second year as the Baker girls basketball coach with a young, but scrappy team.

Senior guard Payton Barnhill will be the glue that provides leadership for the Gators, but the players Medley expects big things from are sophomores Addison Cadenhead and McKenzie McGraw.

Heidi Sheikho’s high school volleyball career ended a little more than a month ago when Crestview was eliminated from the district tournament.

Sheikho’s career with the Bulldogs might be over as she’ll graduate in the spring, but she will continue to play volleyball as she signed with Belhaven on Friday.

Crestview’s Lady Bulldogs basketball team hosted Milton on Tuesday trying to avoid an 0-2 start in District 1-6A play.
Mission accomplished. Crestview used a suffocating defense and timely shooting to down the Panthers 45-32.