Every coach looks for athletes that are bigger, stronger and faster and better conditioned than the opposition.

First-year Lady Bulldog basketball coach Andrica Durm-Williams is no exception. And she knows it’s rare to find a naturally gifted athlete.

The Crestview football team traveled to Escambia High School on Thursday for a Kickoff Classic that was more a situational scrimmage than a practice game. Each team had the same number of plays on offense. Each possession started from the same designated spot on the field at the start of the alternating possessions.

There’s a saying in sports that great teams don’t rebuild, they reload. The Baker football team has been great the last decade having gone to the playoffs for 10 consecutive years and having won at least one playoff game each of the last nine years. The highlight of the run came as the Gators won the 2020 state championship

The third time was the charm for the Crestview boys basketball team when it took on Milton in the opening round if the District 1-6A tournament on Tuesday. Of course, the first and second times were charms as well. Led by Makhi Jones’ 15 points, the Bulldogs beat the Panthers 55-33.

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.

The scoreboard at Jack Foster Stadium remained unlit Thursday night as Crestview hosted Escambia in the 2022 Kickoff Classic.

In what can’t be described as a game and maybe not even a controlled scrimmage, the Bulldogs and Gators battled for 90 minutes without scores being tallied on the scoreboard or the ball going over on downs.

Trailing visiting Ponte Vedra Nease 31-22 with less than seven minutes to play, the Crestview High School boys basketball could have folded under the pressure of the 6A regional quarterfinal game.

But where some teams might have taken flight, the Bulldogs stayed for the fight..

As Madi Muse prepared for her final lift of the day, an attempt of 175 pounds on the clean and jerk, fan support for her was not in short supply inside the R. Marion Craig Coliseum in Port St. Joe.

Family, friends and teammates cheered from the stands. Her coach, Alex Pottinger, shouted words of encouragement. And a few of the Navarre lifters crouched down outside the competition area cheering on Muse.