Right from the start, the Chiefland Indians football team set the tone for what could be a special season under head coach Adam Gore. A victory over Williston showed they could compete with anyone, while knocking off previously undefeated Union County proved the Indians were ready to make a postseason push.
When your hometown has a population of fewer than 1,000 people, you're bound to interact with most of them at some point.
Small, close-knit communities are a hallmark of north central Florida, and for many residents, it's something they deeply cherish. For senior linebacker Cole Rarey, it's one of the reasons he loves his hometown — and why he believes the Bell Bulldogs are making their run to the state playoffs.
There have been a ton of great players that have worn the black and gold of Buchholz, many have gone on to play college ball and even the NFL. But in the more than 50 years of the program's existence, no one had ever scored 7 touchdowns in a single game, well at least until last week. Junior wide receiver and now running back Justin Williams had a night for the record books against Tocoi Creek as he scored early and often helping the Bobcats put 63 on the scoreboard and cementing himself as this week's UF Health Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine High School Athlete of the Week.
Success has come Santa Fe's Way for quite a while on the Volleyball court. Winners of high school state championships in 2021 and 2022 cemented their place amongst the best programs in the state, but after falling short of a three peat a year ago, the Raiders are ready to get back to the promised land.
In the sport of football, the Quarterbacks, Receivers, and Running backs seems to get all of the attention. These are the guys that fill up a box score and produce the exciting stuff to talk about and there are certainly a lot of those guys here in North Central Florida that produce big numbers. However, if not for the big boys up front protecting the backfield, success isn’t possible.
There was a ton of excitement for Dakota Brower as he headed into his senior season as Oak Hall’s starting QB, kicker, and a bevy of other positions that he plays on gameday. After a tremendous junior year, where he threw for more than 1200 yards and 12 touchdowns, he was ready to better those numbers by a bunch. With his dad Randy now the head coach at Oak Hall and a team that returned 9 starters on offense, Dakota was ready to dominate and have a ton of fun with the rest of the Eagles, but one tackle in game one of the season put a hault to all of those expectations.
Every athlete that takes the field understands that injuries are a part of the game, in fact making it through a career with having something happen is pretty rare. So getting hurt once is a normality, twice, a bit of bad luck, but three times, that might just be a sign to shut things down and try something else. However, for senior West Port offensive lineman Garrett Wilson, he used that third injury as motivation and a chance to finish off his high school career in style.
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