Win or lose, weekday or weekend, area football coaches know their work is never done. But the staffs at Baker, Choctaw, Freeport, Niceville and South Walton certainly had a restful, well-earned sleep Friday night.
They were winners after all, Baker felling Destin in a thriller, Choctaw shutting out Navarre, Freeport ending a losing skid to Jay, Niceville responding to a Week 1 loss with a very Niceville-esque performance and South Walton matching last year’s win total in just Week 2.
Let’s take a look at how those matchups played out.
Niceville (1-1) 27, Escambia (0-2) 6
And just like that, everything is fine in Niceville.
Freshman tailback Jakobe Gilyard eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the second straight game and scored twice on runs of 4 and 25 yards, Deagan McCoy threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns and the defense bounced back from allowing 36 points in Tallahassee.
McCoy’s touchdowns went to Robert Oliver and Justus Donahoo, and defensive MVP Dominic Ealy recovered two fumbles, blocked a PAT and had multiple tackles for loss.
Up next: Niceville travels to Pine Forest in Week 3.
Baker (2-0) 34, Destin (1-1) 22
Committed to having an equal distribution of pass to run plays, Baker’s newfound balance was showcased in Friday’s road win where they scored the final 13 points.
Justice Baldwin threw for 161 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 39 yards and a score on 10 carries. Two of his touchdowns went to Riley Renfro, while the other went to Joel Morse. Wyatt Straight also found the back of the end zone and had seven touches for 86 yards, and Calvin Willks had 17 touches for 86 yards.
Junior Harris had 174 yards and two scores by halftime alone for the Sharks, who were outscored 13-6 in the second half.
Up Next: Baker travels to Central in Week 3, while Destin has a bye week before traveling to Pensacola on Sept. 12.
Freeport (2-0) 31, Jay (1-1) 14
Dylan Louthain is unstoppable. Julius Miles is primed for Saturdays. And Freeport alumnus Blake McCormick has the hype train rolling down the tracks.
Yes, Freeport is 2-0 and the real deal Holyfield.
“It was a better gate than last week, so that says a lot about the buzz surrounding the program,” Freeport head coach Shaun Arntz said. “To be honest, we talked about Blake Mccormick, who’s a sheriff’s deputy and the school resource office. He’s the face of the hype and the excitement. He’s an alum and a former band guy, and he’s doing big things here. He won’t take much credit, but he’s strumming it up here.”
Dylan Louthain had 167 all-purpose yards (61 rushing, 106 receiving) and scored three times, two on runs of 3 and 15 yards and the other on a 12-yard reception from Carter Nunes. It was his screen pass he took 58 yards down the sideline with two broken tackles that set the Bulldogs up for the two-score cushion in the second half.
Louisville commit Julius Miles added a 2-yard touchdown run, and Cullen Green drilled a 27-yard field goal to ice the game with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. Nunes finished 14 of 21 for 313 yards and Donnie Couitt forced and recovered a game-swinging fumble inside the red zone midway through the fourth quarter. Mason Arnold also wracked up two and a half sacks.
Up Next: Freeport travels to Northview Friday.
Choctaw (1-0) 42, Navarre (0-1) 0
Choctaw’s defense is full of studs. And Tamen Zabetakis is finding his form under center.
Playing without Von Keller and Zion Legree, Zabetakis had three touchdowns — two to Nick Latson and one to Giovanni Marino — and threw for nearly 200 yards by halftime.
“We played really well and our guys run to the ball and put a lot of pride in shutouts,” Choctaw head coach Frank Beasley said.
Up Next: Choctaw travels to Crestview (0-1) for Week 3, while Navarre has a bye week before hosting Mosley (2-0) on Sept. 12.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Week 2 HS football roundup: Baker, Choctaw, Freeport, South Walton roll to wins
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
