There were routs on the gridiron. There were shutouts. There were quarterbacks slinging it and defenses flexing.
From Choctaw’s third straight shutout to Baker, Freeport and South Walton continuing the road to perfection, here’s the Week 4 roundup for area high school football teams.
Choctaw 28, Pine Forest 0
If teams can’t score on Choctaw, they certainly can’t beat the Big Green.
Choctaw’s defense pitched its third straight shutout and extended its scoreless streak to 13 quarters to move the Big Green to 4-0 ahead of next week’s highly anticipated trip to Eagle Stadium.
Tamen Zabetakis threw for a pair of touchdowns to Ryne Burks and Zion Legree, and Marracco and Whidbee had rushing scores for the Big Green, who’ve outscored foes 119-14 nearly midway through the regular season.
Baker 29, Jay 20
Baker two-way star Justice Baldwin did it all Friday night, completing 9 of 10 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns, rushing for 33 yards and delivering an interception, a sack and a safety to help the Gators improve to 4-0.
Austin Stanley was the recipient of two of those scores, delivering three grabs for 121 yards. The other went to Riley Renfro, who had three receptions for 104 yards. Calvin Wilks added 78 rushing yards, and Elijah Lindros delivered a pick-six, four tackles and a quarterback hurry.
Baker hosts 0-3 Rutherford next week.
Freeport 71, Cottondale 60
Shaun Arntz said he’s no track coach, but Friday’s 131-point thriller on Homecoming resembled a track meet. That it came against a team that led them 56-0 last year at halftime in a 64-22 loss made it that much sweeter.
The back-and-forth battle featured seven touchdowns from quarterback Carter Nunes, who connected with Caleb Leonard for three scores (12, 20, 40 yards) and Julius Miles for two more (52, 28) while he and Dylan Louthain each added a pair of rushing scores. Nunes finished with 222 passings yards and 80 rushing yards for a total of seven touchdowns, which give him 19 scores (14 passing, five rushing) on the season compared to just one interception. Miles had five catches for a team-best 136 yards and Louthain led the team with 186 rushing yards.
“We had more gas than them,” said Arntz, whose team improved to 4-0. “We’re a bigger school with a lot more kids, so we just never let up.”
Talen McElyea added a 15-yard touchdowns run for the Bulldogs, who despite what the score might say did have some defensive wins on the night.
Leonard had an interception, Ryland Willig recovered a fumble and Layton Moore got the callup from JV at halftime to fill a need at linebacker, where he delivered two tackles for loss and broke up a pass that led to an interception.
“4-0 feels good, but I really feel like our coaches and kids saw it coming,” Arntz said. “I thought it wouldn’t have been this interesting these past two weeks, but we have a tough road ahead.”
That includes Pensacola Catholic in two weeks following their bye, followed by South Walton, Baker, Walton and North Florida Christian.
South Walton 24, Arnold 6
Next week’s trip to Florida High will be a good barometer for Phil Tisa’s crew, who are 3-0 and rolling behind a varsity defense that’s allowed just six points this year and an offense cruising behind quarterback JD Brown.
On Friday night, Brown threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns, two to Grant Gilmore and the other to Carter Hawk. Gilmore finished with eight catches for 129 yards.
Grant Gillmore two touchdowns (129 receiving on 8 catches), while Carter Hawk had one. JD Brown threw for 306. Nathan Lech tacked on a field goal, and Max Madden (what a football name) delivered an interception.
Mosley 36, Navarre 16
Marquez White and Brody Powers delivered touchdowns, but the Raiders fell to 0-3. It doesn’t get any easier next week with a trip to 4-0 Milton.
West Florida 35, Walton 6
Walton suffered it first loss of 2025, falling to 2-1 ahead of next week’s matchup at home versus for Fort Walton Beach.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Week 4 HS football roundup: Baker, Choctaw, Freeport, SoWal remain unbeaten
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
