Raiders finish perfect district slate

The Maroon-and-Black earned another come-from-behind win Friday, but not of the heart-attack variety.

Navarre High School’s Raiders beat A.C. Mosley 28-13 to finish with a perfect 5-0 record in District 2-6A play and improve to 8-1 overall.

The Dolphins took a 7-0 lead after Aaron Mendoza recovered a Raiders’ fumble in the Navarre end zone. The district champions didn’t trail long, though. Nick Benton returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the Navarre 40-yard line and, on the first play from scrimmage, slot-back Gatlin Casey ran the ball 60 yards for a touchdown.

Senior running back Jay Warren scored on runs of 84 and 1 yards and backup quarterback Matt Webb threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Mikul Smith to build a 28-7 lead before the Dolphins managed a score in the final minutes. Johnny Robinson-Pettus blocked the point-after attempt.

Navarre starting quarterback Andrew Rieves, a senior, left the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter and Webb played the rest of the game. Rieves was on the bench with ice on his ankle in the second half and Navarre coach Jay Walls said after the game the injury didn’t appear to be serious.

Receiver/punter Jordan Leggett played sparingly because of illness.

Mosley fell to 3-6 and finished 0-5 in the district.

Navarre will end the regular season by hosting arch-rival Gulf Breeze in the annual battle for the Beach Bowl Cup on Friday. A week later, on Nov. 16, the Raiders will face District 1-6A runner-up Pace in the first round of the Florida High School Athletics Association football playoffs. The winner of that game will face the Niceville-Milton winner in the second round.