Tate Cheerleaders Win Big At Cheer For Hope Competition
November 4, 2018
The Tate High School Cheerleaders started their competitive season Saturday at Cheer for Hope in Ocean Springs, Miss.
The Aggie Varsity Coed squad won first place in their division and took the Show Stopper Award, which is awarded to the team with the highest score for the entire competition.
The Tate Junior Varsity Squad wone first place in their division, and they won the Stellar Stunts award.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Photo Gallery: Blue Angels Show
November 4, 2018
The Blue Angels annual Homecoming Air Show on board Naval Air Station Pensacola was held Friday and Saturday,
For a photo gallery from Saturday, click here.
For a photo gallery from Friday, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Perry Doggrell, click to enlarge.
No. 7 Valdosta State Too Much UWF In 48-21 Senior Day Loss
November 4, 2018
The UWF football team went toe-to-toe with undefeated Valdosta State but had too many second-half miscues in a 48-21 loss at Blue Wahoos Stadium Saturday night.
UWF led 21-17 late in the third quarter before VSU scored 31 unanswered to claim the victory.
UWF (6-4, 4-3 Gulf South) finished with 279 yards and got 149 on the ground. Chris Schwarz led the ground attack with a touchdown and 118 yards for his third 100-yard game of the season.
Senior Nick Belz made his first career start in place of the injured Sam Vaughn. Belz was 10-of-17 for 101 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
A total of eight players caught passes for UWF, with Ishmel Morrow and Tate Lehtio collecting three balls and a touchdown each. Martes Wheeler led all players with 14 tackles, including a forced fumble and pass break-up.
VSU (9-0, 7-0) had 557 yards and rushed for 391. Rogan Wells was 14-of-23 with a touchdown and rushed 11 times for 104 yards. His 81-yard run on third-and-13 two minutes into the game put the Blazers ahead 7-0. Jamar Thompkins had 114 yards rushing on 13 touches.
he Argonauts tied it at 14 midway through the second quarter on Belz’s two scoring passes. He hit Morrow from 24 yards and then benefitted from a Marvin Conley interception return to the 37 that setup a 6-yard pass to Lehtio with 7:29 left in the half.
The Blazers got a 38-yard Andrew Gray field goal to go ahead 17-14. Gray hit the left upright as time expired on a kick later in the period.
UWF grabbed its first lead of the game on a 1-yard Schwarz run with 5:22 in the third. The possession came as a result of a muffed punt by Brian Saunds that Sam Vaughn recovered at the four. It was the first time this season that the Blazers had been behind in the second half.
VSU regained the lead on the ensuing possession, taking advantage of a short kickoff and running seven times for 60 yards before Wells bootlegged in from the seven for a 24-21 edge.
Gray made his second field goal of the game early in the fourth after the teams traded turnovers, extending their lead to 27-21.
Raymond Palmer picked off Belz and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown three plays later for a 13-point lead. The Blazers added two more scores late for the final margin.
UWF will wrap-up the regular season next week with a road game at West Alabama (7-3, 4-3). Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at Tiger Stadium in Livingston, Ala.
Woman Critically Injured In Cantonment House Fire
November 3, 2018
A woman was critically injured in a house fire Friday night in Cantonment.
The fire in the 2500 block Portobella Place, just south of East Kingsfield Road, was reported about 8 p.m. Firefighters pulled the woman from the burning home.
The woman was transported by Escambia County EMS in critical condition to Sacred Heart Hospital due to smoke inhalation. An update on her condition was not available.
The home was heavily damaged by fire. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Escambia Man Charged With Trafficking Fentanyl, Meth, Heroin, Cocaine
November 3, 2018
An Escambia County man is facing multiple drug and weapons charges.
Jerrel Lamar Leverette, 36, was charged with trafficking in heroin, trafficking in fentanyl, trafficking in methamphetamine, trafficking in cocaine, possession of controlled substance with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, keeping a public nuisance structure for drug activity and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on $25,000 bond.
His arrest came after the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search warrant in the 800 block of South Madison Drive.
During the search, narcotics officers found 3,418.2 grams of methamphetamine, 682.5 grams of heroin and Fentanyl, 35.2 grams of cocaine, seven hydrocodone pills, one AR015 style rifle and a handgun, and more than $9,400 in cash, according to the sheriff’s office.
Blue Angels Impress At Homecoming Show (With Photo Gallery)
November 3, 2018
The Blue Angels annual Homecoming Air Show on board Naval Air Station Pensacola will continue on Saturday.
Scheduled to perform are the Stearman Flight Team and Doc Serrato in his T-28C Trojan. Adam Baker will fly his Extra 330 to thrill the crowd, and Skip Stewart will pilot his Prometheus Biplane. The show will feature an F-22 Raptor demonstration from Langley Air Force base and a USAF Heritage Flight. Chris Darnell will drive the world’s fastest jet powered truck “Shockwave” at more than 300 miles per hour, and Keith Sayers and the Freestyle Motocross Team will perform amazing stunts.
Dozens of military and civilian aircraft will be on display. These static displays will include a variety of aircraft ranging from the present-day, state-of-the-art fighters to aircraft from the 1930s.
Gates open at 8 a.m. and admission and parking are free.
Pictured: Friday’s airshow at NAS Pensacola. NorthEscambia.com photos by Perry Doggrell, click to enlarge.
Chiefs Dominate Freeport, Head To Playoffs
November 3, 2018
The Northview Chiefs are headed to the playoffs with a winning season record.
The Chiefs wrapped up a winning regular season on the road with a 49-21 win over Freeport Friday night.
Northview jumped out to a 21-7 lead by the end of the first quarter, and doubled their advantage to a commanding 42-7 lead at the half.
The Chiefs (6-4) will host a playoff matchup next against Graceville.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Tate Aggies Beat Elba (With Photo Gallery)
November 3, 2018
The Tate Aggies ended their season with a 42-35 Senior Night win over the Tigers of Elba, AL.
Elba took the first score of the ballgame at Pete Gindl Stadium, but the Aggies answered about 30 seconds later for a 7-7 tie at the end of the first. The Aggies held a 21-14 advantage at halftime and went on to score 21 in the third.
The Tate Aggies finished their season at 3-7, 1-2 in the district.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Jennifer Repine, click to enlarge.
Friday Night Football Finals
November 3, 2018
Here are Friday night high school football scores from across the North Escambia area:
FLORIDA
- Tate 42, Elba 35 [Read more...]
- Northview 49, Freeport 21 [Read more...]
- Jay 44, Lighthouse Christian 16
- West Florida 35, Washington 14
- Pine Forest 27, Milton 0
- Escambia 19, PHS 14
- Pace 37, Pensacola Catholic 30
- Gulf Breeze 49, Gadsden County 6
ALABAMA
- Escambia Academy 45, Coosa Valley Academy 14
- Southern Choctaw 26, Flomaton 21
- T.R. Miller 14, W.S. Neal 12
- Escambia County (Atmore) 14, Marion 0 (Thursday)
Scott, Nelson Locked In ‘Toughest’ Campaign
November 3, 2018
Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson are heading into the final days of the most-expensive Senate race in Florida history, with the campaign characterized by a relentless barrage of negative advertising.
Through mid-October, Scott, the outgoing Republican governor, had raised about $69 million for his Senate campaign, according to the Federal Elections Commission. Nelson, a Democrat seeking his fourth term in the Senate, had raised $28 million.
Both campaigns have been bolstered and attacked by outside political groups. Groups have spent $17.7 million to support Nelson, with $35 million to attack Scott, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign spending.
Outside groups have also spent more than $31 million attacking Nelson, according to the center.
The outcome of the race will likely end the political career of the loser. For Nelson, 76, it would conclude more than four decades in public office, including stints as a state Cabinet member, congressman and state legislator in addition to his time in the U.S. Senate.
For Scott, 65, a former health-care executive who vaulted from political obscurity into the governor’s office in 2011, a defeat would block his move to the national stage after serving eight years as the chief executive of the nation’s third-largest state.
“It’s Bill Nelson’s toughest race and probably, more importantly, it’s Rick Scott’s toughest race,” said J.M. “Mac” Stipanovich, a long-time Republican strategist.
Scott is a veteran of two expensive, hard-fought campaigns for governor, prevailing over his Democratic opponents with roughly 1 percentage-point vote margins in 2010 and 2014.
In his Senate campaign, Scott’s message is that he will take his fiscally conservative agenda, which includes tax cuts and debt reduction, to Washington, D.C. He has emphasized his role in growing the Florida economy over the last eight years, including the creation of more than 1.6 million private-sector jobs.
“The choice is clear. You want somebody that’s going to go to D.C. and do what we’ve done here and make sure we cut taxes, like President Trump has done, cut regulations, like President Trump has done and work on paying down the debt,” Scott said at a Lee County rally Wednesday with President Donald Trump.
He criticized Nelson for opposing the federal tax-cut package passed last year.
“Sen. Bill Nelson cares about one job, his,” Scott said, alluding to his campaign theme that Nelson has little to show for his time in public office.
Nelson had longed prepared for Scott’s challenge, telling reporters more than a year ago that he is “running scared like a jack rabbit.”
After beating former Congressman Bill McCollum in his first Senate campaign by a margin of 51 percent to 46 percent in 2000, Nelson cruised to re-election victories in 2006 and 2012 by double-digit margins.
But he has faced electoral adversity before. He lost the 1990 Democratic primary for governor to Lawton Chiles, before reviving his political career with a successful state Cabinet campaign in 1994.
Nelson has slammed Scott’s longtime opposition to the federal Affordable Care Act and the refusal to use a provision in the law to expand Medicaid coverage to more than 800,000 low-income Floridians.
“He has tried to kill the law, and that is a huge difference between us,” Nelson said.
Nelson has also criticized Scott for the outbreak of toxic algae blooms in the state, along with red-tide problems in coastal areas of Southwest Florida and Southeast Florida.
“He has systematically, in his eight years as governor, systematically disassembled the environmental agencies of this state,” Nelson said. “His record is very clear on the environment.”
But Scott has countered, noting that Nelson, as a gubernatorial candidate in 1990, promised to reduce pollution in Lake Okeechobee.
“And now, how many years later, he has never done anything to get us the money to fix the dike at Lake Okeechobee, which is a 100 percent federal project,” Scott said.
Scott has credited Trump with helping the state secure funding for dike repairs and for a new law that authorizes construction of a reservoir near the lake. The reservoir is expected to reduce discharges of polluted water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.
One advantage Scott has in the race is his personal wealth. He reported a $232 million net worth in 2017 on his most recent state disclosure form. But a federal disclosure form filed in July indicated Scott’s wealth, when including assets held by his wife, could exceed $500 million.
Scott has contributed about $63.5 million to his own campaign, including $12.45 million since Oct. 22, according to the Federal Elections Commission. It is similar to his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, when he spent more than $70 million of his own money to win the race.
Yet despite the spending by both candidates and their political allies and the blizzard of mostly negative television ads, the Senate race is taking a backseat to a gubernatorial contest between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum.
“It has been surprisingly overshadowed by the governor’s race,” said Stipanovich, who helped Gov. Jeb Bush win election in 1998. “The race hasn’t been nearly as interesting and nearly as covered by the press as the governor’s race.”
Stipanovich said Nelson and Scott have not be able to get as much “free media coverage,” which would amplify their paid advertising, as DeSantis, a frequent guest on Fox News, and Gillum, who has often appeared on CNN and MSNBC.
“I don’t think either Nelson or Scott have benefited from that kind of free media to the extent the gubernatorial candidates have,” Stipanovich said.