Recap Of Week 3 For Tate And Northview; Week 4 Preview
September 8, 2026
Week 3 brought mixed results for area programs, as the Northview Chiefs rolled to a dominant victory while the Tate Aggies came up just short in a defensive slugfest.
Tate Aggies
Tate’s bid for an undefeated season came to a halt against the Escambia Gators. The Aggies struck first with a field goal late in the opening quarter, but the Gators answered with a decisive touchdown late in the fourth to seal the victory.
Now 2-1 on the season, Tate hits the road Friday night to face the Crestview Bulldogs (0-3) at 7 p.m.
Northview Chiefs
Meanwhile, Northview kept its perfect record intact with an emphatic 50-6 blowout at Graceville. It was another brutal night for the Tigers, who have now been outscored 149-6 through their first three contests.
The 4-0 Chiefs return home next Friday night to host Port St. Joe (0-3) in a district clash.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Bonus Gallery: Tate Cheerleaders,Showband, Fans, And More
September 7, 2026
Excitement was in the air on Friday night for Week 3 of high school football as the Tate Aggies hosted the Escambia Gators.
Look for more photos and coverage on Tuesday about one very special Aggie guest cheerleader and her inspiring story.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Blue Wahoos Punch Ticket To Playoffs With Ninth-Inning Comeback
September 7, 2026
The Blue Wahoos battled through a challenging season to fittingly celebrate reaching the playoffs in astonishing fashion.
Trailing 5-2 and down to their final at-bat with no one on base in the ninth inning, the Blue Wahoos incredibly blasted three homers in a five-run, two-out rally to pull off an amazing 7-5 victory Sunday night against the Columbus Clingstones that clinched the South League South Division second-half race.
What a way for the Blue Wahoos to return to the playoffs for the first time in three years.
It will be their eighth post-season trip in the 14-year history of the franchise. The Blue Wahoos, two-time league champions, have done it with three different affiliations. This is the third in six years as the Miami Marlins affiliate.
As the schedule fate turned out, the Blue Wahoos will finish their regular-season schedule at home this week with six games against the Biloxi Shuckers, beginning on Tuesday.
The teams will then turn around and play Game 1 of their best-of-three South Division series on September 15 in Pensacola.
How this unfolded befit the way the Blue Wahoos battled through a season with a slow start, injuries, late-season call-ups and other forms of adversity.
They began the second leg of a two-week road trip by dropping the first three games of this series to the Clingstones, cutting their first-place lead in half, but won an extra-inning game Friday, then swept the weekend to seal the division.
They entered Sunday with a 6.5 game lead, so it figured to happen soon, but not in this disbelieving way.
Cristian Hernández began the improbable rally with a solo homer to center field as the last hope in the ninth. Ethan O’Donnell kept the rally alive with a single. Colby Shade, who hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, blasted game-tying two-run bomb over the left field wall.
Ryan Ingoffo then followed by doubling down the right field line. On a two-strike pitch, Jay Beshears went opposite field to right with a go-ahead, two-run homer to complete the stunning feat.
Reliever Mason Vinyard earned the save in the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Wahoos did not jump into an infield celebration. Playing on the road, mindful of the situation, they were subdued before heading to their dugout.
This is the earliest the Blue Wahoos have clinched a playoff spot in franchise history with a full week of games remaining.
The Blue Wahoos gave up three runs in the first inning, then got excellent pitching and defense from that point, hit a pair of homers to cut the lead to 3-2. Columbus answered with two homers to take a 5-2 lead in the ninth.
But the Blue Wahoos were not done.
It’s only the second time the Blue Wahoos have won the second-half division to reach postseason.
Their first playoff trip in 2015 came by winning the second half race on the second-to-last game of the season. Since then, they won the first half division race four times, and twice qualified as the wild card team with the second-best record behind the full season winner.
The Wahoos will host the Biloxi Shuckers Tuesday through Sunday.
Historic Road Rout: No. 25 UWF Dominates No. 24 Central Arkansas, 42-14
September 6, 2026
If the opening act in UWF’s football foray into Division I wasn’t stunning enough, the road-show encore Saturday night became more proof.
In a complete, dominating performance that will assuredly propel UWF into the Top 25 of both Football Championship Series (FCS) national polls, the No. 25 Argos (in one poll) blew out No. 24 Central Arkansas 42-14 on a sweltering night and crowd of 5,138 at Estes Stadium.
After a 538-mile bus trip to Conway, Arkansas, then playing amid on-field temperatures above 110-degrees throughout the first half, the Argos made their first game in the United Athletic Conference look like a day at the beach.
“We’re just excited about our guys and proud of them for how they played and how they prepared,” said UWF coach Kaleb Nobles. “Just coming off a good win at home (in opener). It’s easy to get excited about your first home game, but now you’ve got to find out what you are about… get on a bus for eight hours and come play a really good Central Arkansas team. So, you kinda figure out what your guys are about. And I found out (Saturday). We’re resilient. We played real good, complimentary football, so I am proud of our guys. Just love how we played.”
MORE HISTORY ATTAINED
It was only the second time Central Arkansas, which had cracked into the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top 25 poll, lost its home-opening game in the team’s 21-year history as a Division I member.
For perspective, that’s 11 years longer than UWF has existed as a football program.
The Argos (2-0) will get to savor these back-to-back debut wins over nationally-ranked teams. They don’t play next Saturday – not until Sept. 19 at home vs. Austin Peay – something at this point that UWF might wis- it could do.
After shocking No. 16 Southern Illinois (34-31) — a three-touchdown oddsmaker favorite, in the Argos DI debut game Aug. 27, this feat Saturday as a 7.5-point underdog became eye-opening for how one-sided the game turned before halftime.
It brought more history for UWF.
Researchers on the ESPN-plus broadcast uncovered it was the first time a team moving from Division II has ever started its first Division I season with two wins over ranked opponents.
Central Arkansas was coming off a 36-24, season-opening road win against then-No. 23 ranked Tennessee-Martin. In that win, Bears’ sophomore quarterback Donovyn Omolo, passed for 243 yards and rushed for 118 yards in one of the more spectacular games on college football’s opening week.
Omolo was also making a homecoming, returning back to Conway, Arkansas where he was a star high school player. But UWF’s swarming, blitzing defense, forced Omolo to run from trouble most of the game.
He was sacked three times, intercepted for a touchdown by UWF’s A’khoudry Lyde – his second pick-6 in two games – as the Argos contained him until the game was decided.
Meanwhile UWF quarterback Ty’Ray Davis, making his second start for UWF, completed 14 of 17 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns. The Orlando native rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s a great player, a great kid who is just learning and growing,” Nobles said. “He is learning every single rep he gets. We are really excited about him. He did a lot of really good things with his legs, but he’s also a really good passer. You’ve got to hang on to him in the pocket, or otherwise he’ll make you pay.”
The only struggle Davis had was keeping his helmet attached. He missed four plays in the game after his helmet unfastened from tackles.
That was about the only adversity UWF faced.
VARIETY OF WEAPONS
The Argos (2-0) will get to savor this for a while. They don’t play next Saturday, which at this point, it might be something UWF wishes it could do.
Six different UWF players scored touchdowns. In addition to Davis, who rushed for the first touchdown, running back TJ Lane had a score, along with three receivers – Gage Armbruster, Cannon Brite and Tyler Dostin.
The other score was Lyde’s 37-yard interception return. Six UWF running backs had carries in the game. Ten players caught passes, led by Armbruster with 80 yards on two catches.
“Just a lot of running backs. We have a stable that we like a lot and do a lot of good things,” Nobles said. “And Gage Ambruster showed out making some good plays… he had a hamstring the first week and had to miss, but we knew he was a good player. I love how our guys are playing.”
The Argos wasted no time asserting control. They took a 14-0 first-quarter lead, thanks to outstanding special teams play, then brushed aside Central Arkansas’ lone sequence of emotional edge, which occurred following the Bears 99-yard scoring drive to halve the lead.
UWF’s defense answered back with a pair of bar-jarring hits and fumble recovers, both of which led to Argos touchdowns and 28-7 halftime lead.
The Argos scored just six minutes into the game, then opened the second half with a Lyde’s interception return on the second play of the half.
POWERFUL HALF
The Argos produced 204 yards total offense in the first half, getting a pair of turnovers and shining on special teams play.
They blocked a punt, had a great punt return and Argos punter Michael Shine twice pinned Central Arkansas inside its own 5 with textbook punts.
“I think it starts with Mike Shine and the punt unit.” Nobles said. “Special teams guys did a great job of scheming one up… that’s complimentary football. That’s how you play football at UWF.”
UWF didn’t take long in this game to produce a shock effect.
The Argos went from their own 15 to the Bears’ 36 on the opening possession. Shine, a graduate student from Mobile, had his first contribution with a punt caught at the UCA 3.
It led to points.
After the Argos defense forced a fourth-down punt, UWF linebacker Eli Bertrand blocked the kick and sent the ball spiraling out of bounds at the 7. On the ensuing snap, Davis rolled out the left side and jogged untouched into the end zone for UWF’s first touchdown with 9:09 left in the first quarter.
The next UWF special teams splash play was Brite Cannon’s 42-yard punt return to the Central Arkansas 47.
After a couple pass completions, Lane finished off the five play drive with his 3-yard run.
The Argos defense then made its biggest impact. Kenyan Hunter dislodged the ball with the first of his two forced fumbles. Will Fennema recovered at the UCA 46. On a first-down play from the 35, Davis hit Brite for a wide-open touchdown.
The Argos then made it 28-7 when Jamari Dickens forced a running play fumble on the ensuing possession and Eli Webb recovered at the Bears 35.
Davis compliment the turnover by throwing an 8-yard TD pass to Dostin.
In the second half, after building a 42-7 lead midway through the third quarter, the Argos were able to play backup players on both sides of the ball to further build experience.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Argos will have next weekend off, as one of two bye weeks this season. That will provide extra time to prepare for their second home game on September 19 at 6 p.m. at Pen Air Field against Austin Peay, a team that lost 28-9 Saturday against Vanderbilt, while playing up a level against an SEC opponent.
Austin Peay was ranked No. 14 in the AFCA poll for FCS teams entering the game against Vanderbilt.
by Bill Vilona, UWF correspondent
Winning Wahoos Reach Threshold Of Playoffs
September 6, 2026
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos lowered their magic number to one on Saturday night, homering five times in a 10-2 victory over the Columbus Clingstones.
The win grows Pensacola’s division lead over the Clingstones to 6.5 games with 7 to play in the regular season. They can clinch a second half South Division title possible as soon as Sunday with a win in their road trip finale.
Ryan Ignoffo and Max Williams each homered twice to power an offensive outburst for Pensacola. Ignoffo homered in the second and ninth innings, breaking a homerless drought dating back to mid-April for the stalwart Blue Wahoos catcher. Williams continued to impress in his first taste of Double-A, launching a three-run homer in the third inning and a solo homer in the fifth inning after hitting a clutch ninth-inning homer in his debut on Friday night.
It marked just the third time in Blue Wahoos history that two different players had multi-homer games on the same night, following Aristides Aquino and Nick Senzel on August 13, 2017 and Griffin Conine and Peyton Burdick on August 4, 2021.
Payton Green also homered off Clingstones starter Braden Scott (L, 3-2) to complement a strong pitching effort from Pensacola’s Jacob Kisting (W, 4-0), who fanned seven and allowed only two runs over 5.0 innings. The Blue Wahoos bullpen was even better, as Juan Reynoso struck out seven batters over 3.0 perfect inning and Jack Sellinger fanned two more in a 1-2-3 ninth. The Blue Wahoos pitching staff struck out 16 batters, one shy of tying a season high, and did not allow any baserunners after the fourth inning.
The Blue Wahoos wrap up their series against the Clingstones on Sunday with a chance to clinch their first playoff berth since 2023.
written by Erik Bremer
Tate Aggies Fall To The Escambia Gators
September 5, 2026
Mike Bennett’s Escambia Gators were looking for their first win of the season following two shutouts, while Rhett Summerford’s Tate Aggies were aiming for 3-0.
Friday night ended with the Gators just getting past the Aggies with a close 6-3 final. The Aggies were first on the big video board in Pete Gindl Stadium with a good field goal with just 14.5 seconds to go in the first quarter, and the Gators answered late in the second half.
- For a game action photo gallery, click here.
- For cheerleaders, Showband of the South, fans and more, look for a gallery by Tuesday.
Up next, the Aggies (2-1) will hit the road next week to take on the Crestview Bulldogs (0-3).
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
High School Football Scoreboard
September 5, 2026
Here are high school football scores from across the North Escambia area:
FLORIDA
Friday
- Escambia 6, Tate 3 [Story, photos...]
- Northview 50, Graceville 6
- Jay 41, Central 0
- Washington 35, Pensacola 13
- West Florida 31, Fort Walton Beach 15
- Freeport 36, Gulf Breeze 35 (OT)
- Choctawhatchee at Pace
- Milton 51, Navarre 13
Thursday
- Godby 21 Pensacola Catholic 10
- Pine Forest 38, Crestview 29
ALABAMAA
- Opp 28, Flomaton 20
- Jackson 14 Escambia County, 13
- Thomasville 27, W.S. Neal 27
- T.R. Miller (open)
- Escambia Academy (canceled due to no available officials)
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Wild 10th Inning Gives Wahoos Much-Needed Win Aas Magic Number Drops To 3
September 5, 2026
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos turned a pitchers’ duel into an extra-inning slugfest on Friday night, outlasting the Columbus Clingstones 8-6 in 10 innings.
The win grows Pensacola’s division lead over the Clingstones to 5.5 games with 8 to play in the regular season. Their magic number to clinch the second half South Division title drops to three, with a postseason clinch possible as soon as Sunday if they win their two remaining games in Columbus this weekend.
The game began as a low-scoring affair, as Orlando Ortiz-Mayr worked 5.0 scoreless innings for Pensacola and Drue Hackenberg turned in a career-high 8.0 innings of one-run ball for the Clingstones. The Blue Wahoos took the game’s first lead in the third inning when Hackenberg uncorked a wild pitch to score Adrian Santana from third base, and that 1-0 score held up until the late innings.
Blue Wahoos reliever Nigel Belgrave struck out the side in order in the sixth, but surrendered a game-tying homer to Dixon Williams to begin the bottom of the seventh inning.
The game remained tied 1-1 until the top of the ninth, when new arrival Max Williams launched a go-ahead homer with two outs for his first hit in his Double-A debut and a 2-1 Blue Wahoos lead. Tasked with protecting the newfound edge, Pensacola reliever Justin Storm (W, 1-0) served up a leadoff homer to Alex Lodise to tie the game 2-2 and force extras.
In the top of the 10th, the Blue Wahoos exploded for six runs against reliever Blane Abeyta (L, 1-4) to take an 8-2 lead. Colby Shade reached on what was intended as a sacrifice bunt and Ryan Ignoffo walked to load the bases for Jay Beshears, who laced an RBI single to center field. Though Shade was thrown out trying to score from second base, the Blue Wahoos re-loaded the bases for Aiva Arquette when Adrian Santana was hit by a pitch. Arquette blasted a two-run double off the left field wall for a three-run inning, and three additional runs came into score on a Dillon Lewis fielder’s choice, Williams RBI single, and Cristian Hernández RBI groundout.
The Clingstones put up a fight in the bottom of the 10th, loading the bases against Storm before Tristan Stevens entered and gave up a grand slam to John Gil to cut the lead to 8-6. Though Stevens hit Eric Hartman to bring the tying run to the plate, Lodise grounded into a game-ending double play to seal the Blue Wahoos win.
The Blue Wahoos improved to 10-1 in extra-inning games this season, and snapped a four-game losing skid with the victory.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series against the Clingstones on Saturday.
written by Erik Bremer
Tate Aggies Push No. 1 Gulf Breeze To The Limit In Hard-Fought District Clash; Northview Falls To Jay
September 4, 2026
The Tate Aggies volleyball squad gave the state’s top-ranked team everything it could handle Thursday night, battling wire-to-wire in a high-octane district showdown before falling 3-1 to the visiting Gulf Breeze Dolphins.
Gulf Breeze, ranked No. 1 in Florida Class 5A, entered Cantonment sporting a 9-1 record to challenge an unbeaten No. 4 ranked Aggies team at 7-0. The match lived up to every bit of the heavyweight billing, delivering relentless momentum swings, gritty defense, and clutch net play in front of an electric home crowd.
The opening two sets set the tone for the night, with both sides trading explosive scoring runs. Gulf Breeze edged ahead late to claim set one 25-21, but Tate answered right back with furious intensity in the second. The Aggies pushed the Dolphins to the brink, matching them point-for-point past regulation before Gulf Breeze squeaked out a dramatic 26-24 set win.
Refusing to back down, Tate kept up the attack in the third frame. Feeding off timely kills and defensive stops at the net, the Aggies rallied through another fiercely contested finish to seize the set 25-23 and pull within striking distance.
The Dolphins managed to regain control in the fourth set, pulling away 25-14 to seal the match, but not before the Aggies proved they can run shoulder-to-shoulder with the tops in Florida.
For Tate, Torrie Garrett paced the front line with 117 kills on the season, while Myla Manoso anchored the defense above the net with 16 total blocks. Jacey Stuart added firepower from behind the line with 17 aces, Harper Leopard anchored the back row with 88 digs and 94 receptions, and Bailie Merritt orchestrated the offense with 208 assists.
With the hard-fought battle behind them, the Aggies (7-1) will look to bounce right back next week when they host the Washington Wildcats (3-3) on Tuesday. And, coming up later in the season, Tate will travel to Gulf Breeze looking for vengeance on September 29.
Jay Sweeps Northview
In varsity volleyball actin, the Jay Lady Royals swept the Northview Chiefs 3-0 in varsity action and 2-0 for junior varsity. Jay improved to 10-1 on the season, while Northview slipped to 2-3. Next Tuesday, Jay will host Central and Northview will head to Flomaton.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Powered Down by Clingstones in 4-1 Defeat
September 4, 2026
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos waited out a lengthy stadium power outage on Thursday night, but couldn’t charge up enough offense in a 4-1 loss to the Columbus Clingstones.
The loss, Pensacola’s fourth in a row after a torrid 19-3 stretch, drops their division lead over the Clingstones to 4.5 games with 9 to play in the regular season. Their magic number to clinch the second half South Division title remains at 5.
Blue Wahoos ace Eliazar Dishmey breezed through a 1-2-3 first inning, but proceedings screeched to a halt in the top of the second when an area power outage impacted the lights and scoreboard at Synovus Park. The game wouldn’t start back up for another 90 minutes, preventing Dishmey from picking up the game upon its resumption.
The Clingstones struck for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning against reliever Jaydenn Estanista (L, 2-1), taking a 1-0 lead on a wild pitch and bringing home another on a Luke Waddell sacrifice fly. Though Payton Green answered for the Blue Wahoos with a solo homer in the third against Shay Schanaman (W, 5-7), the Clingstones would tack on additional runs with a fifth-inning RBI single from Eric Hartman and sixth-inning solo homer from Dixon Williams.
The Blue Wahoos got at least one runner on base in all nine innings, but hit into three double plays and went 0-for-3 with men in scoring position. Tyler LaPorte closed out the game for the Clingstones with a scoreless ninth.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series against the Clingstones on Friday.
written by Erik Bremer