Friday Night Football Scoreboard
August 29, 2026
Here are Friday night football scores from across the North Escambia area.
FLORIDA
Thursday
- Niceville 41, West Florida 14
Friday
- Northview 42, McIntosh 13
- Tate 24, Milton 21 [Recap story...]
- Jay 56, Elberta 8
- Pine Forest 8, Escambia 0
- Pensacola High 32, Gulf Breeze 10
- Catholic 51, Pace 33
- Washington 45, Navarre 27
ALABAMA
- T.R. Miller 14, Straughn 7
- Escambia County (Atmore) 50, Tarrant 6
- Evangel Christian 50, Escambia Academy 21
- Flomaton (open)
- W.S. Neal (open)
Recap: UWF Football With Stunning Win Over No.16 Southern Illinois In Division I Debut
August 29, 2026
Given an opportunity for a second historical debut, the UWF football team produced another stunning achievement.
The Argos, a 20-point underdog in their first Division I game Thursday night against Southern Illinois – ranked No. 16 in one FCS preseason poll – powered into an 18-point lead midway through the third quarter, then made dramatic game-sealing plays in the final minutes for a 34-31 victory, thrilling a record crowd of 6,124 at Pen Air Field.
The Argos have proven adept at creating attention across the college football world.
“It’s always good to be on the right side of history,” said redshirt senior defensive lineman Byron Puryear in a fitting assessment of what happened. “That’s the moment right there, the right side of history. We played good. We did what we had to do.”
Playing with a remade roster of 73 new players, the Argos were ready for the moment.
“I think a lot of people outside the team were counting us out,” said UWF head coach Kaleb Nobles. “And I’ve got to tell you, our locker room does not think like that…Our job is to come in play good football and our guys did that. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. Am I stressed out, yes.”
“(Thursday) is kind of what UWF football is about,” said Nobles, who ushered the arrival of UWF football in 2016 when he was the starting quarterback for the Argos’ inaugural season. “We had success on the Division II level. Now you make the jump to Division I. I know a lot of people outside were just wanting us to play our best and have fun… and that’s not we’re about .. We’re here to win. We’re here to compete every play. And that’s what UWF football has been about for 10 years.”
Puryear was part of a swarming, gang-tackling, well-focused UWF defense that often won the line-of-scrimmage battles and forced out Southern Illinois star quarterback DJ Williams in a second-quarter injury. Williams, a senior and FCS All-American, spent the second half watching in shorts from the sideline.
His backup, Jake Curry, tossed a pair of interceptions, one of which A’khoury Lyde returned 44 yards for a second-quarter touchdown that gave UWF a 20-6 lead at halftime.
“We prepared a lot for DJ Williams,” Nobles said. “I talked more about him than I talked about our kids. He’s a great player and I hope he is not hurt too bad. Anytime you get a back-up quarterback, you put another good plan together and we knew they would. I’m not sure that guy is as athletic as DJ but he’s a good passer, but our guys did what they had to do to hold him back and get the win.”
The Argos further gained control on Markel Townsend’s nine yard TD run with 7:27 left in the third quarter, which built a 27-9 lead.
But Curry rallied the Salukis. Taking advantage of two UWF fumbles, Curry ran for a score, then threw a touchdown pass with 7:39 left and suddenly UWF’s lead was 27-24.
The Argos defense, however, changed the momentum by recovering a fumble at the Salukis’ 42, after UWF’s ensuing possession went nowhere.
With 6:22 left, UWF’s new starting quarterback Ty’ray Davis, a sophomore from Orlando, led a defining drive.
After losing yardage on a first down play from the Southern Illinois 18, the Argos called a wide receiver screen to Luc Carroll, a freshman from Miami’s Gulliver Prep High, who turned the play into a 22-yard touchdown with 2:37 left.
“It was big time play call by coach (offensive coordinator) Donny Baker,” Nobles said. “It is something we have repped from day one. Just a normal tunnel screen that we blocked up well and we had two freshman receivers out there….That was Luc’s first college pass… and to win the game. A great time to call it. I think (Salukis) were blitzing into it and worked out perfect.”
Southern Illinois, however, was not done. Curry completed a nine-play, 73-yard drive with 9-yard touchdown pass with 1:10 left.
The Salukis had all three timeouts remaining. The ensuing onside kick was smothered by UWF’s Kenyan Hunter at the Southern Illinois 46. UWF forced the Salukis to use all three time outs, then punted to the 20 yard-line.
With 18-seconds left at his own 36, Curry threw another interception, this one snagged by David Law-Mortinez to end the game and began the Argos celebration.
UWF amassed 335 offensive yards in the game. An important element was UWF committed just five penalties for 48 yards.
Davis rushed for 88 yards and passed for 109 yards and two scores.
The Argos defense was led by sophomore linebacker Cameron Anderson of Jacksonville, who had 11 solo tackles and sophomore Carson Ratliff from Mobile’s Faith Academy who had nine stops.
Ratliff was a pallbearer in former UWF teammate Ben Conken’s funeral on Aug. 22. Conken died after a battle with cancer.
A moment of silence was held for Conken and UWF top donor Darrell Gooden, who died in July.
“Carson was a pallbearer for his best friend’s funeral and then he comes out (Thursday) and plays his tail off,” said Nobles, his voice cracking with emotion. That is not easy for a 19-20 year-old kid to do.”
UWF has now won their season opening game for six straight seasons. The first FCS win will be a memory for many for years to come.
by Bill Villona, Argos Correspondent
WHAT’S NEXT? – The Argos travel to Conway, Arkansas to face Central Arkansas on Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. This will be the Argos first conference game in the United Athletic Conference. The Central Arkansas Bears were formally members the Southland Conference from 2007 until joining what is now the UAC.
Central Arkansas competed in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference, an NAIA level conference until 1993, then became members of the Gulf South Conference – the Argos former home – as NCAA Division II members until 2007 when joining the FCS Southland Conference.
written by Bill Villona, Argos Correspondent
Photo Morgan Givens/UWF for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Matheus’ Multiple RBIs Leads Wahoos to 5-3 Win
August 29, 2026
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos saw their magic number shrink again on Friday night, with a come from behind 5-3 win over the Montgomery Biscuits.
The game went scoreless for the first inning and a half before Montgomery broke the seal. Three singles off of Orlando Ortiz-Mayr put the Biscuits up 1-0. In the top of the third, Pensacola evened the score with an RBI single from Juan Matheus to make it 1-1.
The tie didn’t last long as Theo Gillen ripped a two-out RBI-double into left field in the bottom of the third, bringing the lead back to Montgomery. An inning later, a leadoff triple from Connor Hujsak came around to score on a Kamren James groundout, giving the Biscuits a 3-1 lead. With Ortiz-Mayr done after 4.0 innings, it was up to the Pensacola bullpen to keep Montgomery off the board.
In the meantime, the Wahoos offense began mounting a comeback. It started in the top of the 5th when a perfectly executed double steal brought the ‘Hoos to within a run. With Aiva Arquette on first and Adrian Santana on third, Arquette broke for second. As the throw came down, he stopped, because right when the ball was released, Santana took off for home. With a crafty feet-first slide, Santana was safe and the score was 3-2. The steal of home was just the 11th in Wahoos franchise history.
Then in the 6th, following Cristian Hernández’ 27th double and 30th steal of the year, Ethan O’Donnell tied the game up with a single into left. The top of the 7th also brought fortune as Adrian Santana reached on a dropped third strike to begin the frame. Two batters later, Juan Matheus unleashed a double into the gap to give the Blue Wahoos their first lead of the game.
And finally in the 8th, with men on the corners and nobody out, Connor Caskenette bounced into a 5-4-3 double play, bringing the score to 5-3 in favor of Pensacola. They scored four unanswered in four consecutive innings. As this was going on, Jaydenn Estanista (W, 2-0) and Luis Palacios (S, 4), locked down the final 5.0 innings allowing no runs on just a hit, a walk, and four Ks. Palacios earning saves on back to back days was the first occurrence since Jeffery Yan in 2023.
Luis Guerrero (L, 0-1) was tagged with the loss for Montgomery, as they fell to 63-61 overall and 28-27 in the second half. The Blue Wahoos improved to a season high 21 games over .500 with a 72-51 overall record and a 36-18 record in half two. They also tied a season and franchise best in stolen bases with 7 as a team. The win coupled with a Columbus Clingstones loss dropped their magic number down to 7 games with 14 to play.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series with Montgomery on Saturday night.
written by Charlie Hobert
Wahoos Best Biscuits In Extras As Magic Number Narrows To Nine
August 28, 2026
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos battled back from an early deficit on Thursday night to force extra innings and beat the Montgomery Biscuits 5-4.
The numbers favored the Blue Wahoos entering play; a 7-1 second-half record after losses and wins in all of Eliazar Dishmey’s previous seven starts. Fortune, however, favored the Biscuits early with two hits dividing outstretched defenders, giving Montgomery a 1-0 lead.
Dishmey bent but didn’t break in his start, allowing consecutive singles in the second before a weak pop-out ended a Biscuits two-out rally. In the third, Dishmey quickly found himself in a hole, surrendering a run on back-to-back doubles to extend the Biscuits’ lead to two and consecutive walks to load the bases. Thankfully, the ever-dependable Juan Matheus turned a soft grounder to a 5-2-3 double play and caught a fly ball in foul territory to erase the threat and end the inning.
The wheel of fortune finally spun in the Wahoos’ favor in the fourth when Brandon Compton drove a liner just inside the right field foul line for a double, eventually scoring on a Fenwick Trimble single to right that snuck just underneath the Biscuits’ first baseman, cutting the deficit in half at 2-1.
Mason Vinyard would relieve Dishmey with two outs in the fifth, allowing two baserunners on a hit-by-pitch and a walk, but getting a groundout to quell the Biscuits’ rally.
All offense would be on hold until the top of the sixth, when Fenwick Trimble again stepped up in the clutch, driving home Compton and Dillon Lewis with a two-out, two-run single for the first Blue Wahoos lead.
The pendulum rapidly swung back the Biscuits’ way in the bottom half of the inning, as three more perfectly-placed singles loaded the bases for Mac Horvath, who subsequently drove in two to put the Biscuits back on top 4-3. Poised to add on, Montgomery’s rally was snuffed out when Blue Wahoos catcher Ryan Ignoffo picked Ryan Spikes off of third base.
The Wahoos would tie in the eighth after a squeeze bunt single by Juan Matheus scored Adrian Santana. Nigel Belgrave (W, 5-5) replaced Vinyard in the home half, silencing the Biscuits through regulation.
Santana wasted zero time putting the Wahoos on top in the tenth, lacing a leadoff double into right off Justin Yeager (L, 0-1) to score pinch runner Jay Beshears and give Pensacola a 5-4 lead. Brandon Compton walked and stole second base to slot two runners in scoring position, but Yeager limited the damage and stranded both men aboard.
Santana’s RBI was all that was needed. Belgrave continued his no-hit relief appearance until Luis Palacios (S, 3) was called upon to record the final out in the 10th, cementing another one-run and comeback victory for the Blue Wahoos.
The Blue Wahoos improved to 71-51 overall and 35-18 in the second half, and are now 9-1 in extra-inning games. With a win and Columbus loss, the Blue Wahoos’ magic number decreased to nine with 15 games remaining.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series with Montgomery on Friday night.
written by Luc Maho
Tate Sweeps West Florida to Stay Unbeaten
August 27, 2026
The Tate High School Aggies kept their undefeated season rolling with a dominant 3-0 sweep over the visiting West Florida Jaguars, taking the straight-set victory with scores of 25-13, 25-17, and 25-13.
The win improves the Aggies to a perfect 4-0 on the year while the Jaguars dropped to 0-5. Tate continues to show depth across the court this season, tallying 115 total team kills, 144 digs, 105 assists, 33 aces, and 17 blocks.
Senior Torrie Garrett has anchored the Aggies’ offense with a team-leading 50 kills, while senior Bailie Merritt and Grace Gaulden have paced the service game with eight and seven aces, respectively. At the net, sophomore Myla Manoso leads the defensive front with nine total blocks, supported on the back line by junior Harper Leopard, who is averaging 3.3 digs per set.
Tate will look to extend their winning streak on Thursday when they host Pensacola High at 6:30 p.m.
Walks Burn Wahoos Against The Montgomery Biscuits
August 27, 2026
For the first time since last Thursday, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos found themselves in the loss column. In a 10-0 loss to the Montgomery Biscuits, Pensacola couldn’t overcome a slow start.
Walks were the story of the night for Luis Moreno (L, 6-7). He allowed three free passes in the first, one in the second, and four in the third. The 8 total walks were a season high for an individual pitcher for the Wahoos and a career high for Moreno. Those three first-inning walks coupled with four base hits brought four runs home for Montgomery.
The third inning saw three more runs plated for the Biscuits, giving them a 7-0 lead over the Wahoos. Moreno didn’t make it out of the third, finishing with 2.2 innings, 5 hits, 7 runs, 8 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Tristan Stevens was the first man out of the pen and pitched a perfect 2.1 innings, striking out three in the process.
Logan Whitaker and Josh Hejka threw the final 3.0 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk. The Pensacola offense only managed to scrape across three hits from Aiva Arquette, Fenwick Trimble, and Colby Shade. Garrett Edwards (W, 5-10) grabbed the win for the Biscuits, improving their record to 63-59 overall and 28-25 in the second half. The Wahoos fell to 70-51 and 34-18. Despite the loss, the magic number for Pensacola still dropped to 11, thanks to a Clingstones loss in Chattanooga.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series with Montgomery on Thursday night.
written by Charlie Hobert
Tate Aggies Rule The Vikings; Northview Fall To PHS is Hard-Fought Match
August 26, 2026
Tate Aggies Rule The Vikings
The Tate Aggies lived up to the night’s royal theme Tuesday, delivering a commanding 3-0 sweep over the Fort Walton Beach Vikings in varsity volleyball action.
With the student section and home crowd dressed in gold and royal attire to “Rule the Vikings,” the Aggies quickly turned their home gym into a kingdom of their own. Tate set the tone early with a dominan win in the opening set.
The Aggies maintained firm control through the second set, claiming a 25-13 victory to build a commanding lead.
Fort Walton Beach rallied to mount a strong challenge in the third set, but Tate held off the push to seal the match with a 25-23 win.
Northview Chiefs Fall To Pensacola High In Hard-Fought Volleyball Match
The Northview Chiefs showed plenty of fight on the road Tuesday evening, pushing the Pensacola High Tigers to the limit before falling 3-0 in varsity volleyball action.
Pensacola High took early control with a 25-6 win in the opening set and maintained momentum to take the second set 25-17.
The Chiefs refused to go quietly, battling point-for-point in an intense, extended third set. Northview repeatedly answered the Tigers’ attack and pushed past regulation before Pensacola High finally closed out the match with a 29-27 win.
Individual stats for the match were not available.
Wahoos Win 5th Straight Behind Matheus’ 4-RBI Night
August 26, 2026
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos won a back and forth game against the Montgomery Biscuits to open up their final road trip of the season.
With two men on and one down in the top of the first, Brandon Compton stepped into the batter’s box with a 14 game hit streak. When he left the batter’s box, he had a 15 game hit streak and the Wahoos had a 3-0 lead. Compton saw one pitch from Biscuits starter Jackson Baumeister (L, 4-5) and crushed it over the right field wall for his 20th blast with the Wahoos and 31st blast of his minor league season.
This early lead gave Jacob Miller, making his first start since July 24th, some wiggle room and a little time to find his footing. Unfortunately, his defense would not offer him the same wiggle room. After allowing a leadoff double to Mac Horvath, Cooper Kinney hit a groundball to second that Cristian Hernández bobbled and then threw past Dylan Jasso to the dugout, allowing Horvath to score. A couple productive groundouts later, Kinney touched home and it was suddenly 3-2.
The lead would not make it past the second inning, as Mac Horvath knocked an RBI single into right field, scoring JT Arruda and knotting the game up. The Biscuits kept adding in the third when Theo Gillen stole second base. Ryan Ignoffo’s throw trickled into center field, and allowed Gillen to score all the way from first. The Wahoos’ 3-0 lead seemed to have vanished into thin air as Montgomery stormed ahead 4-3.
In the top of the fifth, Pensacola loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit. The first three batters reached on an error, walk, and hit by pitch. Juan Matheus followed those at bats with a single down the right field line, plating two and returning the lead to the Blue Wahoos at 5-4. But Mathesu wasn’t done. After Aiva Arquette led off the seventh with a single, Matheus drove a ball out of the yard to left field, his 9th bomb of the year, and extended the Wahoo lead to 7-4.
Miller got through 2.0 innings in his first start of the IL, and after him, Gabe Bierman (W, 6-2) and Holt Jones ate up the following 5.1 innings without allowing a run to cross. Jack Sellinger took over with one out in the 8th and, after surrendering a double, was struck by a line drive that resulted in an out. After a visit from the athletic trainer, Sellinger was pulled from the game and replaced by Nigel Belgrave (S, 9) with two outs and a man on third. An 0-2 wild pitch allowed the runner to score from third, but Belgrave secured the K to send his team to the 9th up 7-5.
After completing his last four save opportunities, Tuesday night was no different for Nigel. It wasn’t easy though, with the Biscuits scoring on a wild pitch and getting the tying run all the way to third. But Belgrave got it done, getting Cooper Kinney to line out to center, finalizing the game at 7-6.
The Wahoos improved to 70-50 overall and 34-17 in the second half while the Biscuits fell to 62-59 and 27-25. Pensacola is the first Southern League team to reach 70 wins, and their magic number is down to just 12 games.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series with Montgomery on Wednesday night.
written by Charlie Hobert
High School Football Week 1: Winners, Losers, And Lots Of Photos
August 24, 2026
Week one of North Escambia area football in Florida is in the books.
The Northview Chiefs and Pensacola Catholic High Crusaders opened play on Thursday night, and walking away stong winners.
The Tate Aggies, Jay Royals, Washington Wildcats, Central Jaguars, and Pace Patriots were the Florida winners, while West Florida, Pine Forest and Pensacola High lost.
TATE AGGIES
- For a bonus photo gallery, from Tate with cheerleaders, Lil’ Aggies cheerleaders, Showband, and more, click here.
- For a Tate Aggies game recap and photos, click here.
NORTHVIEW CHIEFS
- For a Northview gallery with the band, cheerleaders, fans, and more, click here.
- For a Northview game recap and action photos, click here.
Complete scoreboard:
FLORIDA
Friday, August 21
- Tate 40, Marianna 13 [Story, photos...]
- Jay 35, Baker 6
- Walton 52, West Florida 7
- South Walton 50, Gulf Breeze 0
- Washington 27, Pine Forest 26
- Fort Walton Beach 41, Pensacola 6
- Central 37, Graceville 6
- Pace 41, Fairhope 0
- Florida High 37, Navarre 13
Thursday, August 20
- Northview 40, Rocky Bayou 6 [Story, photos...]
- Pensacola Catholic 20, Milton 0
Pictured: NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Clutch Plays Gets Wahoos To 4th Straight Win
August 24, 2026
They say timing is everything, and that was ever present on Sunday afternoon at Blue Wahoos Stadium. A well timed home run, a big time double play, and a home run robbery at just the right time were all ingredients in the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 4-3 win over the Knoxville Smokies.
The scoring got started in the bottom of the second. After Brandon Compton extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff double to begin the frame, Ethan O’Donell took Dawson Netz (L, 6-4) deep for his fourth bomb of the year over the left field wall, his second homer in as many days. And while that was happening, Joey Volini (W, 2-2) was cruising, setting down the Smokies down in order in each of the first three innings.
The Wahoos had a major threat in the bottom of the third, loading the bases with nobody out and the meat of their order coming up. Juan Matheus struck out on a ball in the dirt. Brandon Compton was able to bring home a run on a groundout to the pitcher, but Dillon Lewis went down swinging after. Though they were only able to scrape across one run, Pensacola was in a good place leading 3-0.
After retiring the first two batters in the fourth, Voilini blinked for the first time, giving up a solo home run to Miguel Useche, ending his perfect game and shutout. Two innings later, the Smokies would tack on one more with Andy Garriola bringing home a run on a groundout to third and cutting the score to 3-2. Jaydenn Estanista took over after that and ending the 6th inning with the tying run on third.
The bottom of the sixth brought on a very welcome sight, as Brandon Compton led off the inning with his team leading 19th homer of the year, putting the Wahoos up 4-2. The seventh inning, however, brought pressure. After retiring the first batter of the inning, Estanista allowed a first pitch single. He then proceeded to throw 12 straight pitches out of the zone to walk the bases full and eventually walk in a run, making it a 4-3 game. With the bases loaded, only one out, and the go-ahead run standing on second base, Nelson Prada called for Mason Vinyard out of the bullpen (S, 1).
Vinyard had spent his last 22 games at High-A Jacksonville and was making his first appearance for the Wahoos since late May. With no room for error, he got Useche to ground into a 5-4-3 double play, ending the threat and maintaining the lead.
The top of the eighth saw another threat from the Smokies. Andy Garriola led off with a single, which immediately brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Edgar Alvarez, who homered the night before, crushed a fly ball to right that died at the warning track. With one down, Ariel Armas dug in. And Armas hit his ball just a bit further. A ball with home run distance, bound for Pensacola Bay. And then Ethan O’Donnell rose up and snagged it out of the sky, robbing a home run that would’ve put the Smokies up by a run, receiving an ovation from every fan in the stands and every Wahoo on the field. Vinyard then struck Drew Bowser out looking to end the inning.
In the ninth, the tying run got as far as third base, but Alex Ramirez grounded out to third, closing the game out in dramatic fashion. The 4-3 win was the Wahoos fourth straight win, and their 13th win in 15 games. They now sit at a 69-50 overall and 33-17 in the second half while the Smokies fell to 64-55 and 26-24. The magic number to clinch a playoff spot dropped to 14.
The Blue Wahoos have a day off on Monday before heading to Montgomery for their final series against the Biscuits.