Mark Blumenthal

GAINESVILLE – The Florida Gators heard footsteps behind them on the Spurrier Field turf Saturday. Every time they scored, the Ole Miss Rebels scored. But the Gators did something different. Instead of running away and trying to make the finish line first, they turned around and beat the Rebels’ defense into submission. What was once a 31-28 game turned into […]

For the first time this season, the Crescent City Junior-Senior High School football team will be facing a 4-3 defense. That’s four lineman and three linebackers. Normally, the Raiders have faced teams that run a 3-4. In other words, that kind of defense focuses on stopping the running game and closing gaps. But no matter if it’s a 4-3 or […]

PIERSON – The last time the Crescent City Junior-Senior High School volleyball team won in Pierson Taylor Middle High School’s gymnasium against the Wildcats, the top movie in America was “Wallace And Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit,” the Houston Astros were the National League representative in the World Series and the No. 1 song in America was “Gold Digger” […]

Friday night will bring excitement to Bill Mignon Field. The District 4-3A championship could be on the line for Palatka as it faces off with Menendez High School. If the Panthers win the game, then defeat Jacksonville Wolfson a couple of weeks later, Palatka will have its first district football championship since 2003. But whatever excitement will come to Mignon […]

ST. AUGUSTINE The statement that a slick track neutralizes raw speed proved to be true Friday night at Bill Mignon Field. With a wet field keeping Menendez High School’s top speedsters from making big plays and a Palatka Junior-Senior High School defense that stepped up, the Panthers held the Falcons to 120 yards of offense in a 12-0 shutout in […]

GAINESVILLE – Other than a 59-yard touchdown strike by Aaron Philo to Bailey Stockton less than four minutes into the game, there weren’t too many moments that Florida Gators football fans got excited about on Saturday at Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. And if it looked anything like the Gators’ 38-19 embarrassment against now-.500 South Carolina, Florida may […]

There will be no home meet for the Palatka Junior-Senior High School swimming team this season. It became official late last week when the refurbished and expanded Putnam Aquatics Center could not have its pool’s deck finished in time due to the inclement weather that fell all week, according to Haley Gill, the senior division manager at the Putnam County […]

Homecoming week is usually a bad sign for a football team with distractions ruling that period up until kickoff. And it will be no different for Crescent City Junior-Senior High School’s team on Friday night when it hosts Umatilla for the Raiders’ homecoming game. But the Raiders just came off scoring a 27-0 victory over Daytona Beach Halifax Academy on […]

Palatka Junior-Senior High School’s bowling teams will be taking a road trip. A long one. Three hours long actually to the state capital to compete for a spot in the state tournament. Monday’s District 1 Tournament will be held at a bowling house that none of the young Panthers have ever rolled on. Just their head coach has familiarity with […]

Despite the bad weather that cost both teams matches at times this season, the time has arrived for the Palatka Junior-Senior High School boys and girls golf teams to tee it up on their home Palatka Municipal Golf Course on consecutive days. The boys go first with the district tournament starting at 8 a.m. Monday, then the next morning, the […]