Sports

Columbia’s boys tennis team. (COURTESY)

Columbia’s boys tennis team. (COURTESY)

PREP ROUNDUP: Columbia tennis teams top Ridgeview in openers

NEWS STAFF
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Columbia's tennis teams rolled to a pair of road wins over Ridgeview in their season openers Tuesday, with the boys sweeping a 7-0 victory and the girls coming away with a 5-2 win. BOYS Singles — CHS No. 1 Colten Mitchel d. Parker Ross 8-1 — CHS No. 2 Daniel Zheng d. Joshua Chun, — CHS No.
Columbia pitcher/infielder Ayden Phillips enters his senior season as the reigning LCR Player of the Year following a 2024 campaign where led the Tigers with a 0.71 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings while hitting .450 with 31 RBIs and six home runs. (FILE)

Columbia pitcher/infielder Ayden Phillips enters his senior season as the reigning LCR Player of the Year following a 2024 campaign where led the Tigers with a 0.71 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings while hitting .450 with 31 RBIs and six home runs. (FILE)

BASEBALL PREVIEW: Columbia, Suwannee & Lafayette enter 2025 with high expectations

JORDAN KROEGER
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
The high school baseball season gets underway next Monday. Here is a look at how the teams at Columbia, Suwannee, Lafayette, Fort White and Branford stack up this season, which features new districts as well as a new best-of-playoff series format.
Suwannee’s Courtney Neal finishes her clean and jerk rep at the District 4-1A meet on Jan. 24. (PAUL BUCHANAN/Lake City Reporter)

Suwannee’s Courtney Neal finishes her clean and jerk rep at the District 4-1A meet on Jan. 24. (PAUL BUCHANAN/Lake City Reporter)

GIRLS WEIGHTLIFTING: Suwannee posts pair of runner-up finishes at regionals, Branford wins title in Olympic

JORDAN KROEGER
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Suwannee and Wewahitchka were on the verge of a tie for first place in traditional at the Region 1-1A meet on Saturday. But two final lifts turned out to be the tiebreaker, and they didn’t even involve either school.
Columbia's Niki Sossie dribbles the ball up the field during a match against Orange Park on Jan. 9. (BRENT KUYKENDALL/Lake City Reporter)

Columbia's Niki Sossie dribbles the ball up the field during a match against Orange Park on Jan. 9. (BRENT KUYKENDALL/Lake City Reporter)

PREP SOCCER: Columbia girls make playoffs as last team in Region 1-5A field

JORDAN KROEGER
Friday, January 31, 2025
Following Monday’s loss to Orange Park in the District 3-5A semifinals, Columbia needed some help to make the playoffs. Things broke their way Thursday night and Friday’s bracket reveal led to a lot of cheers from the Tigers.
Fort White’s boys basketball team celebrates Jaydan Jackson’s 1,000th career point following Thursday’s win over Bronson. (COURTESY)

Fort White’s boys basketball team celebrates Jaydan Jackson’s 1,000th career point following Thursday’s win over Bronson. (COURTESY)

PREP ROUNDUP: Jackson tops 1,000 career points as Fort White boys blow out Bronson

NEWS STAFF
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Jayden Jackson recorded his 1,000th point of his career and finished the night with 25 points to lead the Fort White boys basketball team to a 77-38 win over Bronson at home Thursday night. Tafari Moe also scored 25 points for the Indians (10-9) as they won their sixth straight.
The Branford boys soccer team celebrates with the District 2-2A trophy after defeating Bell 3-2 on Thursday. (PAUL BUCHANAN/Lake City Reporter)

The Branford boys soccer team celebrates with the District 2-2A trophy after defeating Bell 3-2 on Thursday. (PAUL BUCHANAN/Lake City Reporter)

BOYS SOCCER: Contreras nets hat trick to rally Branford past Bell for first district title

MORGAN MCMULLEN
Thursday, January 30, 2025
BELL — Carlos Contreras couldn’t find the words to describe his performance. Instead, he let his play speak for itself.  Within the span of two minutes early in the second half, the Branford forward netted a hat trick to bring his team back from a two-goal deficit and lift the No.