Leon County High School Fall Sports Recap

The Leon County High School fall sports season has come to a close. Provided below is a recap of notable team and individual performances.

Football

This year five teams from Leon County made it to at least the first round of the FHSAA State tournament in their designated classification. Those teams included Maclay (1A), JPII (1A), FSUHS (2A), Godby (3A) and Lincoln (5A). The Trojans made the deepest run out of the teams where they suffered a tough loss to the top seeded Niceville Eagles in the regional finals. Lincoln finished the season as the top ranked Leon County team with a 10-3 record and finished ranked 7th in 5A classification and 33rd in statewide rankings.

Volleyball

Both Florida High and Chiles had notable state tournament runs in their respected classification. FSUHS won their region upsetting North Bay Haven moving them to the FHSAA 3A state semifinals. They ended up losing in the semifinals to Berkley Prep in straight sets finishing the season with a record of 18-9.

Chiles topped off their 2024-2025 season by bringing home a state title. After beating Beachside in the regional finals in 4 sets, the Timberwolves had back-to-back straight set wins against Innovation in the semifinals and Lourdes Academy for the state title. Chiles finished the season with a record of 25-1, ranked first in 5A and was 5th in the MaxPreps final statewide rankings.

Golf

There were two Leon County high schools represented in the boys state tournament. Lincoln had a team of five golfers in the 2A tournament while Chiles’ Alex Parker played as an individual in the 3A tournament. Alex Parker placed T30th in his first ever state tournament. The Lincoln Team placed 6th. The team included golfers Bryce Matthews, Chase Fleischer, Calvin Edwards, William Young, and Ben Flury.

On the girls side, Florida High golfer Peyton Johnson was the only golfer from Leon County to take part in a state tournament. She finished the FHSAA 1A tournament in 14th place out of a field of 95 golfers.

Swimming and Diving

Three Leon County schools were represented in the FHSAA 3A State Championship for swimming in Ocala, FL. Chiles, Leon and Lincoln all participated with Chiles taking home 3 state titles. State Championships must run in the family as Ethan Ekk and brother Owen Ekk both placed first in 3 different events. Ethan Ekk placed 1st in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle while Owen Ekk placed 1st in the 200-yard IM.

Maclay was the only swim team to compete in the FHSAA 1A state championship. Their best performance for boys and girls was swimmer Blake Rhodes placing 11th in the 200-yard freestyle and Maclay’s 400-yard girls relay team placing 21st.

There were three divers that competed in the FHSAA 3A State Championship. On the boys side, Lincoln diver Jake Rinehart placed 15th and Leon diver Aiden Sullivan placed 19th in the 1-meter dive. For the girls, Lincoln diver Lily Edwards placed 13th in the 1-meter dive.

Cross Country

Seven Leon County schools were represented in different classifications of the FHSAA State finals.

Three out of the seven schools competed in the 3A classification which included Chiles, Leon and Lincoln. For boys Cross Country, Chiles placed 2nd, Lincoln placed 13th and Leon placed 17th. For the girls, Chiles placed 4th as a team and Leon runner Madi Sims, who qualified as an individual, placed 116th.

In the 2A classification Florida High had two runners participate in the state finals. FSUHS’ Ben Kyvik placed 26th individually in the boys 2A state final and fellow student Leah Boutwell placed 77th in the girls 2A state final.

Maclay, Community Christian (CCS), and St. John Paul II (JPII) all competed in the FHSAA 1A state final. On the boys side, Maclay placed 10th as a team and CCS placed 21st as a team. On the girls side, Maclay was the only school to qualify as a team and placed 16th overall. JPII runner Serafina Rietow qualified as an individual and placed 38th overall.

Bowling

Lincoln and Chiles were the only teams represented in the FHSAA State Championship for bowling. In the boys division, Braden Colaire represented Lincoln and Brooks Walter represented Chiles.

Colaire placed 35th out of 199 bowlers with a total score of 844. His tallied a 233 – his best score – in his second game.

Walter finished in 61st place with a total score of 791. He bowled his best game – a 242 – during the first round.