North Okaloosa County's 2015 football season officially ended around 10:15 p.m. Friday.
And what a year it was.
Baker School — which had its best football season in more than a decade — finished with a 9-4 record and advanced to the state semifinals for the first time since 1999.
Yes, the Gators lost to defending state champion Port St. Joe in the semifinal game. But as Matt Brunson enters his sixth season as head coach, it is clear he has put Baker back on the Class 1A football map.
The 2015 season brought ups and downs for Crestview High School. The Bulldogs received a major setback in the season opener, when quarterback Rusty Moorer injured his throwing hand.
Moorer missed several weeks, but the Bulldogs still managed to finish the season with a 5-5 record. Crestview must do better in 2016 to keep the vultures from circling Jack Foster Stadium.
Shoal River Middle School won its second-straight county championship. Davidson reached the playoffs for the second time in as many years.
The success of Crestview’s middle school teams should have CHS fans excited about the Bulldogs' future if the young players continue to develop.
The thing is, nobody knows how much an eighth-grader will grow over his high school career.
I grew 5 inches and put on almost 50 pounds the summer between my eighth- and ninth-grade years. I grew another 6 inches and gained less than 30 pounds the four years I was in high school.
Some players will exceed the expected growth spurts; others do most of their growing in one summer.
Many other things factor into a high school athlete's success.
For instance:
●Can the player stay healthy for four years?
●Are they willing to work hard enough to develop their talents?
●Will they still love the game as much as a senior as they did as a freshman?
This time next year, we will know if Crestview High School has been able to move beyond another 5-5 season, if Baker can make it to the championship game, and if Shoal River can threepeat as county champions.
Yes, the 2015 football season is over, but the 2016 season doesn’t seem so far away.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DICKSON: Great year for local football teams