Although I watched a fellow journalist touch the stove and get burned last week, I thought it might be a good idea to put out a before-game predictions post for this week’s upcoming games and highlight a play and player of the week from the previous week. If you like it, we will keep doing them.
So go ahead, print it out, and put it next to a dartboard with my face in the middle:
Without further ado – I present our potential new weekly post: Bulletin Board Material.
So, first things first, let’s talk about the player and the play of Week 1, 2026 for the Emerald Coast, and then we will get into the predictions for the coming week.
Player of the Week: Manwell Robinson
Last week’s player of the week showed how much of an asset he is on the field – and how much he is missed when he is not playing at full strength – in the Crestview Bulldogs’ Week 1 home opener against a tough Lincoln Trojans team.
Manwell Robinson put together three statement runs in an excellent performance against a stingy Trojan defense, despite a hiccup in his hamstring. He only had 65 yards on the night, but he made those yards count for something with critical runs and a touchdown jog in the first half.
Other nominees for player of the week include:
Kellen Ramsey – Destin High School. His and Donnie Couitt’s performance makes us wish we could send someone up to Baker this Friday!
Carter Maracco – “Captain America” served up some tough runs and receptions to force Mosley to play its best possible game in order to have a shot at beating the Indians. Mosley won, but Maracco made us believe the Indians can win the next nine in a row and get a second bite at the apple in the playoffs.
Cole Archambeau – Mosley’s defensive playmaker held the floodgates of the Choctaw offense like a modern-day Samson. He can also catch a difference-making two-point conversion, too. Tough players make tough plays.
Play of the Week
The play of the week was one of the gutsiest calls I’ve seen in a first half of college football. Down one point after a touchdown against a miserly Choctaw defense, DJ Holsombake rolled right to flip a three-yard pass to Cole Archambeau in what would be the deciding play of the struggle between two titans in week one.
Predictions for this week
Fort Walton Beach @ South Walton
The Fort Walton Beach Vikings come into this game with a statement win over Pensacola High School that may herald a new era for the long-suffering squad. Quarterback Lavin McDaniel has proven his ability to keep plays alive and win football games. Significantly, the Vikes defense has held up under pressure and acquitted itself well against Niceville in the Kickoff Classic and by nearly skunking an (admittedly underperforming) Pensacola squad.
The Seahawks, though, look to keep their dominant record against Fort Walton alive. They have a strong passing and running game behind a stout offensive line – and highlighted their offensive depth with a 50-0 win over a faltering Gulf Breeze team.
Fort Walton Beach has made a lot of progress – but this South Walton team has had plenty of time to work, and win, together. I would expect a 35-21 win for South Walton in this game.
Auburn @ Choctawhatchee
Auburn High School’s Eagles took a tough Week 1 loss to Hewitt-Trussville in a 56-42 shootout last Friday. The #6 team in Alabama will head south to visit the Emerald Coast and 2025 Final Four team Choctaw. Auburn’s cowboy-style offense is led by Arkansas recruit Cason Myers. Myers had almost 400 all-purpose yards in his team’s loss last week – but showed he can make bad decisions: he threw for three interceptions as well.
The Indians lost in a grinder of a game, 15-13, against the Mosley Dolphins. The teams were split by the play of the week – a fake extra point pass from QB JP Holsombake to Cole Archambeau.
Still, the Indians are on their home turf against a top-billed opponent, and there’s a good chance The Joe will be stacked both in the stands and on the field. Carter Maracco, Vontavius Keller, Dante Whidbee and more offensive stars will look to battle their way into the end zone behind a competent line that will need to watch the linebackers better than last week – when they allowed Cole Archambeau to prove his elite status with three sacks.
I have very low confidence in this pick – but I’m going to say the Choctaw Indians muscle this one out in a 31-24 contest.
Destin @ Baker
Is this the debut of the Showtime Destin Sharks? I want to believe after Kellen Ramsey and Co. absolutely eviscerated the Port St. Joe Sharks last week. The team, which had a tough 1-9 season last year, did have a bright spot in graduating senior Junior Harris. But with Harris gone, I didn’t know what to expect. Last week’s game made me stand up and take notice.
I think I’m going to believe in the Sharks in their first campaign as a 2A ball club. They have a couple of very tough games against Walton and Catholic later in the season. But I like them against the Baker Gators this weekend. The Gators have turned over their top-rural-classification-talent QB and now rely on Dawson Mitchem and running back Calvin Wilks to get the job done.
But Baker’s 29-point loss to a top-100 Jay Royals weighs heavily on the scales compared to the dusting of PSJ – who sits in the lowest 20th percentile of football teams this year.
So while I like their chances against Baker, I’m still slotting them to lose this one in a tough atmosphere. Destin 28, Baker 31
West Florida Tech @ Niceville
Niceville took an absolute beating at the hands of a Prattville team that one Niceville fan described as ‘having an offensive line like the Green Bay Packers.’ The number 12-ranked team in the Yellowhammer State boasts players with commitments to schools like Kentucky, Auburn, Troy, Georgia Tech, and other Power Five teams. It makes a lot of sense that Prattville hung 49 points on the Eagles in Niceville.
West Florida Tech didn’t come out of week one looking too pretty either. They travel to Walton High School in a few weeks next spring, where they were absolutely walloped by the Braves despite the fact that Walton High School plays a classification lower than West Florida Tech. Jaguars are now headed to Niceville to attempt to balance the record, but I don’t love their chances.
The murder’s row schedule set by single-year Head Coach Richard Morgan before his rather abrupt departure from Boggy delivered its first casualty of the season – But I don’t think West Florida Tech will be the second.
Niceville takes this one 28-7.
Crestview @ Enterprise
The haters will tell you that the top 25 rankings from Alabama are just numbers, and hey, they might be right, but I doubt it. Enterprise is two spots better than the Prattville Lions team that came into Niceville last week. That probably counts for something.
Crestview, though, is no lout this year. Sure, the Bulldogs dropped their first game against the Lincoln Trojans 13 to 10 after the Trojans staged a last-minute comeback topped with a game-winning field goal–but that doesn’t count for plenty of injuries in the Bulldogs’ backfield to start the game. Manwell Robinson effectively only played a single quarter of football and still managed to put points on the board and make some key runs. He’ll likely be back this week against Enterprise. He’ll have help from Zy Tassin, Jayden Goldsmith, and Trevin Ford on offense. Only a couple of dumb penalties really separated Lincoln and Crestview last week– If discipline can be enforced this week, how much stronger-looking an offense will take the field in Enterprise, Alabama, this Friday night.
Crestview’s defense covered well for some of the hiccups the offense suffered in the first game of the year and was able to hold short fields and force turnovers to keep the game in the Bulldogs’ hands until the last moment. I expect them to acquit themselves well in Southeast Alabama.
But Enterprise really is a juggernaut and probably is the best team south of Montgomery. I don’t think that this one is out of reach for the Bulldogs, but I will say that they lose 28-14. I’d LOVE to be wrong, though.
Arnold @ Walton
After knocking the snot out of West Florida Tech last week, head coach Jay Lindsey and Co. have another, bigger school to play. Arnold Marlins have been down for the last couple of years, and Walton should have the advantage as a highly motivated, disciplined team at home. I like the Braves in this one, 28-7
Other games to keep an eye on this week:
Pine Forest @ Escambia ✅
Bay ✅ @ Blountstown
Pace ✅ @ Catholic
Rocky Bayou @ Joshua Academy ✅
Tate @ Milton ✅
Washington ✅@ Navarre
Freeport ✅ @ North Bay Haven
Gulf Breeze @ Pensacola ✅
