Tiger Sharks, Gators take on Buccaneers in pre-season contest
Both the Tiger Sharks and the Gators took on North Bay Haven Friday night, each playing one half against the Buccaneers.
The Tiger Sharks, playing before Wewahitchka, scored 16 points in the 30 minute game, ultimately defeating North Bay Haven, who scored 10 points.
The scrimmage, a pre-season contest ahead of the Tiger Sharks’ home opener on Aug. 25, was the first contested game played by Port St. Joe this school year. The team honored former teammates T.J. Jenkins and Andrew Sheppard, who passed away following a car accident in May, ahead of the game, setting up their jerseys in the locker room.
“Tonight we will be without two important pieces to our team…but we know they are there in our hearts,” they wrote on their Facebook page. “Forever missed… TJ & Andrew!”
The Tiger Sharks open their regular season at home against Liberty County on Friday at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
The Gators, who played the second half against the Buccaneers, were able to score 6 points, though they ultimately fell to North Bay Haven’s 10 points.
But Wewahitchka’s Head Coach Bobby Johns said that he was happy with how the team played in the pre-season showing.
“It’s pre-season, so we’re doing a lot of experimenting with new things and things that we’re changing up this year,” he said. “There’s learning curves along the way, but we were very pleased as coaches.”
“We were pretty efficient on offense. We’re doing a good job there. We were very athletic and physical on defense. We felt like it was a good night.”
The Gators open their regular season at home against Brookwood on Friday, with the game beginning at 7 p.m. CDT.
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.