The Baker Bullets had some strong individual showings on Saturday, June 23, but finished second in a three-way meet at the McArthur Family YMCA in Fernandina Beach.

It is a significantly larger YMCA and thus is able to fill almost all the competition slots, while the Bullets had to pick and choose their events based on who they had to swim the event. They placed ahead of the Williams YMCA and behind the host squad.

Kelsey Crain was the top finisher for Baker in the 13-14 year old 100-yard freestyle with a fifth place time. Andrea Clark finished seventh and Logan Todd ninth.

Kyrie Holman and Alaina Crawford placed sixth and seventh in the 11-12 year old girls 100-yard freestyle.  Ethan Knight won the boys 11-12, 100-yard freestyle in 1:06:32. Dillon Ray and Josh Ossman placed seventh and eighth.

Addison Hill was fourth in the girls 9-10 100-yard freestyle while Braedon Knight won for the boys in 1:08:09. Landon Prevatt finished third in the same race. Cheyenne Croft was fifth in the 8 and under 50-yard freestyle.

Je suis Bear Woods avec Les Alouettes.

That’s probably how former Wildcat football player Bear Woods has taken to introducing himself lately. Woods, who starred at Troy University in Alabama, is a starting linebacker for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

Woods signed with Montreal in September, just in time to suit up for the Grey Cup playoffs. Although the Alouettes lost to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the semi-finals, the Als, as they are called in Canada, were bullish enough on Woods to release starting middle linebacker Ramon Guzman.

Woods entered this month’s CFL training camp penciled in as the starter in the all-important middle linebacker position. The middle linebacker is the quarterback of the defense and Woods’ intelligence, drive and intensity has been a selling point for Montreal.

Michael Boone, running back for the Wildcats.

Though Coach Ryan Sulkowski down played the importance of the spring game against Ocala Trinity Catholic, the fact that the Wildcats came away with a 27-24 victory in the contest can’t be ignored. The Celtics were state champs in 2010 and made it deep into the playoffs last season.

For the coaching staff, last Thursday evening’s exhibition game was about evaluating the players, seeing what needed to be worked on over the summer and finding out who “can play on Friday nights.” But for the players it was a football game. Pure and simple.

They played with intensity. They swarmed to the ball. Though they made mistakes, for the most part, they gave the big crowd in the stands plenty to cheer about.

Corey Lawler had a good night under center. Lawler was 7 for 12 passing for 186 yards, a trio of touchdowns and one interception. He also ran the ball 9 times for 82 yards. Mike Boone was his top target. Boone made 5 catches for 144 yards. Drew Rogers caught a 36-yard pass for a touchdown.

On the ground, Falon Lee continued to impress, running the ball 10 times for 100 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Cats are still a work in progress as they have a lot of holes to fill from graduation. Sulkowski cited the leadership of Rashodd Hadley at middle linebacker and with CeCe Jefferson, Jon Kinney and Blake Mills up front.

Over a thousand people packed Memorial Stadium on Friday, May 18 to watch the BCHS Wildcats in their first scrimmage. They also turned out for the BCMS Bobcat scrimmage and the Powder Puff football game won by the senior girls.

Coach Ryan Sulkowski was impressed. “If that doesn’t show you how ‘football crazy’ this place is, then I don’t know what would,” said Sulkowski.

The middle school kicked off on May 18 and Sulkowski was impressed with what he saw from the young Bobcats.

“They took some major strides in their development of grasping our offense and defense. There are so many kids to get excited about at the middle school level that our varsity staff cannot stop talking about where we should be in a couple of years.”