A 35 game conference winning streak came to an end for the Knoxville Girls Basketball Squad as the Panthers lost to Centerville on Tuesday night 60-52 while the boys did enough in a rock fight win over the Big Reds 55-41 in games heard live on 95.3 KNIA. The girls came into the game not playing since December 15th and it showed early on trailing 18-5 after one quarter. When the Panthers switched defenses in the second, they picked up the pace and trailed 24-20 at the half, and then raced out to a 41-38 lead after three quarters, but the fuel tank read E and Centerville quickly established control. Maggie Wilkins led the Panthers with 33 points as they fall to 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in the South Central Conference. The boys game was played at a slow pace all game with the Panthers only generating 23 points at the half. The good news was, Centerville was unable to generate much scoring as well and could only muster 15 points by the break. In the second half, the Panthers behin
Tuesday is the first game the Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad will play in the last 21 days. The Panthers will have a formidable opponent in Centerville coming to town as the Panthers try to keep momentum from a shortened 2020 portion of the season, which stopped suddenly at 4-0. Coach Jeff Larson knows how athletic Centerville is and hopes his guys are ready to get back to game action after such a long lay off.
Larson:
“They have a pretty good senior class and the Kauzlarich kid is pretty tough, and I’m glad we have them at home, but last year they beat us at home. We have to be ready and if we’re not ready bad things are going to have and I think we have to out compete each team we play.”
January 1, 2021
A Milton High School science teacher and coach with North Escambia ties has passed away due to COVID-19.
Coach Jeff Larson passed away on Christmas Day.
He was in education for 38 years, the last 26 as a science teacher at Milton High School.
“He was probably the most revered science teacher in the department. A great teacher, a tremendous football coach, but a better person,” said Tim Short, principal of Milton High School.
Larson was a coach and teacher at what was then Ernest Ward High School in Walnut Hill.
The Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad is finally able to get back in the gym after being forced to shut down for several days due to COVID-19 concerns. One of the first things Coach Jeff Larson and the coaching staff will emphasize is defense. The Panthers play mostly man defense, but they have had success in zone defenses in shutting down teams from scoring. Coach Jeff Larson tells KNIA/KRLS Sports the guys are starting to understand the importance of playing good defense to give his team a chance to win.
Larson:
“We’d like to play man all the time because I think we have the athlete that can do that. They’re buying into situations and stuff like that. We’ve got some pretty good athletes, and we still have to preach to them that defense is important.”
Pensacola News Journal
Jeff Larson, a longtime Milton High School science teacher and football coach, passed away on Christmas Day due to COVID-19.
Larson was 60 years old and had been a teacher at Milton High for the past 25 years.
Santa Rosa County School District Superintendent Karen Barber confirmed Larson s death to the News Journal, saying the school and entire Milton community had lost an incredible teacher and man and that he would be missed by his students and fellow faculty members.
“Jeff had been sick, he had not been in school for the previous two weeks (before Christmas break),” Barber said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “He had been in the hospital for several weeks receiving treatment for COVID before he passed away. It had been a long, very, very difficult treatment, they were trying to save his life.”