Raines football's latest feat? 30 regular-season wins, and counting

Right now, for Raines football, all they do is win.

The Vikings' 31-13 victory over Mandarin on Sept. 18 at the Graveyard not only kept Raines atop Jacksonville's high school football world, but extended several historic streaks on the Northside.

Raines has now gone 1,427 days since their last loss to a Duval County public school, against Jackson on Oct. 27, 2022. Barring losses to Riverside (Oct. 16) or Ribault (Oct. 31), or in the Florida High School Athletic Association postseason, that streak will extend into 2027.

As for regular season games, Raines has now won its last 30: five this year, nine in 2025 (the originally-scheduled game against Miami Central was canceled), nine in 2024 (Hurricane Helene wiped out a game in Madison County) and

the last seven in 2023. The last team to overcome Raines in the regular season was Daytona Beach Mainland on Sept. 15, 2023.

Meanwhile, the Raines winning streak across all games is now 19, including all 14 games in their FHSAA Class 3A championship season last fall and the first nine this year. Among Duval public schools, Jackson went unbeaten for 20 consecutive games from 1932 to 1934, but that run also included five ties.

The Vikings still have a long way to go, though, to take down the longest winning streak for Northeast Florida. Union County, under Robby Pruitt, won 52 consecutive games from 1994 through 1997, which remains the state's all-time best mark.

Young Wolfpack building momentum into Gateway

At any given moment, most of the players on the court for Wolfson volleyball might still be in their sophomore or freshman years.

But the wins keep on coming.

With a barrage of swerving serves, the Wolfpack (10-4) made a statement on Sept. 21 with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-19 sweep of Bolles in a rematch of the Florida High School Athletic Association playoffs from 2025.

Nyla Armstrong, the lone senior on the roster, ignited an 8-0 first-set run with three aces in a streak of dizzying serves that kept on coming throughout the night. After Sophia Albaugh brought Bolles back from a 20-15 deficit in the second, junior Emma Mae Abernathy helped turn the tide back Wolfson's way on the road to a sweep.

On a lineup stacked with sophomores including 1,000-assist Carter Rowell at setter, Monica Mina at libero and hitters Averie Porter, Bethany Stephens, Tiana James and Delaney Coleman, youth keeps paying off.

Last year's Gateway Conference tournament brought Wolfson its first trophy since 2001. In a top-heavy Gateway field this year — Wolfson, Fletcher and Baldwin are currently the only Duval County public schools ranked in the MaxPreps top 25 for the area — a Wolfson-Fletcher rematch is a real possibility when the tournament tips off from Oct. 6-8.

"Everybody believes that we're right there and we have those pieces, and everybody knows we're a tough team to beat, and they're coming for us," Wolfson coach Brianna Kerley said. "So I think we're just sticking to our own plan, our own rhythm and sticking to what we came here to do last year and get some hardware."

Tight finish in Katie Caples Invitational

In cross-country, there's close. And then there's extra close.

While Andrew Sides of Gainesville Buchholz and Annabella Tomasic of Bishop Moore dominated the respective individual races at the Katie Caples Invitational on Sept. 19, the team elite standings came down to one point on the girls side and zero points on the boys side.

When Buchholz and Ponte Vedra's top five runners both accounted for 69 total points in the boys race, the result came down to the sixth-runner tiebreaker, and the Bobcats' Jacob Motamarry just squeezed in two seconds ahead of Ponte Vedra's Liam Heffernan for the deciding margin.

The Gainesville school recorded three of the top seven with winner Sides (15:53) as well as Quinn Meyer and Finn Richards in sixth and seventh. Creekside's Eli Scharf and Ponte Vedra's Luke Ross came in fourth and fifth, and the boys team race was also a nail-biter with Bishop Kenny third (73) and Creekside fourth (78).

In the girls race, Tomasic's blistering-fast 17:24 marked the second-fastest girls 5K in Florida this year, behind only the 17:14 from Emma Balaban of independent IMG Academy on Sept. 5. Tomasic, now a multiple victor on the scenic course along the St. Johns River, also won the Katie Caples in 2023 as a seventh-grader.

Her effort also brought Bishop Moore the team championship with 62 points, one point ahead of host Bishop Kenny with 63. Bishop Kenny's Camila Giles and Jillian Jakab took second and third, with Episcopal's Holland McKinney fourth. Creekside and Episcopal completed the top four in the team race.

This week's schedule includes the Leslie Baker Saints Open at Sandalwood on Sept. 23 ahead of two Sept. 26 races, the Bale 'N' Trail Original at Bartram Trail and the Run Florida XC Invitational in Lake City. Coming Sept. 29 is the Fletcher Nor'Eastern Classic at Jacksonville Beach.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Raines football's latest feat? 30 regular-season wins, and counting