Choctaw finishes third in Sunshine Cup

FORT WALTON BEACH — Greg Thomas knew Choctaw had a chance.

Winning the Floyd E. Lay Sunshine Cup is a rare honor, transcendent even.

Choctaw’s 2017-2018 athletic season put them in contention.

A volleyball state title, trips to the state finals for both basketball programs, an Elite Eight campaign for flag football, playoff trips for both soccer programs — the accolades were many.

The result was a third-place finish overall in 7A, a mark bolstered by the Indians finishing only two points shy of Doral for the girls title.

“I’m just excited and happy for our coaching staff and all the hard work and effort they put into their sports,” said Thomas, Choctaw’s athletic director. “We have great athletes here at Choctaw and a great tradition. I think the last few years especially we’ve shown that and I like the direction we’re headed.

“We just continue to raise the bar and raise our expectations for this program.”

The Indians’ 75.5 points trailed only champion Doral (136.8 points) and runner-up Fort Myers (80.5).

A big part of that were the contributions from the female student-athletes at Choctaw.

Scott Allen’s volleyball crew began things in the fall with a 23-2 campaign that culminated with the program’s first state title. Soon after Allen parlayed that success into a head coaching position at Gulf Coast State College.

In the winter, Don Brown’s basketball team made a fourth Final Four in six years and was one win shy of a state title. Later in the spring, Choctaw’s flag football program began the season 12-0 and made the region finals before a 14-13 loss to Clay.

“You look at our girls sports and our basketball programs, it took all the teams contributing a little bit to achieve this,” Thomas said. “As athletic director, you couldn’t be more proud of the program than me.”

Elsewhere in 7A, Fort Walton Beach finished 28th with 31 points. The Viking girls were 22nd with 18 points and the boys were 30th with 13 points.

Crestview, meanwhile, improved from last year but was down the list in 45th with 15.5 points — six for girls and 9.5 for boys.

In 5A, South Walton was 11th with 27.3 points — girls were eighth with 20 points and the boys were 17th with 7.3 points. Walton was 26th with 9.5 points —10 from the girls and -0.5 from the boys.

In the 4A/3A private class, Rocky Bayou was 46th with 12.8 points — girls tied for 29th with 13 points and the boys pulling down -0.2.

In 1A, Baker was the top small school with 40 points —23 girls for the seventh-place girls and 17 for the seventh-place boys. Paxton followed with 25 points — 15 for the 11th-place girls and 10 for the 11th-place boys.

Down the list were Freeport with -0.5 points and Laurel Hill with -1.3 points.