DESTINFM SCOREBOARD SHOW FRIDAY APRIL 24TH, 2026

The Destin FM Scoreboard show is a Weekly Show hosted by DestinFM's Sports Director Rich Quinones, who takes an in-depth look at the local HS and College Sports scene, from recaps, to previews to in-depth interviews and breaking news! 

Q has you covered! If you are looking for 100% local sports coverage in the Emerald Coast, this is the podcast for you. 

On today's show, Q opened breaking down all the updated HS Baseball Playoffs Recaps and Previewed some of the marquee contest. 

Plus, Q gives some updates on a great run by the Destin Girl's flag football team, a red-hot Fort Walton Beach Girl's tennis team and a slow start by the Wahoos. Q closes with some NFL Draft talk, as he rips through the first ten picks of the first round. 

Always remember to get social with us, follow us on Facebook DestinFM, on IG @destinfm and x @destin_fm and tiktok @DestinFMradio

Catch Q with the DestinFM :60 scoreboard every Tuesday and Thursday during Surfs up in the Mornings. 

Get the latest by downloading the free DestinFM app in the App Store, Google Play, or at DestinFM.com.

DESTINFM SCOREBOARD SHOW

DESTINFM SCOREBOARD SHOW

Transcript

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Hey sports fans, welcome to another edition of the Destin FM Scoreboard Show coming at you inside the friendly confines of the remote Destin FM studios. I'm your host as always, Rich Cunonas, and what another week in the world of high school sports, right in our backyard. A little pulpoury, a little mixed bag on this episode of the Destin FM Scoreboard show. High school baseball playoffs are in full swing. We'll uh tap into a little spring football as well. Uh, we've got some flag football recaps to throw your way, a little tennis too, and uh obviously we'll uh give you a little update early on in the season for the Wahoos as well. And we will mix in a little NFL draft uh before we get out of here. But as I mentioned, um we always want to get you up to speed on what's going on in our region and of course the community first and foremost. Uh these high school athletes. This is why we do what we do. We love to give them uh a little shine, a little exposure, their flowers, as we like to say. And we will start with some baseball playoffs. District 1-6A. Pace got the win over Tate, 4-2. They double them up. Now, they led this one 2-1 after five. Pace got three in the seventh inning. They go on to get the win. They move on to take on Lake Howe in the next round, which is going to be Friday, first pitch, 7 p.m. Red Hot with this win against Tate. They have now won eight straight contests. Lake Howe has not had the same success as Pace. Pretty solid mark, though. 11-16, 2-2 in DP, which is district play. Snapped a six-game slide by winning two straight, including a four-to-one win over East River in their playoff matchup. Now, last week we did mention Tate went on to defeat Crestview 12-1. They just could not get the offense going in this game against Pace. They had 12 hits in the route over Crestview. And uh I know that again, you know, you're you're you're looking at it from uh these kids' standpoint. Sometimes the bats, it doesn't matter if it's high school, college, or it's the pros. Guess what? Sometimes the bats just happen to go south. They get a little cold, and it's unfortunate. And you go back, you know, that was a 12-1 game. They really just could not get anything cracking. Coincidentally enough, the Bulldogs took the lead with a run in the fourth. They gave it right back with four in the fourth. Tate took the lead, and from there, the Aggies cruise um 12-12-won your stat line for Crestview 1-2-3. And that game was uh last week's neutral playoff site. So again, you're starting to see somebody's team now kind of flex their playoff muscle and their pedigree. Uh, how about the other baseball chases that we've seen, right? Uh Chuck Taw, Niceville, uh, South Walton, RB, Rocky Bayou. That's uh District 1, uh 1-5A. Niceville got the win over Gulf Breeze. That was a one versus two seed. Eagles won that one uh eight to four district champs in the process. Now, I want to call it an upset. Eagles did sweep the two-game series. Both games were pretty much all-time classics in this area and this region. They're gonna be talking about those games for a long time. Anytime you get those late heroics, the walk-off, the comebacks, it's fantastic. Now, we have a regional final, right? Niceville taking on a very tough beachside uh squad. Niceville has won four straight. Beachside comes into this contest. Pretty solid mark of 17 and 10, but they are hot right now because they had that seven-game winning streak, even though it was snapped against PW uh PV Sharks. They'll take on uh Chilles Friday at 7:30 p.m. You're still looking uh in a team that can uh hit in beachside. They can hit. Uh, I think they're gonna look uh to attack uh the pitching quickly, right? I mean, that's kind of the key. If you are if you are beachside, you want to come out, you want to hit, you want to get to Niceville pitching early. The winner's gonna take on the winner between third seed Mosley versus sixth seed Columbia. Uh they lucked out passing Mosley and getting a better seed. Think about that because everyone was talking about can Niceville get that two seed? They don't get stuck with the three seed. Everything was about point accumulation. So excellent job. Uh, we did also kind of tease last week during our Destin FM 62nd scoreboard, District 1, 1-4A, Choctaw at the time, uh taking on number four for Walton Beach. That was a great game. Indians got past Ford Walton Beach 6-4. Uh, they had uh pretty good luck against him over the last four contests. They beat him four straight times. Jack Moracco was the standout star. We mentioned his name earlier in the week on the Destin FM 62nd scoreboard. He made a splash, hitting, pitching, looked really comfortable on the mound, struck out six batters over five and two-thirds, gave up just one on run off of five hits. He's been steady, Eddie, as I like to say, uh very reliable. He also hasn't pitched less than five, uh, hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts, I should say, in seven consecutive appearances. So every time he's on the bump, he's fan of guys left and right. And at Deplete, this kid's unbelievable. Uh three for four, stall base, two ribies, one double. He is the heart and soul of this team. Indians now play Baker County Friday. Winner moves on to the regional semis. They will face the winner of Arnold versus St. Augustine. District 1-3A, number one South Walton. They took care of number four, Walton. They had a tough go about it against West Florida, but put away for a 3-1 win for their seventh straight win in a row. Now, again, you know, it's all about challenges, right? Think about it. South Walton, you know, you got to kind of rise up to the challenge. And uh it was a nail biter against West Florida. They snuck past him three to one. And if you think about the Seahawks team right now, they're getting used to it, right? Because David on a little bit of a run, six, seven, eight in a row. Uh, a name that we have mentioned several times. Coleman Borthwick, all seven innings on the mound, uh, surrendered only one earn run, one hit, racked up. Are you ready? 13 strikeout. That's unbelievable. On any level, on a high school level, this kid is still throwing heat. 13 strikeouts. Now, offensively, Jace Cunningham, stellar. He went one of two and he cracked a solo shot. So that winner, South Walton and Wolf uh Wolfson play the winner between West Florida and Baldwin. So again, just to break it down for you, South Walton and Wolfson play the winner between West Florida and Baldwin. Baldwin is 15 and 12. Uh, West Florida sports a very solid 17 and 8 record. And they've got some very good young uh when I say prospects, you got some kids that are gonna play college baseball. I mean, this area is an absolute hotbed. West Florida High School, as many know, out of Pensacola. So if you kind of go back and you check out who they play, look, 17-8, 2-0 district. They had some big wins, right? They beat um uh Gulf Freeze, they got by them. They uh defeated Milton. Uh they split against, I believe, Escambia the second time they won 10-3. Um, they routed Pensacola 16-1. They got drubbed by Northville 13-2, but then they they went on a run of six straight. They lost to Jay. They actually backed it up back-to-back losses against Jay and then Gulf Breeze 7-1. Then they turned around, they got the 7-1 win against Pensacola, as I mentioned, dropped it to South Walton 3-1. Now they take on Baldwin, and that game will be slated for Saturday. That's uh Saturday, April 25th. So this Saturday, okay, so you got 15-12 Indians against 17-8 Jags, and the first pitch is going to be 7 p.m. So that's gonna be a fun game if you have an opportunity to tune in and watch that game. And I like the way it's starting to shape out right now because if you are a fan of West Florida, you gotta check out their hurler. Hayden Um Hunsickner, 6'1 junior. Uh, this kid's been on a tear. Uh, he's unbelievable. Not only does he do it again on the mound, but he does it with the bat, which is crazy. Seven home runs. Think about this offensively. Again, high school, uh, a high school hitter. He's batting 385, which is a career high. He's a strong kid, uh, sees the ball well, quick bat, patient hitter, 462 OBP. So on base percentage is ridiculous. And he can still base his nine this season. So you got a lot of baseball going on in the region, a substantial amount of baseball. So if you get a chance to support these local high schools and these teams making their run to states, to regionals, please, please, please do it. All right, how about a little flag football? You know, a lot of you guys have been hitting me up on Twitter at RichQ on Qt. Hey, Q, you got to get in a little flag football on the Destin FM scoreboard show. I got you, I got you. We got you covered. Um, what a wonderful run by Destin. I mean, phenomenal. They it now it came to an end, which we'll get into, but let's let's start with the ultimate positive, right? They were able to advance to that or through the Class A District 1 championship, right? They had a breakout season. They defeated FAMU DRS 37-12 in the semis. That was back on April 21st. Their quarterback, uh, Naya Stewart had not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, six touchdown passes. Then they absolutely routed Rutherford 52 to nothing. Then they had a very tough, they pulled away late, 26-7 win over for Waltham Beach. And now you're you're kind of stepping up in weight class. They were pitted against Florida State University High School in the finals. Um, it was not a very competitive game. The dream run came to an end 31 to nothing. But shout out to those girls and that coaching staff. They had an incredible season. You're talking about a breakout season. 10-5 is a heck of a season. And let me just also go back to Stuart for a second, uh, because you know we like to spotlight. I'll give the Q shout out right now on this week's edition of the uh Dustin FM scoreboard show to this young lady. She's ranked in the top 43 nationally for several stats. Okay. She has 720 rushing yards, 2,344 total yards, 13 total touchdowns. So if you break it down, ranked top 43 nationally, top 38 in Florida, and also top 15 in class 1A for two stats. She's just unbelievably talented. Oh, by the way, she's a junior, she'll be a senior next season. And, you know, let's do a little encore varsity basketball, volleyball, and softball. So this week, I got to give the Q shout out to uh Naya Stewart. Fantastic. Unbelievable. Keep it going, young lady. Unbelievable. And again, congrats to um Destin on a remarkable season in flag football. Those numbers are just staggering. Speaking of softball, Destin did fall to uh Milton 8-2, jumped out to a 5-0 lead in that one after four innings. The Sharks are 11-14. They are still set to make that playoff run and clash against Freeport. The Bulldogs scored a 7-12 mark. That game's going to be played Monday, April 27th. First pitch. I believe double checking 6 p.m. Updates on Tuesdays. 60 second scoreboard. How about a little tennis? We gave them love last week, did we not? And again, you gotta just congrats all around. Niceville, Lady Vikings. They win the regional championship. They've uh pretty much punched their ticketing out of states. Um, they won the regional championship 4-0 over uh Eastside. That was in Gainesville. So now you got an opportunity, that return trip to the state tournament. They've done a fantastic job with that coaching staff and those young ladies as well. All right, a little minor league baseball. Uh, you know I love saying it. The Oahu's uh in action this week, and it's been a tough week against Montgomery. They dropped the first two of the series, picked up a win Thursday, eight to seven, two more left in the um five-game set. They got off to a very slow start. I mean, it took them a couple games to kind of get acclimated. The bats start to come alive after six-in games, six and eleven. I know they're gonna turn around a little slow out of the gate, but I still feel they're going to turn around. All right, um, spring football practices. So I promise you guys this. We're gonna try to get a lot of the head coaches um on, right? We're we're gonna try our best to get a lot of these head coaches on. And with spring practices, uh they've been really busy. And I know they're trying to be accessible to jump on for a couple moments, but this is what you know, a couple things. So uh for Waltham Beach, their schedule is out. So their kickoff classic is going to be August 13th versus Niceville, then the 21st, they take on Pensacola High, August 28th, South Walton, uh, on the road September 4th against West Florida Tech. They've got back-to-back home games, the 11th and 18th against Milton and Walton. Then, this is where the the rubber's gonna meet the road, I believe. They've got three on the road, and uh two of them, two of the three at Gulf Breeze, uh Chocktal, which we know is a stout team, back home in mid-October against Escambia, on the road against Washington, then of course you got the open week, the last weekend in October, and then the playoffs begin. Uh, this is a team that there's a lot of buzz with this team in this high school uh going forward. Um, also South Walton, so they pretty much laid out their spring football practice. So let's just go by, we'll say next week. Next week, uh, you've got the eighth graders three to five fifteen on Monday, uh, three to five fifteen on Tuesday, the 29th. Uh, I believe you got the varsity 3 to 515. You got the eighth graders back there on Thursday. That'll be 3 to 515. Uh, nothing on Friday. If you go online and if you give these teams a follow, especially on X, they do a fantastic job putting their schedule out. Uh, obviously, very easy to follow in Niceville at Niceville Eagles. Uh, they do an excellent job, you know. Obviously, uh they post it with the Girls Like Football District Champs. Um, they um, you know, um post it. Um they also had their student athletes, their anti-mitchell student athletes of the week, the regional champs as well in tennis um with their win, uh, which um actually they did defeat. So let me go back. They actually did win, they are statebound um against uh Chillis. They did win that 5-0, so they're definitely statebound. Excellent job. So we just want to get that accurate, and then they also, I think it's pretty cool what they do. They give you like a spring football preview. So they give you like impact players coming back on uh offense. Now I can't wait to talk to Coach uh Robinson. So you've got McCoy the quarterback coming back, you got Gileard, the running back, you got Mays, the running back, uh, you've got a couple of linemen um coming back, impact players on defense, uh Clay Nelson, the linebacker, Don Early, uh Ela, pardon me, the defensive line. Uh you've got some really good players coming back. So you can follow them also on X, also their uh Facebook. Uh if you check out for Walton Beach Football, so basically it's at FWB underscore FB. Uh you'll recognize it right off the bat, right? Class uh 4-8 district two, region 1, 91, 95 state champs. They do a really nice job of posting a lot of like player information, uh their scheduling, and across the whole board. Now, I am working very hard, not only as I mentioned, to get Coach Robinson on, uh also trying to get on uh Coach Beasley. So we're working through that. Frank Beasley, head coach of um uh Choctaw as well. So we're trying to get him on. Uh, let me give you their spring football practice notes. So April 27th, 28th, 29, 30th, May 1st. Um, they've been really, you know, uh doing a lot of great press and promotions with some of their young running backs. I mean, the guys are hitting the weight room, they look jacked, they look ready to go, giving them a lot of, you know, a lot of um fanfare, a lot of buzz. They're gonna be a running first team to open it up. Uh, they also do a really good job of promoting former players that are now signing. This week was a very, very busy week. It was a very busy week because you had a lot of student athletes like Jonathan Boyd. Uh, he was Hutchison Community College student athlete for Walton Beach. He signed, he just um committed to play for Charlotte, Charlotte 49ers to go to college for Charlotte. So you will see a substantial amount of these players. So if you're a fan of you know the big green Indians, there you go. Um, so it'll be uh very, very interesting. And then also too, baseball-wise, the Indians, how about that? 9-8 in 10 innings. I mean, that's crazy. 9-8, 10 innings over Escambia, and there you have it. They're they're you know, District 1 4A champs. I mean, they've they've had a heck of a run. So um follow those teams also on Facebook. Definitely follow those teams as well. We're gonna do a little more softball next week. I did want to close out um NFL draft Thursday night, since you guys are keeping us locked in on this Friday edition of the Destin FM scoreboard show. Uh, we knew that the Raiders were gonna go with Fernando Mendoza at number one. The Jets went edge rusher, David Bailey, Texas Tech. Uh, Jeremiah Love, the running back. I talked a little bit about this on my show during the week. I thought he was gonna drop. I didn't think he was gonna go with number three, uh, the back out of Notre Dame. Carnolds picked him up, Carnell Tate, very good-looking wide receiver from Ohio State. Titans grabbed him. Uh, Reese, the linebacker, Ohio State, went to the Giants at five. Uh I believe the Kansas City, the Chiefs made a trade and they turned around and got Mayor Suart Delane, the cornerback out of LSU. Sonny Styles, the linebacker from Ohio State, went to Washington. If you are a fan of the Saints, the Saints went wide receiver. They went wide receiver, they took Jordan Tyson out of Arizona State. Uh, the Browns also at nine made a move. Spencer Fineau from Utah, and then the Giants went tackle. They went Francis Myoga, uh, the big mammoth tackle from Miami. So that's your top 10. And I'll get a little more if you are curious, Alabama roll tide, roll. How about this? Um, I thought it potentially, I was a little surprised if someone was going to take a stretch, a reach here, but how about this? Ty Simpson out of Bama goes to the Rams at number 13. I mean, I I think that is a um that is a big, big, big move. And I did mention that the Cowboys um were gonna make a move, and I I said it again earlier in the week, they traded up to number 11 overall to draft Caleb Downs. So uh we'll get more into this uh uh maybe over the weekend, we'll drop another Destin FM scoreboard show, especially with some of these SEC guys being moved all over the place and being drafted. But obviously, our show is meant to be um hyperloc with the high schools, and we love to give those shout-outs. Uh we love to just kind of you know give a lot of uh exposure to some of these student athletes, and we're hoping to get a lot of these coaches on. So we encourage you guys as well, you know, if you want, you know, to share, if you think there's a good story, you know, uh a student athlete that needs to be told, pretty easy. Get in contact with us, right? You can obviously follow us on X, on IG, on Facebook. Uh, very, very easy to do. If you guys, you know, if you've got, hey, you know, Rich, take uh, you know, take a ganner at some of these players, you know. Hey, what do you think about? You know, can you give a little shine on some of these sports? Absolutely. You know, you can always email me, RichQ at destinfm.com. Rich Q at destinfm.com. We love, we love to drop names on the show, right? We love to name names and give these athletes and these student athletes that are doing great stuff in the community. A lot of love, a lot of exposure, and um, you know, just um a lot of praise because you certainly deserve it. All right, you know what time it is. We got to start wrapping up. Hey, I always want to encourage you guys to not only get social with the station, also get social with me at rich q on q x- i g tick tock rich q on a mic, but always get social with Destin FM. You can follow them on Facebook, Destin FM on IG at Destin FMX, Destin underscore FM, TikTok at Destin FM radio. And if you miss any of the Destin FM scoreboard show, you know it's on demand, but I want to remind you guys. Now we're gonna tease this a little bit. You might get some uh little bonus coverage, if you will, maybe um a little more of the 60 second scoreboard, the Destin FM 60 second scoreboard. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna drop all the hints, but I'm just saying look out for that. Every Tuesday and Thursday, though, in the morning, when you um, you know, uh wake up with surfs up in the morning and my guy Billy Surf and the gang, that's when you can hear the 60 second uh Destin FM 60 seconds scoreboard. But you know, we're gonna tease it a little bit. We are going to tease it a little bit because maybe, maybe, maybe in the future, uh we might be um increasing that. You know, the people have spoken. That's what we say. The people have spoken, and because the people have spoken, then we got to do right by you guys, do we not? All right, so you got the you got high school baseball, you got the playoffs, you got the flag football, you got the tennis, you got the softball coming up, teams making a playoff push, focus on that a little more next weekend. As I mentioned, you got all the spring practice. I mean, there's so much movement going on with spring practices because now, you know, this is the time uh uh is is the player gonna transfer or not? And that's something you want to keep an eye out for. But I'm making you guys a promise. We're gonna try our best to get a lot of the area high school football coaches on. And yes, the other sports. We're not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere. We got a lot of sports to share with you guys on Destin FM. And with that, that's gonna do it for this edition of the Destin FM scoreboard. We want to remind everyone to get social with us, as I mentioned on Facebook, Destin FM on IG at Destin FM and X at Destin underscore FM, TikTok at Destin FM Radio. And as always, I'm Rich Canyonis. Get the latest by downloading the free Destin FM app in the app store, Google Play, or at Destinfm.com. Have a wonderful sports week, and we'll talk to you next week on another edition of the Destin FM scoreboard show.