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The opening round of the 2007 Florida High School football playoffs went exactly as planned for unbeaten Pace Patriots Friday night.  With a packed house at Patriot Field, Pace (11-0) jumped to a 21-0 lead over the Navarre Raiders and coasted to a 55-13 victory.  The win keeps the Patriots’ unbeaten streak going and sends them into a second round home game next week against arch-rival Milton, a 37-12 winner over Fort Walton Beach.

The Patriot offense wasted little time getting their high-scoring offense in gear against Navarre.  Quarterback Aaron Munoz rolled off a 33-yard touchdown run 4 minutes left in the first quarter to stake Pace to an early 7-0 lead.  Less than a minute later, running back Ari Johnson scampered 47 yards to paydirt to give Pace a 13-0 lead.  And with just under 2 minutes left I the quarter, Pace scored again, this time on a pass play from Munoz to Tyler Hunt.

Pace stretched their lead in the second quarter as Johnson scored again on a 20-yard run and Vinny Orlando scored on a 5-yard run to make it 33-0 before Navarre could get on the scoreboard.  The Raiders finally scored with just over five minutes left in the first half on a pass play to cut the gap to 33-7, but Pace added two more TDs before the first half ended to take a 47-7 lead into the intermission

In other are games, 9-2 Milton won their playoff opener on the road by shutting down Fort Walton Beach, 37-12.  Quarterback Dustin Land threw for two touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Panthers.  The win sets up a winner-take-all battle next Friday in Pace in the 4A regional semifinals.

 The news wasn’t as good for Jay, however.  The Royals (8-3) ended up on the short end of a 14-13 nail-biter in Mayo against Lafayette. All Pensacola teams playing Friday also saw their seasons come to a close.  5-A Pine Forest (6-5) lost to Jacksonville Bartram, 20-13; 2A Catholic (4-7) fell to Fort White 29-21; and 3A Pensacola High (8-3) fell to Godby.