So far during the 2024-25 school year, Newberry High School has won four team district titles.

In fact, the sports of football, boys soccer, girls basketball and boys basketball each captured their first district championship for the first time in years.

The incredible streak began in November when the Newberry football team won its first district title since 2007.

That was followed by the first district title in boys soccer and boys basketball in over 20 years and the first district championship in eight years for girls basketball.

“I am really proud of the accomplishments that the players and coaches have made so far this year,” said Newberry Athletics Director Bryan Roundtree. “We have some tremendous players and phenomenal coaches. Not only are they great players and coaches, but they are better people which makes all these accomplishments even sweeter.”

This past fall, the Newberry football team defeated Bradford (Starke), 21-7, to win the Class 2A-District 5 title.

Wofford signee Logan McCloud scored a pair of touchdowns in the win against Class 2A No. 1 Bradford. It was the Panthers’ first football district title since winning the 2B-District 4 title in 2007 when Newberry was state runners-up.

“Winning the district title was a great achievement for this team after making the move up to 2A,” said Newberry football coach Ed Johnson, whose team defeated the Tornadoes for a second time in the regional semifinals and finished 10-3. “There is a great tradition of football at this school and our players have added to it.”

On Jan. 29, the NHS boys soccer team won their first district title since 2002.

“Multiple factors put us in the position to win such as team fitness, improved technical skill, and tactical/situational awareness…and you need all of those attributes to be successful,” said NHS boys soccer coach Jon Doles. “However, I believe that the most significant factor that directly contributed to our district title win is our team’s mental toughness and resilience. This season, the boys have learned to overcome the adversity of playing from behind and ultimately winning some of the games where they trailed.”

The district semifinal game against Williston is a great example, as the Panthers overcame a first-half deficit to defeat the Red Devils, 3-2, in overtime. Senior Maximus Dietz scored two goals and senior Keegan Lowry added one to send the Panthers to the title game against Trinity Catholic (Ocala).

Prior to the game, Doles said he spent an hour or so looking through the FHSAA archives trying to learn about Newberry’s last district title.

“Along the way, I was distracted by discovering the successes of some of our other area schools like St. Francis, PK Yonge, and Oak Hall,” he said. “As you have suspected, we did use the 23-year district championship drought as added motivation. While a district championship was our season-long goal, the boys knew that they had an opportunity to make their mark on Newberry High School soccer. I’m super proud of all these young men.”

Newberry (15-3-1) earned the No. 4 seed in the FHSAA Class 2A-Region 1 Quarterfinals and will host No. 5 seed Trinity Catholic (9-7-3) in a rematch at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Although they didn’t win the district, falling 7-0 to six-time winner P.K. Yonge in the 2A-District 3 championship game, the Newberry girls soccer team made the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

The Lady Panthers (14-4-2) earned a No. 6 seed and will travel to No. 3 seed Episcopal (Jacksonville) (10-5-3) at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

“This has been an amazing season for Newberry girls soccer,” said Newberry girls soccer coach Ashley Arnold. “It has been over 15 years since a team made it to a district championship game and now we are heading to regional playoffs. I am extremely proud of this team and the work they have put in this season, and I am beyond proud to be their coach.”

This past Friday, the NHS boys basketball team won districts for the first time since 2004 with a 75-38 win against Bradford.

“I was in attendance for the ‘04 game as my younger brother, now assistant coach Jeremy Green, was on the ‘04 team,” said boys basketball coach Patrick Green. “Newberry is such a special place as it also includes the Archer and Jonesville communities when you say the name Newberry. I interact with a lot of those players and coaches from that ‘04 team and they’ve supported and encouraged us to add another championship banner in our gym for years.”

On Friday, they were able to have a championship reunion as they honored the 1993 and 2004 district championship teams at halftime.

“It was so special because the gym was packed with fans from Archer, Jonesville and Newberry, just like I remembered from my playing days at Newberry,” Green said.

Green gave credit to God and “these young men” as reasons they have been successful this season.

“Every coach sets goals to win championships every year and for the most part we follow a similar blueprint year in and year out,” he said. “It’s all about God’s timing and having special kids to have the type of season we’ve had to this point. The key to continuing success for us will be to continue to trust God, our teammates and coaches and the sky’s the limit.”

Not only did the Panthers win a district title, but they have a perfect 23-0 record heading into Wednesday’s FHSAA Class 3A-Region 1 Quarterfinal at home (7 p.m.). The Panthers are the No. 2 seed in the region, behind Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville), and will host Bolles (Jacksonville) (13-12).

Then on Saturday, Newberry girls basketball won its first district title since 2017 with a 53-47 win at home against Bradford.

“It feels great to win a district championship,” said NHS girls basketball coach Dameon Hughes. “That was our team goal this season, and we have completed that goal. I also want to give a part of this championship to my players who have played for me in a Newberry uniform. Some of the teams were so close to winning it.”

The top-seed Panthers (16-6) took advantage of approximately 30 Bradford turnovers and made eight 3-pointers.

“The key to beating them was lots of things,” Hughes said. “We talked about this as a staff and players that it’s hard to beat a team three times. We had to be great on defense and great on offense. We just played Newberry basketball.”

Newberry, which has two 1,000-point scorers this year in senior Sarah Beaulieu and junior Brandy Whitfield, is the No. 3 seed in Thursday’s Class 3A-Region 1 Quarterfinal and will host No. 6 seed Andrew Jackson (16-10) at 7 p.m.