{"id":180021,"date":"2026-03-06T00:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180021\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:03:08","slug":"jacksonville-kicks-off-championship-season-with-sports-bonanza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180021\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville kicks off championship season with sports bonanza"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s trophy time in the River City.<\/p>\n

Northeast Florida will award championships in running, basketball, golf and track and field this month. It\u2019s a sports smorgasbord that has Sam Vance salivating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider this Jacksonville\u2019s March Madness because we are 1000%\u00a0 full all this month, especially the first few weeks with major sporting opportunities and events,\u201d says Vance, the executive director of the Jacksonville Sports Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each of the first three weekends of the month features a sporting event that has operated at the heart of the local sports scene for decades.<\/p>\n

The 49th Gate River Run will take place Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Next week marks the 50th straight year The Players Championship<\/a> has teed off in Ponte Vedra Beach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On March 21, the 61st Bob Hayes Invitational Track and Field Meet will be held at the University of North Florida.<\/p>\n

\"RunnersRunners cruise past the finish line at the Gate River Run. | Gate River Run<\/p>\n

Amid that trio of marquee events are a troika of firsts.<\/p>\n

The ASUN women\u2019s and men\u2019s basketball championships<\/a> will be held at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena for the first time.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s quarterfinals tip off on Friday. The women\u2019s and men\u2019s semifinals will be held Saturday.<\/p>\n

Neither Division I men\u2019s basketball program in town advanced to the ASUN quarterfinals. That fact hasn\u2019t stopped fans from Tennessee, as well as Georgia and Arkansas, from descending on Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

The hoop dreams are not relegated to the collegiate level. Thursday marked the first of 10 days of the Florida High School Athletic Association<\/a> basketball championships.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time in 50 years the state boys basketball title has been awarded in Jacksonville<\/a>. The Florida High School Athletic Association has never held its girls basketball championships here.<\/p>\n

The value of sports<\/p>\n

Vance says the collaboration with Visit Jacksonville, the city of Jacksonville, Duval County Public Schools and other partners made the varsity basketball nirvana at UNF Arena possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our goal to see economic growth and make an impact in our community that matters through sports,\u201d Vance says. \u201cBringing the Florida high school (basketball championships here) not only brings everyone from all over Florida who are playing in the championships, all the family and friends are coming from all over the state. It\u2019s also getting folks out to enjoy one more thing they can do with their family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are 10 Northeast Florida teams that will try to win a championship here. Bishop Kenny\u2019s girls and boys programs are two wins away from a title. Fleming Island\u2019s boys and Bartram Trail\u2019s girls are among the local public school programs that will play here.<\/p>\n

The Jackson boys basketball program may have the biggest local following. The Tigers (28-1) have played in front of standing-room-only crowds inside their cozy gym on Main Street throughout the postseason.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Andrew Jackson boys basketball team has drawn a standing-room-only crowd inside its home gymnasium throughout the 2026 FHSAA playoffs. The Tiges (28-1) have advanced to the state semifinals for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. After recent heartbreaks in the FHSAA tournament, Jackson will play in Jacksonville at UNF Arena on Monday, March 9, 2026. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

Head coach Byron Shemwell expects the energy from the Northside and the Eastside to follow the Tigers as they compete in the state semifinals for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to be able to be one of the teams that play at home,\u201d Shemwell said. \u201cTrying to win a state championship is very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Terrell Mosely II celebrates his three-point play during the fourth quarter of a Region 1-3A final win over Newberry. Andrew Jackson defeated Newberry 75-60 in a FHSAA Region 1-3A final on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. The Tigers (28-1) advanced to the state semifinal for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. | Photo by Will Brown<\/p>\n

Jackson looks to conclude its odyssey at UNF. Meanwhile, Sporting Jax will start its journey there.<\/p>\n

Sporting Jax will play its first men\u2019s professional match Saturday night against Hartford Athletic at Hodges Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Sporting Jax men will kick off their 30-game schedule in the USL Championship this weekend. Two of its first three matches this month will be at home. St. Augustine resident Heidi Matheny looks forward to men\u2019s pro soccer returning to Jacksonville for the first time in nine years.<\/p>\n

\u201cNortheast Florida is very well-rounded,\u201d Matheny says. \u201cWe have events for all the fans. Whatever their passion is, we have a team to represent that passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Heidi Matheny greets Sporting Jax midfielder Kieran Sadlier after an introductory team luncheon Thursday, March 5, 2026. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s trophy time in the River City. Northeast Florida will award championships in running, basketball, golf and track…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-180021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}