When COVID shut the country down, Neilya Stewart‘s family was on a cross-country road trip and happened to pass through Destin. By the time they made it back home to California, the state was shutting down. Stewart’s mom looked up which states had the fewest restrictions. 

• Iowa was first. Florida was second.

“She didn’t think she could live in Iowa, but Florida sounded good to her,” Stewart said. “So we packed up the motor home and moved here, and we’ve been here ever since.”

She arrived in seventh grade, picked up flag football for the first time and fell in love with it. By the time she got to high school, the choice to stay was already made.

“In middle school, everyone goes different ways, and I chose to stay loyal to Destin,” Stewart said. “I’m just happy that we’re building the program and getting better as a school.”

Head Coach Kyle Bryant said it didn’t take long to see what Stewart could be.

• “Her freshman year, when she stepped on the field, she played as a freshman. We threw her in the fire,” Bryant said. “She played at multiple positions, and to this day she still does.”

That loyalty is paying off in historic fashion. In a single school year, Stewart has helped deliver Destin its first district championship in any sport — as a captain on the girls basketball team — and now its first two playoff wins in school history on the flag football field.

The numbers behind the run are impressive. In 15 games this season, Stewart has thrown for 1,794 yards and 20 touchdowns, rushed for 770 yards and 12 more scores, and added a receiving touchdown for good measure. On defense, she has 57 flag pulls, 13 sacks and five interceptions.

But Bryant said the stat sheet only tells part of the story.

• “She has a competitive nature,” Bryant said. “She wants to win, she wants to excel in all that she does, not just on the field, but off the field. That will to win that she has is very infectious. It makes all of us want to win too, because she drives and she leads us.”

Stewart is also a multi-sport varsity athlete at Destin, suiting up for flag football, basketball, and volleyball. She said playing alongside many of the same teammates year-round has built a chemistry that translates onto the field.

“We’ve been playing for the last few years together,” Stewart said. “A lot of girls go from volleyball to basketball to flag football, so we’re all together pretty much year round. We’re building good chemistry, and I just feel like that helps a lot when it comes to playing sports and being on the same page.”

Bryant, who also coaches tackle football, said being a multi-sport athlete pays dividends well beyond the box score.

• “Being a multiple sport athlete helps you in all your sports because each sport works muscles that the other sport doesn’t work,” Bryant said. “And then with them being teammates, chemistry is something you can’t coach.”

Off the field, Stewart’s days are full. As a dual-enrollment student, she splits her time between college classes at NWFSC, a fishing class at the high school taught by Captain Brandy Miles, and afternoon practices that often run until 6 p.m. She’s also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the school’s volunteer organization and the National Honor Society — all while keeping pace in pre-calculus, her favorite subject.

“I’ve learned I just have to be organized,” Stewart said. “I have to do my work, be ahead of the game so when crazy things happen, I’m already ahead of it.”

That same steady approach carries into how she prepares to compete. Faith is a constant — she prays on her own before every game, then again with her teammates. She credits her parents, Shane and Holly, alongside Bryant and basketball coach Susie Pierce, for shaping her into the athlete and person she is today.

What stands out to Bryant most isn’t the production. It’s the way she carries it.

• “She’s very humble, and to me, I think that’s what makes the great leaders — the ones that are humble, not the ones that are always upfront yelling and loud,” Bryant said. “She’s the one that when everybody’s getting out of whack, she says, ‘Hey, let’s tone it back down.’ That’s her quiet leadership.”

Stewart, looking ahead, said her senior year is about going as far as she can in one sport — though she hasn’t decided which one yet.

“I’m looking forward to going all the way in one sport. I don’t know what that sport will be,” she said. “But I want go all the way and continue to just build.”

Bryant, asked what he wants the Destin community to know about his junior quarterback, didn’t hesitate.

“She’s a pure child that really deserves everything that she’s getting. She works hard. She’s very humble,” he said. “She leads, and she hasn’t hit the surface of what she’s going to be in the future. I just hope that I can do my best job in helping her and aiding her into getting where she needs to be. I’m just happy that I was here in the beginning. I saw her before she got famous.”

With the Lady Sharks heading to Jacksonville on Thursday to face Bolles in the Elite Eight, Stewart said the team is locked in.

“All the girls were pumped, and we’re just ready to get back to work,” she said. “We have practice today, and we’re ready to watch some film on them and do what we do best.”