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By Caroline King and TaylorAnn Eidam
TALLAHASSEE — The Hawthorne Hornets won their second consecutive state football championship Thursday by beating the Madison County Cowboys 22-13 in the 1R title game at Bragg Memorial Stadium.
The Hornets (13-0) avenged a 13-12 loss to the Cowboys in the 2021 state championship game with their 25th consecutive win.
Coming into this game, the Cowboys (10-2) averaged about 238.1 rushing yards per game to the Hornets’ 160.3 yards per game. Whereas the Hornets averaged 218.9 passing yards per game compared to the Cowboys 64.7 yards.
Fans filled the Bragg Memorial Stadium from each team ready to see what was about to go down. It was a matchup for the books and went as so.
Starting Off
The Cowboys had 19 interceptions coming into this championship game. This showed in the first possession with the Cowboys’ Tre’vion Gillyard intercepting junior quarterback C.J. Ingram’s pass.
After a big defensive stop by Zion Johnson on fourth down, Hawthorne got the ball back. The Hornets pushed the ball to the 28-yard line on third down and elected to kick a field goal.
The kick was blocked, which brought flashbacks to the Hawthorne players from the state championship in 2021 where a blocked kick at the end of the game led to a Cowboys’ win.
The Cowboys were on the board first after the blocked kick.
The Hornets bounced back when Alvon Isaac scored on a 5-yard run.
The Hornet offense strategy switched as a result of interceptions, and it became a running game.
Back and Forth
On the next possession, Hawthorne sacked the Cowboy QB leading to a fumble that was recovered by Hawthorne senior captain and Navy commit Andrew Zock.
Momentum shifted toward the Hornets. But only for a second.
The very next play, Cowboys’ Sean Williams intercepted an Ingram pass.
The first play of their possession Varian Terry ran for a 99-yard touchdown.
The stadium erupted with yells of excitement and nervousness.
The Hornet fans didn’t have to stay nervous for long when Ingram threw a perfect pass to Matthew Mckinley-Daniels, for a touchdown.
Then with 10 seconds left in the half, Ingram threw his third touchdown of the night.
Three interceptions in one half, a stat unlike Ingram and on par with the Cowboys 19 interceptions on the season.
The game was tied at halftime 13-13. The teams headed into the locker room with coaches fuming about their team’s performances.
At half, Hawthorne coach Cornelius Ingram told his team:
“The first half was the worst I’ve seen you play.”
Championship Craziness
Neither team scored in the third quarter and they entered the fourth still tied 13-13.
Fans, coaches and players were holding their breath as time began to tick down.
The shift of the game came from Hawthorne’s defense and a Cowboys’ mistake.
After a quick stop, the Cowboys elected to punt, however, the ball was snapped over the head of the punter and went out of bounds in the Cowboys’ end zone. The safety put the Hornets up 15-13 with 9:30 left in the game.
The Hawthorne bench and fan base erupted in cheers.
However, the exclamation mark was when the Cowboys fumbled the ball in their end zone and Hornet Naziy Gent recovered for a touchdown to put the Hornets up 22-13 with two minutes left in the game.
Out of control Madison County handoff ends in a fumble recovery touchdown for Hawthorne
4th Quarter
Madison County: 13
Hawthorne: 22@HHS_Football352 @ESPNGainesville @FHSAA pic.twitter.com/TmtjqySiOf— TaylorAnn Eidam (@EidamTaylorann) December 8, 2023
The Hawthorne fans began to cheer with the feeling sinking in that they were about to win their second straight championship.
As time ticked down, the players poured the leftover water on coach Ingram. When the final buzzer sounded, the Hornet team broke out into a celebration.
Players were seen with tears, smiles and hugs realizing what their hard work had gotten them.
Ingram shared his heart for his players after seeing them win and how hard they worked.
“These teenagers focusing in, week in and week out,” he said. “It says a lot about the character of the kids. We set a standard and these kids really believed in it.”
All emotions were shown as players began to hug each other and coaches.
A perfect ending to an undefeated season. A feat that is not known by many.
The evening ended with coach Ingram holding up the championship trophy, fireworks and players hugging their families.
For coach Ingram and the Hawthorne seniors it was a magical ending.
“My senior class, they definitely deserve this,” Ingram said. “They trained extremely hard during the off season and deserve to be feeling this right now.
The veteran coach with emotion in his voice and tears in his eyes said,
“Truly something special, to win back to back state championships at my old school, with two of my kids on the team, knowing the community, most of these guys on my coaching staff either played with me or I watched play. There’s just no better feeling than this. No better feeling. I am so glad I am the one being able to enjoy this.”
