This past Friday, Hawthorne football coach Cornelius Ingram won his 100th game for his alma mater.

The FHSAA Rural No. 2-ranked Hornets (7-1) defeated Class 1A Melbourne Central Catholic, 34-16, on the road to help Ingram reach the century mark.

It ended a big week for Ingram, who celebrated his third wedding anniversary on Thursday, his mom’s birthday on Friday and the win on Friday night.

The Orange and Black were on full alert.

“The amount of love I received, since Friday night up until now (Sunday night), you would have thought we won a national championship, not a state championship,” said Ingram, who was a part of two BCS national championships while playing at the University of Florida in the mid to late 2000s. “It’s former players, college teammates. It’s been a joy to kind of just sit back and read some of these messages that I’ve received from all kinds of people who have my cell phone number or who might follow me on Twitter or social media. It’s been phenomenal. It’s been a great feeling.”

He was also quick to deflect.

“This is not just about me,” Ingram said. “There are other coaches who have played a part of it, other great players who played a part of it, and then there’s people around my program who do stuff behind the scenes. Of course, our fan base, our community, it’s not only for me.”

Ingram is humble and didn’t know about the milestone until game week.

“My purpose as a coach is to help young men be successful on and off the field,” said Ingram, who reached another milestone last year with his 10th year on the sidelines. “I’ve built a quite impressive resume, but I’ve never coached the game thinking about a win streak, I’ve never coached the game thinking about personal goals, or me individually, that has never been the case…I think that’s probably why I have so much joy coaching in my hometown, because the purpose behind my coaching is genuine.”

His brother, Hawthorne Athletics Director Greg Bowie, who has been coaching alongside Ingram all 11 years and told him last Monday about the opportunity, said that’s what makes C.I. so special.

“C.I. is a great coach because he genuinely cares about his players and their development, both as athletes and as people,” Bowie said. “He’s transparent, unselfish, and always puts the needs of the team above his own. He sets high standards but provides the support and guidance needed to meet them. His players trust him because they know he’s honest, consistent, and always looking out for their best interests.”

Bowie said it goes beyond the wins.

“He builds character, leadership, and confidence in every athlete he works with,” he said. “He’s a great motivator, but more importantly, he’s a great mentor and role model.”

Go back and look at the schedule for the past several years. You will see that Hawthorne didn’t play a school in its classification until the postseason.

In fact, after five straight state championship game appearances, it was difficult to find schools that would play them this year.

Hawthorne, which has won four games in a row, played just eight regular-season games this season, eight in 2024, nine in 2023 and eight in 2022.

They played just seven regular-season games in 2021.

“We haven’t been able to set a full schedule, I don’t think, in the last five years,” Ingram said. “We miss games every year, maybe two games…maybe I get there a little bit faster, but it definitely means a lot because there’s a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice that goes into it.”

This year’s seven victories have come at home against Class 2A schools Discovery (Lake Alfred) and Florida High (Tallahassee), and 3A Bayshore (Bradenton), and on the road against 2A Newberry, 1A University Christian (Jacksonville) and 3A Dunnellon.

Their only loss was at Class 6A No. 5 Oakleaf (Orange Park).

“Most local rural schools who traditionally played Hawthorne in the past have chosen not to play us in recent years, so a bulk of the wins that C.I. has accumulated have come against teams in higher classifications,” Bowie said.

But before he took over the football job, Hawthorne had a three-year span where its record was 0–10, 2–8 and 1–9.

“It’s been an incredible journey,” Bowie said. “From the moment C.I. took over the program, right after that three-year stretch, his vision and passion for the kids and this community were clear. I’ve had the privilege of seeing firsthand how much time, energy, money and heart he’s poured into building something special here.”

They went from 3-27 in the three years before Ingram to 100-21 with him (Ingram didn’t coach last year’s Florida High loss due to health issues). That’s an .826 winning percentage.

“To watch Hawthorne football grow from where it was to where it is now, competing for championships and producing not just great athletes, but great young men, it has been inspiring,” Bowie said. “Being a part of that ride alongside him has truly been an honor.”

Five of those losses were in his first season when the Hornets (5-5) finished .500.

Although he couldn’t remember his first win in 2015, a 26-7 victory against Interlachen, he did remember the celebration.

“I know we celebrated a lot coming off a one-win season,” he said.

He’s been on a tear ever since and has turned Hawthorne into a respected program regardless of classification.

“With my first team, we were getting the guys to buy in, and it was difficult trying to change the mindset of your program, trying to set a standard for your program, and we did,” Ingram said. “We had kids who were buying in my first couple of years. I could feel it…I can remember telling the team.

“I said, ‘Listen, if you guys really want to do something special, we just need to buy in as one, because what’s going to happen is I’m going to get a team to buy in, and you can reap the benefits now. Or you can come back and support the team, and you’ll see playoff runs, you will see, state championships.’ And I guarantee you, when you print this out, and when it hits Facebook and all these other social media outlets, I can almost guarantee you those players from those first couple of years when I started, they’ll be the first ones to come in and say coach told us this was going to happen.”

He is 100% a player’s coach.

“My heart has always been about the players first and I think the football gods bless me, they bless our program, because my intentions are always good,” he said. “No matter how hard I coach these kids, they know it’s coming from a good place.”

Ingram and the Hornets (12-0) won their first football state title in 2022 after state runner-up finishes in 2020 and 2021. It was the first state title for Alachua County since Santa Fe (Alachua) won the 4A state title in 1994.

Hawthorne is off for the next two weeks and will host a first-round playoff game on Friday, Nov. 14, and could be at home all the way up to the state championship game as a high seed.

The final FHSAA Rural rankings will come out on Thursday, Nov. 6, and the Hornets are currently second behind top-ranked Blountstown (9-0).

“Outside people would probably call this a down year for us because of the amount of seniors we had last year,” Ingram said. “That played a key role, whether it was offense or defense. These guys are all playing college ball, but we’re playing a lot of freshmen. We’re playing a lot of sophomores, maybe a handful of seniors, so for this to be a down year, and only having one loss right now, and then being able to reach 100 wins with this team, it definitely shows how bright this future is for our program.”

It’s always been about family, which is why Ingram has remained in Hawthorne despite the accolades and accomplishments.

“I have a dream job where I get to coach in my hometown and I can do it my way,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of success. I have hard-working kids, I have a great support system for my family, my wife, of course, my assistant coaches are amazing, and I get to do it with my older brother on staff. I’ve coached my kids, my nephews, my cousins…”

And when it’s all said and done, a can’t-miss FHSAA Hall of Fame inductee.

“C.I. deserves serious consideration for the FHSAA Hall of Fame not just because of wins and titles, but because of the impact he has made on all levels of athletics in Florida — as both a player and a coach,” Bowie said. “As a high school athlete, he’s the only player I know of to participate in the Elite 11 quarterback camp while also competing in the ABCD Basketball Camp and Nike Basketball Camp — all invitational events for the top athletes in the country.”

Ingram finished his high school basketball career with 3,252 points, ranking in the top 5 in the state at the time behind Teddy Dupay (3,744), Brandon Knight (3,515), and Kenny Boynton (3,462), and was named Dairy Farmers 2A Player of the Year twice.

As a coach, Ingram has earned the Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year multiple times in both football and girls basketball.

Over the last five seasons on the gridiron, Ingram has led the Hornets to the state championship game, winning two out of five. In the middle of that stretch, Hawthorne went 25–0, including back-to-back state titles.

What made that stretch even more impressive is that he also had five trips to the Final Four in girls basketball.

He stepped down as the girls basketball coach this past summer after winning three girls basketball state titles (2020, 2023 and 2024), plus a state runner-up finish, and he compiled a 149-40 record for a .788 winning percentage. His 2024 team became the first Alachua County girls team to repeat.

That alone should warrant strong consideration from the FHSAA Hall of Fame committee.

“He has made a lasting impact on high school sports in Florida, creating championship programs and developing countless student-athletes along the way,” Bowie said. “His accomplishments, dedication, and influence on athletics in the state make him a strong and deserving candidate for the FHSAA Hall of Fame.”