Following Hawthorne’s third state title in the past four years, head coach Cornelius Ingram put things in perspective.

“I’ve been telling people all year, if there was a year to get us, I felt like it was this year because we were kind of rebuilding,” Ingram said following a 24-8 win against No. 1 Blountstown to win the FHSAA Rural state title on Dec. 5.

Ingram, offensive coordinator Greg Bowie, and the state champion Hornets were guests on “The Prep Zone” sports show on Wednesday, Dec. 10, to celebrate and reflect on an 11-1 season.

“It never gets old,” said Bowie, who is Ingram’s older brother. “There’s a lot of people that I’ve crossed in this coaching business that have gone 20, 30-year careers and never played in a state championship game, so to play in six, win three, I mean, it just shows you what type of program that we’re running in Hawthorne.”

It was Hawthorne’s sixth straight state championship game appearance.

“I’m extremely proud of my guys,” said Ingram, who reached a milestone last year with his 10th year at his alma mater. “Great year, we challenged them all year, throughout the season like we’ve been able to do in the past, schedule a tough schedule, playing on the road against tougher opponents, I think it prepared us for the playoffs, so definitely proud of my guys. I’m happy we were able to come out with the win against a tough Blountstown team.”

That difficult schedule included no Rural opponents during the regular season.

In fact, Hawthorne played on the road against 2A regional quarterfinalist Newberry, Class 6A regional quarterfinalist Oakleaf (Orange Park), their only loss of the season, at 1A regional finalist University Christian (Jacksonville), at 1A regional semifinalist Melbourne Central Catholic, Ingram’s 100th career win, and at 3A Dunnellon, which won the Florida Invitational Tournament (FIT) championship for 1A-3A.

They also had wins at home against 2A regional semifinalist Florida High (Tallahassee), which avenged a loss on the road last year to the Seminoles, and a victory against 3A regional semifinalist Bayshore (Bradenton).

That schedule helped them cruise through the playoffs against Branford (42-0), Williston (30-8), and Chiefland (36-6) at home, where they haven’t lost since 2019.

Most of their playmakers are underclassmen, aside from seniors Darian Bowie, Kamari DeBose, Kyler Ingram, and Zaraun Sesler (6’1, 265), who was the only senior on the offensive line.

“I’m extremely excited about the guys we have returning, but our seniors, Kyler was our leader on defense (115 tackles), emotional leader for us, and then Darian being our top receiver all year long (66 receptions for 967 yards and 9 TDs), very consistent,” Ingram said. “The few seniors that we end up playing or starting, even Kamari DeBose (32 tackles), they played a lot of football in our program, so they helped lead us. I know Z (Sesler) up front, he was the only (senior) starting offensive lineman for us, so the future is very bright, but those few seniors did so much for our program. So I’m proud of those seniors who set the tone, and I just loved the way we competed all year.”

With four starters on the offensive line returning, along with sophomore quarterback Richard Roundtree Jr., and sophomore running back Derryek Gillins, among others, don’t expect much of a drop off from an offense that averaged 34 points per game.

Roundtree completed 174-of-266 passes (65.4%) for 2,581 yards with 30 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“Normally, when you have a young quarterback, a sophomore quarterback, we normally micromanage,” Bowie said. “They normally don’t get that many attempts, but with Roundtree, he can make all the throws. He’s good in play-action situations; he throws on the run, so we kind of gave him more rope than we would normally do with younger quarterbacks.”

Gillins went over 1,000 yards in the state championship and just missed his fifth 100-yard game with 95 yards on 23 carries.

“We knew he could run downhill, we knew he was physical, knew he was 220 pounds, really good speed,” Ingram said. “But the next step for him, once we got midway through the season, was helping more in pass (protection), some chip blocks, and he elevated his game there and finished the season as a complete back.”

Despite big shoes to fill following the graduation of running back Keenon Johnson (4,600 career yards), Gillins (187 carries for 1,016 yards and 14 TDs) averaged 5.4 yards per carry.

“We can hand the ball off to Gillins for four or five yards, and over the course of the game, a lot of those linebackers and those DBs, they don’t want to tackle a 200-plus pound guy play after play,” Bowie said. “With him running like that, that sets up the play-action game for Roundtree, and he can hit guys anywhere on the field.”

Juniors Nathan Jennings (34 catches for 336 yards and 5 TDs), Dominick Harvey (31 catches for 665 yards and a team-leading 11 TDs), and Raheem Moore (22 receptions for 364 yards and 3 TDs) help give the Hornets a solid group of wide receivers in 2026.

“It was a great year, good way to end it with a win,” Roundtree said. “I worked hard since the day we lost last year (to Madison County), so all the work showed up.”

Jennings, a preseason Super 11 selection, also did the punting and kicking, something he said he has done all his life.

Defensively, the Hornets return most of their leading tacklers from a team that allowed just 11.3 points per game.

Juniors Messiah Gent (100 tackles), Demeion Rutledge (58 tackles, 6.5 sacks), Javontae Williams (43 tackles), and Jennings (39 tackles, 7 interceptions) join sophomores Dracen Martin (73 tackles, 12.5 sacks), Dakarai Wiggins (47 tackles, 2 INT), and Willie Sutton (36 tackles, 3 INT) for Hawthorne, which allowed just 5.5 points per game in the postseason.

Hawthorne will be the favorite in 2026 with a chance to repeat again after winning back-to-back state titles in 2022 and 2023.