Trenton is called Title Town for a reason.

Since 2013, the Tigers have won three softball championships (2019, 2021 and 2024), a girls basketball state title (2019), a baseball state championship (2017), and two football state titles (2013 and 2015).

That’s seven state titles in 12 years.

On Friday at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, the Hawthorne boys basketball team will try to win the school’s seventh state championship overall in just six years.

It’s amazing to think about the run that the Hawthorne High School athletic program has been on since 2020.

The Hornets won back-to-back football state titles in 2022 and 2023, three girls basketball state titles in the past six years, and the Hawthorne boys basketball team is one win away from its second state title since 2020.

The run started in 2020 when the girls basketball team finished 29-2 and won the school’s first state title. They followed that up with consecutive state titles in 2023 and 2024.

In 2024, the Lady Hornets (22-3), who won their final 19 games of the season, became the first Alachua County girls hoops team to win back-to-back championships.

It’s all about family at Hawthorne.

Greg Bowie is the boys basketball coach and athletics director. He’s also the offensive coordinator for a football program that has been to five straight state championship games.

His younger brother, Cornelius Ingram, is the head football coach and the girls basketball coach, which means he has won five of the titles.

Hawthorne became the first Alachua County football team to win back-to-back state titles.

The boys basketball team hopes to join football and girls basketball with multiple state titles since 2020.

In his 18 seasons as head coach, Bowie has led the program to eight final four appearances.

“I mean, that’s not bad,” Bowie said. “But I’ve had some guys that can play, great coaching staff. My staff, a majority of these guys, have been with me for most of these 18 years. I also get a huge boost from the girls’ coaching staff, my brother (Ingram), Coach (Raymond) Cue, it’s really just kind of one program here.”

The two basketball programs are intertwined.

“Even some of the practices, the boys are in there practicing with the girls, the girls are with the boys, so it’s really just one program, and I think that’s some of the success that everyone is seeing. A lot of places are separate, but we do a lot of the same stuff, practice-style, the way we do film study as a group. It’s one big staff, so I’ve got to contribute that to a lot of my success too.”

For a school that only has around 500 students or less, with limited resources, it’s even more impressive.

“We do a great job of doing more with less,” Bowie said. “You can see the facilities, football, basketball, we don’t have the best facilities. We don’t have all of the equipment…I think it’s that pride factor is what drives us as coaches, and it rubs off on the players also. Small school, I mean, we don’t care who we play, where we play, we just want a chance to play.”

They’ll get that opportunity tonight against Crossroad Academy (Quincy) in the FHSAA Rural state title game.

The game will be broadcast on 106.9 FM “I am Country” beginning at 6:45 p.m.

The No. 2 seed Scorpions (17-9) defeated No. 3 seed Fort White, 46-37, in the state semifinals.

They made 17-of-31 free throws and led by as many as 14 against the Indians, who were making their first final four appearance in program history.

Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Hawthorne cruised to a 69-44 win against No. 4 Graceville in the other semifinal as Chasion Wilson (16 points), Dacarion Debose (14) and Demetrius Brown (10) scored in double figures.

The Hornets (19-3) shot 69.2% from the floor in the second quarter and outscored the Tigers 23-10 to build a 25-point lead at the half.

“I think it did a lot for our guys’ confidence to come here, shoot the ball well in the in the first half, kind of see it go in because a lot of times in an open arena, just the trajectory of the rim, a lot of people struggle shooting out here,” Bowie said. “So I think Chas (Wilson) got going early, knocking down some 3s, seeing it go in, I think it helped us a lot.”