The Hawthorne football team will begin the high school football playoffs as the No. 1 overall seed in the FHSAA Rural classification.

The top seed Hornets (7-1), who have won back-to-back state titles, will host No. 16 seed Branford (6-3) in the regional semifinals. The game will be broadcast on Mainstreet Daily News (audio only) beginning at 7:15 p.m. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

The two-time defending state champions had their 27-game winning streak snapped at Florida High (Tallahassee), 41-28, in early September. The week before, Hawthorne defeated Newberry in overtime when the Panthers came up just short on a 2-point conversion in a 28-27 loss to the Hornets. That was almost three months ago (Aug. 30).

Following the loss at Florida High, a game in which Cornelius Ingram did not coach, Hawthorne won five straight. The reason Ingram didn’t coach in the game against the Seminoles, who made the Class 2A state playoffs, was because it was a precaution after having a health scare during the Newberry game.

Ingram and his staff deserve a big shoutout for what they’ve been able to do.

Just before fall camp, they lost their starting quarterback CJ Ingram, who decided to focus on basketball after committing to the Gators.

Adrian Curtis (948 yards passing with 11 TDs and 2 INTs) transferred from Eastside and helped fill the void.

However, Curtis went down with an injury for a couple of games in September and they had a freshman quarterback, Richard Roundtree, who came in and completed a Hail Mary touchdown pass to beat a higher classification Oakleaf (Orange Park) team, which is playing the 6A state playoffs tonight at Mandarin (Jacksonville), and then they went on the road and beat a decent South Sumter (Bushnell) team.

Roundtree has thrown for 403 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions in six games. Curtis is back but now they’ve got some depth at the quarterback position.

Senior Keenon Johnson is over 1,000 yards rushing again. He’s got 1,159 yards rushing in eight games with 15 touchdowns. And they have a defense that is giving up just 12 points in their last three games.

Plus, they’re going to be at home for the state playoffs as the No. 1 seed.

But along the way, thanks to Chiefland’s 6-0 start, and Union County’s (Lake Butler) 8-0 start, coupled with Hawthorne’s first defeat since a 13-12 loss to Madison County in the 2021 Class 1A state championship game, the Hornets have sort of flown in under the radar.

“We felt the same as a staff,” said Hawthorne offensive coordinator Greg Bowie, the older brother of head football coach Cornelius Ingram. “There wasn’t a lot of buzz. Honestly, there’s some other teams in the area playing pretty good ball, in particular Union, who was undefeated. Chiefland was doing pretty good, so it actually felt good kind of flying under the radar because a lot of times when you come into the season everyone has already said you’re guaranteed to win state, three-peat and all of that stuff.”

Hawthorne, which became the first Alachua County team to win back-to-back football state titles, had dropped in the FHSAA rankings until Chiefland’s 30-29 upset of previously unbeaten Union County on Nov. 1 vaulted the Hornets to the top spot.

But prior to that, no one was really talking about Hawthorne.

“We actually like it like that,” Ingram said. “I think our guys are getting better. We went through some injuries early on. Most of the guys are back and they’ll be ready for the playoffs but just being under the radar works for us. Having that mentality of just knowing what it takes to be in the playoffs and how to prepare for games, our kids are definitely ready for it and definitely looking forward to it.”

Visiting Branford shouldn’t pose a threat tonight, nor the following week against either No. 8 seed Cottondale or No. 9 seed Lafayette (Mayo).

A potential region final against No. 4 seed Chiefland awaits, although the Indians still need to beat Williston again tonight, and possibly No. 5 seed Jay the following week.

Hawthorne, which won its first state title in 2022, wouldn’t face No. 2 seed Madison County, for a state title game rematch, or No. 3 seed Union County until the Rural state championship game on Friday, Dec. 6, at The Villages.

By then, there will be no more flying under the radar.

2024 FHSAA Football playoffs

Friday, Nov. 15

All games at 7:30 p.m. unless noted

Area teams in bold

Regional Semifinals

Rural

16 Branford (6-3) at 1 Hawthorne (7-1)

13 Williston (6-4) at 4 Chiefland (9-1)

12 Fort White (5-4) at 5 Jay (9-1)

14 Holmes County (Bonifay) (6-4) at 3 Union County (Lake Butler) (8-1)

Rural (Division B)

9 Sneads (4-6) at 8 Trenton (3-7)

12 Wewahitchka (2-8) at 5 Dixie County (Cross City) (4-6)

Regional Quarterfinals

Class 1A-Region 1

7 P.K. Yonge at 2 Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville), 7 p.m. – Blue Wave (5-5) forfeited, Trinity Christian advances

Class 2A-Region 2

6 Palatka (7-3) at 3 Newberry (8-2)

7 The Villages (5-4) at 2 Bradford (Starke) (8-1)

Class 3A-Region 1

7 Suwannee (Live Oak) (4-6) at 2 Godby (Tallahassee) (6-3), 7 p.m.

Class 3A-Region 2

7 Eastside (7-3) at 2 Bishop Moore (Orlando) (8-2), 7 p.m.

Class 4A-Region 1

8 Columbia (Lake City) (5-5) at 1 St. Augustine (8-1), 7 p.m.

Class 6A-Region 1

7 Evans (Orlando) (6-4) at 2 Buchholz (7-3), 7 p.m.