The game everyone has talked about all season has arrived.
On Friday night, Williston will host defending 1R state champion Hawthorne in an FHSAA Class 1R-Region 4 Final as two of only eight teams remaining in the state playoffs.
The host Red Devils (11-0) are the top overall seed in 1R while Hawthorne (10-0) is the No. 2 seed.
The game will be broadcast on 106.9 FM “I am Country” with audio online at IamCountryRadio.com beginning at 7 p.m.
“Yeah everybody’s been wanting to see the matchup,” said Hawthorne quarterback C.J. Ingram. “They’ve got a pretty good run game, the Wing-T of course. They’re undefeated as well and they just beat a really good Pahokee team so it should be a challenge and I can’t wait. It should be a barn burner.”
With three straight state championship game appearances, the Hornets are still the favorites until you can knock them off, but the Red Devils have won 21 of their last 22 games.
“We’ve got to be disciplined, of course, Coach (Robby) Pruitt runs that offense better than a lot of people,” Hawthorne coach Cornelius Ingram said. “We have a lot of respect for their program. This is what high school football is all about.”
Defensively, Hawthorne is only allowing 7.4 points per game, including just seven last week in a 27-7 win against No. 3 seed Newberry in the regional semifinals.
Williston is averaging 47.8 points, including 52 last week against Pahokee in the other regional semifinal.
They are averaging 316.7 yards per game rushing behind Pruitt’s Wing-T offense.
“It kind of reminds me a little bit of Union County’s offense from last year as far as having a bunch of dynamic athletes where they hit you up the middle, they hit you off tackle, they run the reverse, they run play action,” said Hawthorne defensive coordinator Dustin Adkins. “It’s something where all 11 people have to do their assignment every play. They made a lot of people look silly this year and a lot of it is not doing their assignment, not executing.”
Five of their players (minimum of 33 carries) are averaging 8.1 yards per carry or more.
“You’ve got to be gap sound,” Adkins said. “As soon as you make a mistake they capitalize on it. They’ve been running that offense very well for two years and I like the challenge. I think we’ll step up to the challenge but I think it’s something that we’re going to have to be prepared for and we’re going to have to do our job.”
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since Hawthorne defeated Williston, 24-8, in 2019, but that was a one-win Red Devils’ team.
The winner of Friday’s game advances to the state semifinals.
“These type of matchups…I can’t even imagine the crowd atmosphere,” Cornelius said. “But we’ll be ready to play. I can guarantee you they’ll be ready to play. We’re definitely excited about the challenge.”
Hawthorne, which will practice on Thanksgiving morning, is playing Thanksgiving week for the fourth consecutive year.
“Over the last four years of playing on Thanksgiving weekend, I haven’t had one player go out of town with parents, and this is the holiday when you go out of town, you celebrate with your family,” said Cornelius. “Our kids make that sacrifice year in and year out to be here to prepare for a high school football game…that’s the type of program that I have, and the parents support everything…this is priceless, especially for me to be able to do it in my hometown. A lot of people don’t get that feeling and it means everything to me.”
Also on Friday, Buchholz will host Bartram Trail (St. Johns) for the second time this season in the 4S-Region 1 Final.
The Bobcats (12-0) routed Bartram Trail, 44-7, on Oct. 19.
Last year, Buchholz knocked off an unbeaten Bartram Trail team in the regional final after falling to the Bears during the regular season.
“It’s always tough to beat great teams twice in the same season,” said Buchholz coach Chuck Bell. “In order to do so, it’s going to take our best effort mentally and physically.”
While the Bobcats have been playing their postseason games at home, the Bears have had to be road warriors.
In fact, Bartram Trail (8-4) became the first Northeast Florida football team ever to win consecutive playoff games in the Central Standard time zone with a 67-55 win at Navarre on Nov. 10 and a 28-21 win at Niceville last week.
Navy commit Laython Biddle had 192 yards rushing against Navarre and now has over 2,000 yards rushing this season and over 4,000 yards for his career.
Quarterback Riley Trujillo, a UCF commit, had 114 on the ground against Navarre.
Trujillo scored four touchdowns last week at Niceville, including a game-winning 42-yard touchdown run with three minutes to play.
“Bartram Trail does a great job on both sides of the ball,” Bell said. “We’ll need a complete team effort to keep our season alive on Friday night.”
Buchholz advanced with a 34-21 win against Ponte Vedra.
The winner will advance to next week’s state semifinals. If the Bobcats win, they will host.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. The game will be video streamed via the NFHS Network beginning at 7:15 p.m. with Cam Parker (Play-by-play), Matt Quartararo (Color) and Aiden Wacksman (Pregame/Halftime/Postgame) on the call.
Friday, 7 p.m. (PREGAME) – High School Football, 7:30 p.m. (KICKOFF)
No. 2 Hawthorne at No. 1 Williston
Radio: “I am Country” 106.9 FM Gainesville
‘Live’ audio: https://streamdb6web.securenetsystems.net/cirrusencore/WPLL
Join Mainstreet Daily News Sports Director Mike Ridaught (Play-by-play) and former University of Florida football player Hank Rone (Color) for this Class 1R-Region 4 Final. The winner advances to the state semifinals.
Friday, 7:15 p.m. (PREGAME) – High School Football, 7:30 p.m. (Kickoff)
No. 3 Bartram Trail (St. Johns) at No. 1 Buchholz
‘Live’ & ‘archived’ VIDEO via the NFHS Network: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/fhsaa/gamc696b66890
Join Cam Parker (Play-by-play), Matt Quartararo (Color), and Aiden Wacksman (Pregame/Halftime/Postgame) for this Class 4S-Region 1 Final from Citizens Field. The winner advances to next Friday’s state semifinals.