- The Hawthorne football team won their third state title in four years under coach Cornelius Ingram, finishing the 2025 season with an 11-1 record.
- Hawthorne reached the state title game for the sixth consecutive season after playoff wins over Branford, Williston, Chiefland, and defeating unbeaten Blountstown in the final.
Editor’s note: This is the first part of a summer series revisiting the best of “The Prep Zone Sports Show” at locally owned Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville, featuring interviews with area coaches and players with host Mike Ridaught from the 2025-26 seasons.
The Hawthorne football team and head coach Cornelius Ingram, the 2025 Bosshardt Realty Small School Coach of the Year, joined Mainstreet Daily News Sports Director Mike Ridaught on his weekly high school sports show on Dec. 10, 2025. The Hornets (11-1) won their third state title in the past four years.
Hawthorne, which advanced to the state title game for the sixth consecutive season, defeated Branford (42-0), Williston (30-8) and Chiefland (36-6) at home in the FHSAA playoffs. They defeated previously unbeaten Blountstown in the title game.
Below are excerpts from the interview — edited for length and clarity — of The Prep Zone’s interview. You can listen to the full conversation online.
Q: Coach, congratulations again, another state championship. Just kind of sum it up, another great year for Hawthorne football, a dynasty.
Head coach Cornelius Ingram: Yeah, I keep hearing that word. No, but I’m extremely proud of my guys. Great year, right? We challenged them all year throughout the season, like we’ve been able to do in the past. Scheduled a tough schedule, also, playing on the road against tougher opponents. It prepared us for the playoffs. I’m happy we were able to come out with the win against a tough Blountstown team.
Q: You lost a bunch of seniors from the year before and you were quoted as saying that this year was the year to get Hawthorne, and nobody got you…the future is bright.
Cornelius Ingram: I’m extremely excited about the guys we have returning, of course, but our seniors, Kyler (Ingram), was our leader on defense, over 100 tackles, and emotional leader for us. And then Darian Buie (967 yards receiving), being our top receiver all year long, very consistent. The few seniors that we ended up playing or starting, even Kamari Debose, played a lot of football in our program, so they helped lead us. I know we had Z (Zaraun Sesler) up front; he was the only (senior) starter on the offensive line for us, so the future is very bright. But those few seniors that I was able to name did so much for our program.
Q: Three state titles in four years, and these sophomores will become juniors, and juniors are going to become seniors. I mean, you guys are going to be tough to beat again.
Cornelius Ingram: We’ll compete. There are no signs of complacency in our program, of course. It starts with myself and the amazing coaching staff that I have around me, and the players kind of feel it, right? They already want more.
Q: Greg, tell me how it feels to win another state title?
Offensive coordinator Greg Bowie: It never gets old. There’s a lot of people that I’ve crossed in this coaching business that have gone 20- and 30-year careers and never played in a state championship game, so to play in six straight and win three, I mean, it just shows you what type of program that we’re running at Hawthorne.
Q: I’ve been calling Hawthorne a dynasty, right up there with a school like (9-time small school champion) Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood).
Greg Bowie: Right, and what’s more impressive, Mike, is that we’re one of the smaller rural schools. We probably have around 240 high school students. That’s not a lot, but I think what helps us is that the coaches have been consistent. We’ve had this same staff for a while now, so the kids know what is expected. The culture is already set and the tradition is there.
Q: How does it feel to win another state title, especially since this was your last go at it?
Darian Bowie (SR): You know, it’s a blessing. I think it’s my third one and this one is definitely the sweetest. My last year here, and it’s a perfect way to go out.
Q: Richard, you had a sensational sophomore year with over 2,600 yards. Talk about the season because you had a hell of a year.
Richard Roundtree (SO): It was a great year, a good way to end it, with a win. I worked hard since the day we lost last year, so all the work showed up.
Q: How much did it help to be able to play your freshman year, coming into your sophomore year?
Richard Roundtree (SO): It helped a lot, knowing what it would be like in the game, the type of pressure and the type of plays you’ve got to make. Knowing everybody’s bigger, faster, and stronger than you, you’ve just got to be mentally better than a lot of guys on the field.
Q: Derryek, congratulations on the state championship. Let’s start there. Tell me how it feels to win the state title.
Derryek Gillins (SO): It feels amazing, man. Going there, playing in the state title game as a sophomore, and then just going in and doing what I did.