Dre Lawrence, who led the Tigers to a state title in basketball, hopes to win a state football title too.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has been a global issue, it’s been a record-setting year for the Hornets’ athletic program.
Just prior to the shutdown in March, the Hawthorne girls basketball team, coached by current football coach Cornelius Ingram, won its first state title in school history the last week of February. A week later, the boys won their first state basketball title since 1987.
Now, less than a year later, the Hawthorne football team will play for its first state title in school history.
Wednesday, 7-8 p.m. – “The Prep Zone” Sports Show (broadcast from Sonic Drive-In on 39th Avenue in Gainesville)
Join Mike Ridaught & Marty Pallman as they talk high school sports. We’ll preview the high school football state championship games with Corey Davis of the Gainesville Sun.
The pairings are now set for this week’s eight (8) high school football state championship games to be played at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee (Wednesday-Saturday).
This past Friday night, there were some surprising finishes in the state semifinals for Classes 5A-8A, including a last-second field goal (Edgewater’s 30-28 win against Niceville in 7A) and a 3 OT thriller (Lake Minneola edged St. Augustine 49-48 in 6A).
Of the eight defending state champions, only four have a chance to repeat – Champagnat Catholic (2A), Chaminade-Madonna (3A), Miami Central (6A), and defending national champion St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) (7A).
Defending 8A state champion Columbus (Miami) & 4A champ Booker T. Washington (Miami) opted out of the FHSAA state playoffs.
Hawthorne upset 3-time defending 1A state champion Madison County in the 1A state semifinals, and American Heritage (Plantation) knocked off defending 5A state champion Miami Northwestern in the regional quarterfinals.
Hawthorne (1A), Rickards (5A), Lake Minneola (6A), and Edgewater (7A) are seeking their first-ever state title.
2020 FHSAA Football State Championships
All games played at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee
Wednesday, Dec. 16
Class 2A – Champagnat Catholic (Hialeah) 41, University Christian (Jacksonville) 27
Class 3A – Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) 25, Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood) 22
The Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Thursday, Dec. 10, was Ernest Ross of the Santa Fe (Alachua) boys basketball team.
Ross scored a game-high 28 points as the Raiders (4-0) won at Eastside (3-1), 59-51, in overtime, in a battle of unbeatens.
The North Carolina State signee scored four of his team’s 10 points in overtime. Ross had 14 at the half as Santa Fe built a 32-22 lead at the break.
Santa Fe will travel to St. Francis Catholic Academy on Saturday.
Every game The Prep Zone will recognize a Player-of-the-Game. The recipient receives a $10 gift certificate courtesy of Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville & Ocala.
Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) is unanimous No. 1 team in regional all-classification girls basketball poll
GAINESVILLE — The 2020-21 girls high school basketball season is off to a flying start with some teams very busy in their early seasons. Some teams will get revved up as we head towards the Christmas break.
But the team at the top, the Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) Crusaders, remains the same. And in this poll the Crusaders are the unanimous #1 team in the all-classification regional rankings.
Bishop Kenny, which finished as the state runner-up the past two seasons, is off to a 7-1 start again this year with wins over then-#11 University Christian (Jacksonville), then-#9 Creekside (St. Johns), and #18 Bartram Trail (St. Johns), along with wins over St. Cloud and Sandalwood (Jacksonville).
The Crusaders’ only loss is 56-47 to Winston-Salem Christian (NC), which is ranked 25th in the nation by ESPN. Bishop Kenny remains #1 and receives all eight first-place votes from the pollsters this week.
Moving up a spot to #2 is defending 1A state champion Hawthorne. The Hornets (2-0) easily won their first two games over Hilliard and Countryside Christian (Gainesville).
Ribault (Jacksonville) is 3rd.
The Trojans (5-1) defeated Bartram Trail as well earlier this week, 48-36, and also own wins over Mandarin (Jacksonville) and First Coast (Jacksonville) with their only loss to Florida High (Tallahassee).
Nease (Ponte Vedra) is up four spots and into the top five at #4.
The Panthers (7-1) handed #9 St. Augustine their first loss of the season 53-50 in overtime earlier this week and also have given #5T Spruce Creek (Port Orange) and #11 Columbia (Lake City) their only losses to this point.
Spruce Creek is tied for fifth with Wildwood. The Wildcats stayed unbeaten at 5-0 by beating previously undefeated Crystal River 54-43 on Monday.
Despite that loss, Crystal River moves into the poll at #20.
Raines (Jacksonville), which was 2nd in the preseason ranking, drops to #7 in this poll after losing three of their first seven games.
Oakleaf (Orange Park) moves up seven slots and into the top ten at #8 after a 5-0 start that included a win over then-#17T Bolles (Jacksonville).
After St. Augustine at #10 is Mainland (Daytona Beach) which moves up four spots to #10 after a 4-0 start to their season.
Besides Crystal River, Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville) at #14, 16th-ranked Buchholz (Gainesville), #17 Terry Parker (Jacksonville), and Bartram Trail are all new to the poll this week.
Andrew Jackson and Buchholz are both off to 6-0 starts this season.
Dropping out from the preseason poll are Creekside, University Christian, Middleburg, Bolles, and Vanguard (Ocala).
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, volleyball, girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball & softball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
Grace Oelrich helped lead the Newberry volleyball team to the Class 1A state championship game in November. The senior outside hitter led the Panthers (23-4) in kills (265), aces (68), and blocks (99).
On Tuesday, Oelrich signed a letter of intent with Rollins College in Winter Park. However, she won’t be playing volleyball.
Although Oelrich was recruited for volleyball, Rollins College didn’t have a spot for her but knew she was a good athlete, so she was handed off to the rowing coach.
Wednesday, 7-8 p.m. – “The Prep Zone” Sports Show (broadcast from Sonic Drive-In on 39th Avenue in Gainesville)
Join Mike Ridaught & Marty Pallman as they talk high school sports. Their guests for this week include players and coaches from the Hawthorne football team, which just advanced to its first state championship game in school history.
The Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Friday, Dec. 4, was Jailen Ruth of the Hawthorne football team.
Ruth and the Hornets’ defense made enough big plays in an 18-14 win against 3-time defending state champion Madison County in the Class 1A state semifinals.
Senior Samuel Driver scooped up a fumble at midfield and returned it for the score and an 18-14 lead with 5:07 to play in the game.
Ruth’s tenacity on the defensive line helped the Hornets recover a fumble (Artavis Mallary) and intercept a pass (Thurman Mills) in the final 1:54 to preserve the victory.
Hawthorne (10-2) advances to its first football state championship game in school history. The Hornets will play Baker on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m.
Every game The Prep Zone will recognize a Player-of-the-Game. The recipient receives a $10 gift certificate courtesy of Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville & Ocala.
The pairings are now set for this week’s eight (8) high school football state championship games to be played at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee (Wednesday-Saturday).
The Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Thursday, Dec. 10, was Ernest Ross of the Santa Fe (Alachua) boys basketball team.
Grace Oelrich helped lead the Newberry volleyball team to the Class 1A state championship game in November. The senior outside hitter led the Panthers (23-4) in kills (265), aces (68), and blocks (99).
