Rust? What rust? Hawthorne football looks like well-oiled machine on Friday night
Cornelious and CJ Ingram heard the reports of Florida High School Football pundits.
Hawthorne’s coach and QB were told the defending state champions reign in Class 1R was over.
Turns out the Hornets had something to say about that.
Hawthorne (2-0) crushed Newberry 40-10 Friday night on the road. It was a wire-to-wire win despite Ingram noting the Hornets only practicing for one day and one hour this week due to numerous factors, including Hurricane Idalia.
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“We’ve only had three full days of practice all season,” Ingram said. “I got a mature group of kids that understand the call, but it’s early in the season. We’re still developing our chemistry.”
The Hornets didn’t look rusty, instead, they looked like a well-oiled machine. After a couple of sacks curtailed a Newberry drive, Ingram the QB led his team on a masterful, six minute drive which ended in a fourth down rushing TD.
@IngramCj_ finds the space and is into the end zone for a seven yard Hornets touchdown on third down, ending a 13 play, nearly six minute drive for Hawthorne
Ingram had multiple key runs on that drive, including one of 32 yards
7-0, Hawthorne with 1:35 left in the first pic.twitter.com/1uDtYMrydv— Noah Ram (@Noah_ram1) September 2, 2023
For the next few minutes, insanity ensued as three combined TDs were scored in 50 seconds. Newberry’s David Schmidt and Hawthorne’s Alvon Isaac exchanged kick return touchdowns, and Zion Johnson intercepted Newberry QB Keil McGriff’s first pass of the drive and returned it to the house.
Suddenly, after one, Hawthorne led 21-7. The Hornets defense made easy work of a Newberry squad that totaled 68 points last week vs Santa Fe. Only one Panther drive went inside Hawthorne’s 35.
“We flew around tonight,” Ingram said. “It was beautiful to watch because, at this time in the season, reps are the most important thing, and we’ve had limited reps.”
On the other side, former Hawthorne QB and current UF receiver Kahleil Jackson watched with approval as the Hornets sliced and diced their way through the Panthers. Ingram ran for two TDs and Keenon Johnson and Alvon Isaac tallied another.
Isaac’s 31 yard TD saw the new transfer and USF commit shift from one end to the other.
“I’m always yelling at Alvon ‘go be special,’” Ingram said. “With those guys, you just let them play.”
![Hawthorne Hornets wide receiver Alvon Isaac (2) runs with the ball after a kickoff en route to a touchdown during the first half against the Newberry Panthers at Newberry High School in Newberry, FL on Friday, September 1, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/88oRFgVrMv46rz7fZkB6Sw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-gainesville-sun/0da1380a086de053e1ab29df3b370625)
While Newberry coach Edward Johnson acknowledged his team got thoroughly outplayed in all three facets of the game, he knows his team is better than the final score.
“If we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll see these guys later in the season,” Johnson said. “It’s up to us to see how we handle this. It’s going to go in one of two ways.”
Ingram, meanwhile, is confident once Hawthorne reaches peak form, it’ll embark on a long playoff run.
“A lot of these kids have been a part of those state championship teams, so they know what it takes.”
Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Hawthorne beats Newberry 40-10 on the road to improve to 2-0
