Hawthorne and Wildwood Ready To Face Off For Regional Crown

Caleb Wiegandt also contributed to this story.

Hawthorne (8-2) and Wildwood (9-1) are all set for their upcoming high school football playoff game on Friday.

Both teams have been giving it their all this season, and this time, a regional title is on the line. The winner will move on to the state semifinals and play the winner of Union County (8-3) and Madison County (9-2) on Friday, December 4.  

Hawthorne Continues To Dominate 

Last week, the Hornets beat Fort Meade (5-4) in their second playoff game. The defense was strong on both sides while offensively, both teams struggled.   There was light rain throughout the game that made things a little more difficult on the players, but that did not stop the Hornets from taking the win. 

After a silent first half and third quarter, the Hornets started moving in. The Hornets almost scored a touchdown, but a fumble inside the Miners 10-yard-line ended the drive.

Hawthorne came back thanks to Jamal Nealy, giving the Hornets their first touchdown and lead of the game. Hawthorne scored again with a touchdown from Dre Lawrence, making the score 12-0 with 7:57 remaining in the game. 

The Miners didn’t stay silent, scoring a touchdown with a successful kick making the score 12-7 with 5:12 left in the game. 

Their strike back wasn’t enough as Hawthorne closed out the game and the Miners season. 

BOX SCORE

                                       1       2       3       4       F

Hawthorne               0       0        0      12     12

Fort Meade               0       0       0       7        7

 

Wildcats Up For The Challenge

The Wildcats also found success Friday night. They took down Newberry (8-2) in their regional semifinal playoff game.  

Nate Mikell gave the team their first lead of the game with a 15-yard rushing touchdown giving the Wildcats a 8-0 lead in the first quarter after the two-point conversion. Mikell continued dominating with a 22-yard scoring run; a successful two-point conversion run by Jeremiah Colebrooks gave the Wildcats a 16-0 lead. Wildwood then scored another touchdown with a two-point conversion giving them a lead of 24-0 as Newberry struggled to score in the first quarter. 

In the second quarter with four minutes to go, Newberry had a rushing touchdown with a successful two-point conversion, making the score 24-8. Wildwood retaliated with another rushing touchdown bringing the score to 30-8 with one minute to go in the second quarter. Newberry got a hold of the ball with seconds left in the half and scored again, cutting the Wildcats lead to 30-16 at the half.

With six minutes to go in the third quarter, a Wildwood passing touchdown made the score 36-16. The Wildcat offense added another passing touchdown with five minutes to go, making the score 42-16 at the end of the third quarter. 

Closing with a scoreless fourth quarter, Wildwood beat Newberry 42-16 and moved on to play Hawthorne for a shot at the Final Four.

BOX SCORE

                                       1       2        3       4        F

Wildwood                24      6       12       0       42

Newberry                 0      16        0       0        16