Week 16 Rewind — Hawley, Albany advance to Arlington
Week 16 is over with a pair of Thursday night semifinal games, both won by the good guys.
Hawley and Albany are both Jerry World bound next week to join Loraine and Westbrook as Big Country Blitz coverage area schools battling for a state title.
Photo: Hawley ISD
Hawley 34, Crawford 20
MINERAL WELLS, Texas — The Bearcats are headed back to Arlington for the second straight season after taking down Crawford 34-20 in Mineral Wells Thursday night.
The Pirates struck first but Hawley answered with a pair of scores to take a lead they’d never relinquish.
The Bearcats led 22-13 at the half but Crawford stayed close, trailing just 28-20 heading into the fourth quarter. The Pirates were driving in the fourth with a chance to tie but Kason O’Shields came down with a key interception and the Bearcats put another touchdown on the board to give the game its final margin.
Hawley got four touchdowns and 175 yards rushing from star running back Austin Cumpton to lead the way. He will get a chance to play at Jerry World after an injury forced him to watch from the sidelines a year ago. He is now over the 2,000 yard mark in rushing yards this season with 2,020 yards and 40 touchdowns.
Rodey Hooper completed 16 of 19 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown toss to Will Scott. O’Shields led the way with seven grabs for 129 yards, Ramon had four catches for 72 yards and Scott hauled in four for fifty yards.
Balance proved key for the Bearcats once again as they threw for 268 yards and ran for 180. Crawford had 234 yards rushing and 36 passing.
The Bearcats will now get set to face 14-1 Refugio for the 2A Division I state title Thursday at 11 a.m. The Bobcats knocked off top-ranked Timpson 24-21 on a last-second field goal to advance.
Photo: Albany Athletic Booster Club
Albany 53, New Home 25
SWEETWATER, Texas — Albany is state bound for the first time since 2015 after yet another dominant offensive performance got them past New Home Thursday night.
The Lions led 14-0 by the end of the first quarter and 28-7 at the half on their way to the victory.
Albany racked up 522 yards of total offense and scored at least 50 points for the seventh time in the last nine weeks. They have scored 49 or more in nine of their last ten outings.
Five different Lions scored touchdowns Thursday night, led by Adam Hill, Coy Lefevre and Samuel Rosas with two each. Hill ran for 116 yards and Lefevre added 97, while Cole Chapman threw for 210 yards and two scores. Chapman did throw his first interception of the season against now 19 touchdown passes.
New Home ends their best season in program history with a 13-2 record. They had to play with backup quarterback Brazos Beck under center for the second straight week. He threw for 227 yards and ran a Leopard-high 73 in the loss.
Now the Lions get set to face unbeaten and top-ranked Mart in the 2A Division II state championship game Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Albany is 0-4 in state title games under Denney Faith, who is now tied for fifth with Jim Streety on the all-time Texas high school football coaching wins list with 343. The Lions have lost state championship games under Faith to Schulenburg in 1991, Cayuga in 2009 and Bremond in 2014 and 2015.
