Hawley’s return trip to state successful as Bearcats rout Refugio for first title
The Hawley football team was making just its second trip to a state title game. And its second consecutive trip after the Bearcats were blown out by Shiner in last season’s title tilt.
But the experience gained gave the Bearcats the confidence they needed as Hawley took down tradition rich Refugio 54-28 in the Class 2A Division 1 state championship on Thursday at AT&T Stadium.
“They’ve been talking about this for 365 days,” said Hawley coach Mitch Ables, “In our locker room there’s a big picture of AT&T Stadium that we look at every day. When we lost last year, these guys put it in their mind that we were going to come back and win it this year. I’m super proud of them.”
Refugio was making its 11th trip to the state championship game and has won five titles including most recently in 2016 and 2019.
Hawley (16-0), ranked No. 2 in the final 2A D1 state poll, dominated from the start and built a comfortable lead with the help of four first-half turnovers by No. 4 Refugio (14-2).
Bearcats’ linebacker Hez Parker forced two fumbles, recovered by Austin Cumpton and Diontay Ramon, and defensive back Chandlin Myers picked off a Bobcats’ pass to help Hawley build a 20-0 lead.
Cumpton was the beneficiary with touchdown runs of 7, 14 and 14 yards, the latter coming with 7:11 left in the second quarter.
The Bobcats finally found some rhythm on offense, but another fumble, forced by Diego Stovall and recovered by Cumpton at the Hawley 9, killed the drive.
Five plays later quarterback Rodey Hooper hit Ramon with a wide receiver screen in the left flat that Ramon turned into a 74-yard score after dodging one defender and then outracing the Bobcats’ secondary to the end zone.
“Honestly there were no surprises,” said Refugio coach Jason Herring. “They lined up exactly what we prepared for and they threw and caught the ball extremely well and we knew that was going to be huge. They were able to run the ball down our throat and we couldn’t get off the field and that’s what I didn’t think would happen.”
Refugio did get two scores late in the first half on a 3-yard run by Kaleb Brown and a perfectly executed screen pass from Kelan Brown to Jordan King from 35 yards out.
But that was sandwiched around another Hooper TD pass. The Bearcats ran the same wide receiver screen look, but slipped Kason O’Shields past the drawn in secondary and Hooper found him wide open down the right sideline for a 66-yard pitch and catch.
Hawley took a 34-13 lead into the half.
The Bearcats opened the second half taking 8:19 off the third quarter clock with a 14-play, 73-yard march that culminated in an 11-yard scoring pass from Hooper to Ramon, who made a nice catch between two defenders.
Cumpton, who was named state title game offensive MPV, carried nine times on the drive for 37 yards and helped the Bearcats keep Refugio’s explosive offense off the field. Cumpton finished with 151 rushing yards on 31 carries and Hawley held the ball for 28:05 to Refugio’s 19:31.
Parker, the defensive MVP, all but put the game out of reach when he picked off a pass on Refugio’s next snap and returned it 50 yards for a score to put the Bearcats up 48-13 with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
“It was crazy because, honestly, I miss all of those in practice,” said Parker of the pick-six. “They either go off my fingers or I’m too short and can’t catch it. But he threw it to me and I caught it. Refugio is pretty fast so I thought I might make it to the 20, but Diontay (Ramon) had a good block and it carried me to the end zone.
“It was a blessing to play like that and go out as the Defensive MVP, but I couldn’t have done it without my defensive line and the guys behind me helping me out the whole time.”
Running back Eziyah Bland led Refugio with 163 yards rushing on 17 carries and had a 10-yard scoring run late in the third quarter. Kelan Brown threw for 121 yards completing 7 of 12 for the Bobcats.
Hooper was an efficient 14 of 18 for 279 yards for Hawley. Ramon had six catches for 150 yards and O’Shields hauled in three for 92.
“This feels amazing,” said Cumpton, who scored his fourth TD on a 10-yard run with seven minutes left in the game. “Coach brought me in as a little ole freshman and I’ve had an amazing career. I couldn’t ask for anything better.
“To go out with a win in your senior year...words can’t even describe what it means. It’s a dream come true and I can’t think my teammates enough.”