Armwood Football: A Season to Remember

The stars are aligned for the Hawks this year.

They were four points away from a state title last season, losing 17-14 to Lincoln(Tallahasee) and only graduated 16 players. They held onto most of their offensive line, their star tailback, most of their defense and even had a few transfers that have significantly upgraded a team that was second in their class a year ago.

"When you factor in character, grades, athleticism, and passion this is the best team I've ever coached," said head coach Sean Callahan.

That's saying quite a lot.

Callahan already has two state titles with Armwood, including a 15-0 perfect season back in 2003.

The Hawks have steamrolled every opponent they have faced in the regular season, thus far. They had a tight, 20-17 win against nationally ranked, Bishop Gorman to start the year but they did this without starting tailback and University of Florida commit Matt Jones and quarterback Alvin Bailey.

Since that game, Armwood has outscored their opponents 297-13 in six games, including three shutouts. The wins are not against doormats, either. Defending 3A State Champion Jefferson, fell 20-0. Sickles and Brandon, both playoff teams from last year, suffered 35-0 and 54-6 defeats at the hands of the Hawks.

What might be more impressive than their stars is their depth.

Matt Jones is behind senior Wade Edwards in both carries and yards this year. Bailey has 35 carries, the same as Jones and even sophomore Greg Newton has 15 carries for 151 yards. Edwards has 53 carries for 403 yards.

Alvin Bailey shares the pasing duties. Bailey has 30 pass attempts to junior Darryl Richardson's 40, nine different receivers have caught passes, 16 players are in double-digit tackles on the season and nine have recorded sacks.

Not only do the Hawks have 12 scholarship offers, they are two or three deep at most positions. This allows them to keep players fresh and rotate; a luxury even top high school teams do not have.

They have two more interesting games left with Hillsborough on Oct. 21, which should decide the district title, and Plant on Oct. 28. After that, it's a quest toward history.

And the Hawks are prepared to make a go of it. It seems the only thing that could trip them up is overlooking a team.

"We lost the state title to a team we were better than last year," said Callahan. "We're not overlooking anyone this year."

An undefeated run to a state title this year could pay big dividends.

The Hawks currently sit No.2 in the Top 25 Writer's Poll. Fellow Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas just lost in overtime to Miramar on Friday. They will drop out of the top five and send the Hawks up a spot or two.

An undefeated run could mean a national title for the school and for the state. Don't take your eyes off Armwood this year, you might miss something great.