Cornelius Ingram’s list of accolades is long.
On Friday, Oct. 25, Ingram added another to his laundry list.
The venerable Hawthorne football coach tallied his 100th win with the Hornets with a 34-16 win at Melbourne Central Catholic.
Ingram’s brother, offensive coordinator and boys basketball coach Greg Bowie, informed him of his pending accomplishment earlier this week. He had no idea.
“Every game is a big game, but because this one was a bigger one for me personally, it added some extra motivation for the guys,” Ingram said.
Ingram took over this role at his alma mater in 2015. This came after a decorated career with Florida football, where he won national championships in 2006 and 2008.
He went 5-5 in his first year. That bumped to six wins in 2016 and seven in 2017. The breakthrough came in 2018 with a 12-1 season that ended with a state semifinal loss to Madison County.
Championship game appearances came in 2020 and 2021 but ended with heartbreaking losses to Baker and MadCo once again. In 2022, Ingram finally broke through and won his first state title with a 13-2 win over Northview. A year later, Hawthorne went back-to-back and finally defeated the Cowboys. Both seasons saw undefeated records.
Last season, Madison County got its revenge in the Hornets’ fifth straight title game in a row.
With this win, Ingram and Co. finish the regular season 7-1 with only a 35-26 loss to top 25 Oakleaf.
Ranked No. 42 in Florida and No. 2 in Rural, Hawthorne looks on its way to another deep playoff run.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1 and on Instagram @ramreporter. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Hawthorne coach, Florida football legend Cornelius Ingram reaches 100 career wins
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
