The Armwood Hawks are once again in the regional finals. They’ve made so many appearances on Thanksgiving Weekend–thirteen consecutive to be exact–that you could joke this should be renamed “Cal’s Round” and it wouldn’t be that far from the truth. Head Coach Sean Callahan picked up his 50th playoff victory of his career against Brandon on Friday setting a state record in the large classifications (5A-8A) for most consecutive regional finals reached.
The Hawks are 7-5 in those previous 12 appearances according to the record books, but two of those games were forfeited–even though the Hawks won those on the field which would have given Armwood a 9-3 record in the regional finals round.
The streak began in 200–that season Armwood finished 15-0 and State Champions after defeating Lake Gibson with the vaunted “BMW” package of Kalvin Bailey, Demetrius McCray and Jameel Williams. The trio were the first to rush for 1,000 yards each for one school in Hillsborough County while Armwood was the first team to finish 15-0 in the county AND it was the county’s first state title in 34 years at the time.
The next season, the Hawks made it back-to-back regional finals appearances with a 61-30 crushing of Middleton. The Hawks went on to defeat Booker T. Washington and Lake Gibson (again) for their second consecutive title. They almost made it three consecutive state championships, but were defeated in an epic battle with Nease in the Class 4A State Championship. That season, Winter Haven were the victims in the regional finals. In 2006, they lost to Plant, 38-20 in the Class 4A regional finals.
The next two seasons, the Hawks found themselves in a tussle with Plant and went 1-1 in those games with the Hawks winning 36-7 in 2007, and the Panthers winning 17-14 in 2008. Armwood went on to face Charlotte out of Punta Gorda and defeated the Tarpons on the field twice–but had to forfeit their 2010 victory. It was a two year cycle with Gainesville in 2011 and 2012 with Armwood winning 17-14 in ’11–but forfeiting that game–and then losing to the Purple Hurricanes 42-10 in 2012.
Springstread was Armwood’s next victim in 2013 when they fell prior to Bartram Trail’s 35-28 loss in 2OT in a thrilling contest in Seffner. Last season, it was the Hawks smashing their next opponent this postseason–Gainesville–by a 58-0 margin. The Hawks host Gainesville this Friday Night in the Class 6A, Region 2 Finals in Seffner.