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| Photo by Will Fagan, d3photography.com |
By Adam Turer
D3sports.com
The Hawks began 2019 with a chip on their shoulder.
From 2015 through 2017, Huntingdon won 28 games and made three straight playoff appearances. They dominated the USA South, winning 20 of their 21 conference contests.
But 2018 was a setback. That might be an understatement. The Hawks opened the season by dropping their first four games and finished below .500 for the first time since 2004.
“When you’re struggling like that, you’re in a week-to-week, day-to-day mode. We were 0-4 and kind of at our wit’s end. We were struggling,” said coach Mike Turk. “Complacency is a human nature thing that’s tough to battle. It snowballed on us. I didn’t handle some things well. It took all of taking a step back and throwing our egos out and making sure we were doing this for the right reason. We grounded ourselves.”
The turnaround began in mid-October, as the Hawks won four of their final five games of 2018. The turnaround culminated in Saturday’s playoff victory at Berry, the first road playoff win in program history.
“To the guys’ credit, they kept coming to work every day and working. We won four out of our last five and that set the tone for our offseason work, and got the mindset back of who we want to be,” said Turk. “The leadership on this team has really stepped up. That all started last October. I’m proud of the older players and even some younger guys who have shown really good leadership skills, and our football team has stayed together. That’s been as important as anything.”
It would have been easy to point fingers when last season began in such disappointing fashion. Nobody on the 2018 roster had experienced a losing streak as a Hawk. In fact, they had never lost more than one regular season game in a season. Four in a row? They weren’t quite sure how to act, but they knew that in order to bounce back, they would have to respond together.
This year’s success began with last year’s seniors, who fought through their frustration and righted the ship.
“You remember your senior year. For that group last year, I just feel bad for them. It was not what they wanted,” said Turk. “But the remarkable thing when we were 0-4, it could have gotten really bad, but it didn’t. Instead, we were still getting better at the end of the year as a football team. The legacy that they left was not a championship, but it could have gotten really bad and they didn’t let it. They used it to propel us to where we are now.”
That started in the offseason. This year’s team, not just its seniors, set the tone in the winter.
“We went into the offseason with a chip on our shoulder. The tastes in all of our mouths after what happened has been with us all year,” said senior receiver Garrett Headley. “We got complacent with winning. We came into the offseason locked and loaded.”
But the results didn’t appear right away. The Hawks found themselves in another hole, opening this season 1-2. The defense gave up over 40 points per game in each of the first three weeks.
“After that start, we could tell that there were just minor details that we were getting wrong that were holding us back. A lot of it was players trying to do too much. After one thing went wrong, they wouldn’t worry about their job, they would try to do too many things,” said Headley. “Once we were able to find those little things and correct them, we were able to kick start our season.”
The Hawks put in so much work during the offseason, showing up early for lifting and conditioning. Several players spent their summers in Montgomery, working out together. They were all so hungry to put last year’s struggles behind them. After a 45-13 loss at Birmingham-Southern followed by a 44-14 loss at UW-Oshkosh, the team grew stronger. When they could have spiraled into another lost season, they instead rallied together.
“We went into that 1-2 hole and felt like we should have won both of those games,” said junior defensive lineman Dylan Powell. “We looked like last year’s team, not quite as clean as we wanted to be. We hit the bye week and honed in on the things we were lacking. Our backs were against the wall at that point.”
Playing on the road at the eventual WIAC champion was eye-opening. Although the final score didn’t reflect it, watching film of the 30-point loss gave the Hawks confidence.
“Even playing as bad as we were playing, it showed us that we have a shot at the big dogs,” said Headley. “That was really the turning point in our season. It was pretty much win or go home at that point.”
Huntingdon defeated defending USA South champion Maryville, 45-35. They slowed down Brevard in a 21-10 slugfest. Then they rallied past Averett in a 41-35 shootout. Berry’s offense mustered just 17 points in Saturday’s 27-24 Huntingdon victory. With its season on the line, the team consistently found ways to win.
“I think it goes back to last year, we just don’t like losing. We don’t really have one player on offense or defense that does it all; it’s a team effort,” said Headley. “If one player is having a bad game, it doesn’t mean that our whole offense or defense is down that day.”
The Week 4 bye worked wonders. The Hawks snapped out of their second straight early-season funk. There was still a hiccup at N.C. Wesleyan in Week 10, but the Hawks didn’t let that loss shake their confidence either. This group will be remembered for its resiliency, for making sure Huntingdon remains a perennial playoff contender.
“The thing that this team has not wavered on is coming to work and continuing to try to do what they’re asked to do. The biggest difference in our team was after the Oshkosh game, we really had a heart-to-heart about detail of assignment and being accountable to each other and doing what you’re supposed to do,” said Turk. “All of that has come to fruition because the guys kept believing. The mentality and mindset has really become a thing that they take a lot of pride in.
That turnaround has been guys buying in to being disciplined. Once that began to catch on, we started to see some results. Saturday is light-years from where we started. I’m really proud of the coaches and players for sticking it out.”
Huntingdon made program history on Saturday, and earned a shot at the defending national champions. The trip to Mary Hardin-Baylor is a more daunting challenge, but the Hawks are as prepared and confident as they can be. They saw firsthand what complacency can do to a talented team, and refuse to let it happen again.
“Mental toughness is the thing with this group. Whenever we walk into a stadium, we know it’s time to do what we do,” said Powell. “We enjoy winning a lot more than the alternative.”