Hawley High School, located in Hawley, Texas, plays at the 2A classification of Texas high school football. They are the defending 2A state champions, going 16-0 last year defeating Refugio 54-28. The Bearcats, whose colors are maroon and white, are led by Coach Mitch Ables, who has been the head coach there since 2014. Talking to Coach Ables this week, we talked about many things that revolve around the Hawley program.
Coach Ables has led the turnaround of the Hawley football program. Before he arrived in 2014, the Bearcats had suffered a lot of not enjoyable seasons. In the 46 years before 2014, Hawley has only been to the state playoffs 3 times. When Coach Ables arrived, he instantly turned this program around into a 2A powerhouse. Averaging around 12.6 wins per season, Coach Ables has completely turned the Bearcats around and led them to winning the 2A state championship last season against powerhouse Refugio.
Talking to Coach Ables, he talked about how their motto is that they expect to win. Taking it one day at a time, they try to get a little bit better every day of the year. This approach has contributed to the success on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Bearcats run a multiple spread where they like to incorporate either a single or 2 back. They love to get the TE involved in order to create mismatches. Defensively, the Bearcats run a 4 man front but they switch it up every game in order to match up with their opponents.
The future of this program is looking good for Coach Ables and the Bearcats. They graduated a lot of players from this past season’s championship team but Coach Ables is confident in his team. They have 2 really good wide receivers (Chandlin Myers and Diontay Ramon) and 3 offensive linemen returning. They have a lot of new guys at skill positions (running back being one of them, led by Landon Sykora) that are chopping at the bit to get a lot of snaps this upcoming season.
Chandlin Myers is a 6’3″ 160 lbs wide receiver/cornerback who is going to be taking the next step up next year. A true two-way player, he had 8 receiving touchdowns to go with 4 interceptions.
Keagan Ables is the next quarterback for the Bearcats, replacing Rodey Hooper. At 6’0″ and 200 lbs, he is the man that is going to be leading the Bearcats next season offensively.
You must be logged in to post a comment.