Looking Back on the Hayfield Football Season

Hayfield Secondary's 8-3 football season ended last Friday with a 25-20 home loss to Lee (7-4). Trailing 20-3 at halftime, Lee scored 22 unanswered points to grab the victory and eliminate the Hawks from the playoffs. After making it to the Northern Region semifinals last season, coaches and players hoped for a return.

“Last season we made it to the regional semifinals and lost to Stone Bridge. Our goals this season were to go a step or two further than that,” said second-year head coach Roy Hill, reflecting on the season.

While some team goals went unfulfilled, others were surpassed. The team eclipsed last year’s regular season win total by two and ended the year as National District runners-up.

“Our seniors worked very hard and did a good job of leading our program,” said Hill.

The Hawks finished the season with six National District wins (Edison, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, Stuart, Washington-Lee and Wakefield), with a lone district loss to district champion Yorktown. Ten Hawks earned first or second team All-National District honors. Stephen Ross, Hayden Knudson (offense and defense), Steven Taylor, Kelechi Adama and Anthony Wilson were named 1st team All-National District.

Knudson, a wide receiver, was named National District Offensive Player of the Year and finished the season with 593 yards receiving and nine touchdowns. He added another touchdown on the ground and had an amazing field goal block that he returned for a touchdown.

Kelechi Adama earned National District Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors. Adama, a defensive tackle who commanded constant double teams, menaced opposing quarterbacks and recorded 10 sacks this season.

Steven Lynch, Justin Dill (offense and defense), Wesley Scott, Nathan Trebach and Scottie Poole were named to the 2nd team All-National District squad. Sahid Kargbo, Ozzie Barnard, George Asante, Matt Edwards, Ellis Knudson and Leroy Alexander were named honorable mention.

With this season in the books, Hill and his coaching staff are looking towards rebuilding for next year. Hayfield’s freshmen and junior varsity teams went a combined 13-3 this year and boast rosters filled with offensive and defensive playmakers.

“We have a lot of expectations and hope that will be able to move up and help supplement the returning players in leading us to a good finish next season,” Hill said.

“We don’t want to just be a team that wins seven or eight games each year and makes it a round or two into the playoffs. Our goal is to win banners, district, regional and state banners.”