News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days: Hancock Hawks
KILN, Miss. (WXXV) — The way the numbers worked out Hancock is home to the largest high school in the new class 6A. The Hawks are looking for their biggest season in program history as they try to do something for the first time in more than 30 years at stop number 17 on News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days.
Hancock senior offensive/defensive lineman Bryce Ladner said, “We have some unfinished business from last year. We made the first round of the playoffs, and we’ve just got to keep pushing forward from last year.”
Hancock Head Football Coach Neil Lollar said, “They still feel like they have some unfinished business. Getting in is nice. Everybody wants to get in. We were fortunate enough to get in. Of course, this year everybody wants to see how far can we go? Where can we be when the last horn blows?”
Hancock searching for those answers in 2023, fresh off its first trip to the post-season in five years when the Hawks won their first playoff game in 27 years. Hancock senior linebacker/wing back Casey Wheat said, “2017 was the last time they made it to the playoffs, and at least in my high school career, we made it back to the playoffs junior year, planning on making it back for senior year.”
If the Hawks do see the second season for the second year in a row, it will be the first time in more than three decades. Ladner said, “We want to set a standard here, and we want to set it high for the other kids coming up behind us.”
Lollar said, “A lot of them already knew that history. That’s one of the things we try to preach around here is, what has Hancock been? What has it been in the past? What has it been since I’ve been head coach here? What can it be?”
What it was last year was 6-6 over with a 3-4 mark in Region 4 Class 6A. In mid-October, two of those district wins decided by one score in back-to-back weeks over D’Iberville and Harrison Central. Wheat said, “Oh, it felt great since knowing we were getting closer to the playoffs, and as soon as we beat Harrison Central, it just made it a guarantee, so it was great.”
Ladner said, “We knew we had to come in with a mindset of we’re winning, this is what we’ve got to do and we exceeded in that. It gave us a lot of confidence because we all know that we can step up when it’s time to step up, and we just need to be that team every game.”
Unfortunately for the Hawks, they weren’t that team the final three weeks of the season in which they lost back-to-back district games followed by a 35 point first round playoff exit at Brandon, the same team they beat back in 2017. Ladner said, “Very aggravating because we had a game plan, we just didn’t fulfill it at all.”
Wheat said, “Really only have one chance, and you lose that one game, you’re season is over.”
Lollar said, “Football is one of those, it’s always a tale of two stories – woulda, coulda, shoulda type things – and this year we do get an opportunity with a lot of returners to try to run it back, and that’s a good thing.”
Hancock brings back 16 seniors as well as 16 starters, 10 of offense, six on defense. For the Hawks, it all starts under center with senior quarterback Dylan Moran. “We’ve told Dylan from day one, quarterback just by the name itself is an extension of the coaching staff. You’re going to be a hero, or you’re going to be the worst person. He’s done a lot of extra work on the side, and I’m looking forward to seeing it pay off.”
The Hawks feature a lot of power game out of the Gun-T, allowing senior running back Zach Gullung to rush for more than 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.
Out wide, Hancock also returns senior wide receivers Neil Acker and Todd Dedeaux. Ladner said, “Our whole offense, we’re a very tight knit group. We grew up together, so we’re very familiar with each other’s playing type, and we’re confident in each other’s game.”
Senior lineman Bryce Ladner also anchors the 4-3 defensive front, alongside senior linebacker Jeffrey Hopgood and Casey Wheat, also wing backs on offense, as well as senior defensive back Kristoff Ganier.
As you can tell, a lot of high impact seniors who, for the first time under seventh-year Head Coach Neil Lollar, got to pick this year’s motto ‘standard over feelings.’ Wheat said, “Yes sir, it just says standards. (And what does that mean to you?) Well, you’ve got to be better on the field. You don’t really care how you feel. You’ve just got to be good on the field.”
Ladner said, “It means putting your team before yourself, and not letting your own feelings get in the way of our goal as a whole team.”
Lollar said, “Two weeks before the season, and they said, Coach, Standard over Feelings, and I said, absolutely. Everybody is going to have a bad moment. There’s going to be a bad throw. There’s going to be a dropped ball. There’s going to be a missed tackle. There’s going to be a bad play call. But understand the next play is where we’ve got to be looking for. We can’t be caught up in our feelings and feeling sorry for ourselves because we had a bad moment. We’ve got to move onto the next play.”
Hancock kicks off the new campaign on the road at Natchez on August 25th.
