NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Kevin Adams connected with Magerald Clark for a 27-yard touchdown pass as time expired this past Saturday, giving Lake Taylor a walk-off win in the state semifinals over Magna Vista and propelling the Titans to the title game.
Not bad for a team that won just three games in 2024.
"What's made this year so special, every win, last year we only won three games," Titans' head coach Hank Sawyer explained. "Anything after that, I could just see the kids, the smiles, the hard work, the excitement, how amazed they are."
For Sawyer, it's another opportunity to lead his team to the top. With three state crowns to his name already (2012, 2014, 2019), he has Lake Taylor on the doorstep of another triumph. Of course, the head coach finds joy in success on the field, but maybe more important to him is the impact he has on his young men away from the game.
"He's really been like a role model to me," said senior lineman Ziyon Knight. "He would never tell me [anything] wrong. He would never tell me nothing that he wouldn't do."
"I love it," Sawyer said of coaching. "It's in my heart to touch kids and it's more than just football or the winning, it's to shape young men for life. Life has ups and downs the same way football does."
The head coach has experienced some of those ups and downs first hand, but noted football has helped him get through. Sawyer said being on the sidelines helped him navigate through the death of his mother, a couple of his assistant coaches and, most recently, Bayside head coach Jonathan White, who Sawyer calls one of his closest friends.
"It keeps you level-headed, subtle," he noted. "You can channel that negative energy on those things, those periods in life when things aren't so good."
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For Sawyer and Lake Taylor, this is not one of those periods as they charge towards state gold. The players on the field enter Saturday's showdown with Kettle Run motivated to get their leader another championship ring.
"We've been talking about that since I got here," recalled Knight. "I have to keep my promise to him: 'Coach, my goal before I leave here is to get you one, get you another ring before I walk out of these doors.'"
As for Sawyer, he says it won't be too long before he walks out the doors himself, but he's not there yet. Winning championships makes it harder to hang up the whistle.
"I've got to defend my regional title right now," he smiled. "That's already making me think about returning and then if I can win states... the people that you ran on the porch, you can always give them a chance to run you back out on the porch."
Lake Taylor and Kettle Run will kick off in the Class 3 state championship game Saturday at 5 p.m. at Liberty University's Williams Stadium.
