For the fifth time in six seasons, Madison County football is playing for a state championship.

The Cowboys (10-1) will be under the lights at Bragg Memorial Stadium on Thursday for the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1R State championship game, taking on rival Hawthorne (12-0). The game between the last two 1R state champions will kickoff at 8 p.m.

Playing for a state title is not an unfamiliar place for Madison County, but head coach Price Harris said despite the Cowboys being there so many times before, it's always a special feeling to compete for a title.

"I know people think that we've been there and done that so many times, but it's always still special to make it to a state championship game, no matter what year it is," Harris said. "We're excited about going but we're not satisfied with just going, want to win one."

It's a matchup that both programs will be familiar with, the last meeting coming in the 2021 State Championship game, with Madison County beating Hawthorne 13-12. Since that game Hawthorne has been near unstoppable, winning 24 straight games and claiming the 2022 state title.

Harris knows that his team will be the underdogs as Hawthorne will be the favorite coming into the game, but the Cowboys head coach said that exactly how he wants it to be for his team.

"It's kind of been the MO all year, people have felt like we weren't going to have a good year as we did," Harris said. "We like our chances and we like that underdog feeling. Our kids are super excited."

Madison County sits at 10-1, winning eight straight games since the defeat to Florida High heading into the showdown with the Hornets. After dealing with the impacts of Hurricane Idalia, the Cowboys have played nearly perfect football, rallying the community.

Once again looking like the teams that won four state titles in five seasons, the Cowboys are running the football aggressively and leaning on hardnose defense to frustrate and keep opponents out of the endzone, allowing only 154 points this season.

The matchup with the Hornets will be a test for the Cowboys' defense. Hawthorne running back Keenon Johnson is nearly an unstoppable force, rushing for 1456 yards on 190 carries, scoring 16 touchdowns this season. Quarterback CJ Ingram is lighting things up with his top two receivers Alvon Isaac and Caleb Rollerson, with the duo hauling in a combined 27 of Ingram's 37 touchdowns.

A collectively sound defense, Madison County has a few names that stand out and could be difference-makers against the Hornets. Upfront players like Omarion Gentle, Kemari Scurry and Octavious Hodge will look to slow the running game, while John Christian and Tre'vion Gillyard lurk in the secondary looking to break up the passing attack as the Cowboys defense looks to slow down an offensive juggernaut in Hawthorne.

For Harris and Madison County, it's a similar situation to what the matchup with Florida High was like. With players able to make plays either running or through the passing game, Harris knows it can't be a straightforward gameplan and his defense has to be ready for anything.

"They're like Florida High, where you can try to take away the run and they still have the pass, try and take away the pass and they still can run the football," Harris said. "They're a very complete football team. It's going to have to take a very good effort from us to win the football game."

An injury to star running back Jason McDaniel hasn't slowed the rushing game as sophomore Ryshard Miller has seamlessly filled the role of Madison County's primary back. Posting 649 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, with an uptick in production since the injury, Miller led the Cowboys in the state semifinals against Bozeman, rushing for 126 yards and two touchdowns, and could be a spark for the offense against Hawthorne.

With someone always ready to step up in any circumstances, Harris says his team has shown that they refuse to quit.

"I think that our kids can play as hard as they can for as long as they can, and that's half the battle right there, our guys are not gonna give up," Harris said. "There's a lot of pride on this team. We're still gonna have to execute against them [Hawthorne] because they're a really good football team."

With a roster featuring players who played in Madison County's last state title game, Harris hopes his players who played in that game, Gillyard, Gentel, Keoni Nelson, Varian Terry and Christian, will give the younger players on the roster some confidence.

"They've been there and done it before, and we talked about it, we can't we can't make it a bigger game than what it is," Harris said. "It's just the next game and our guys have been talking to our younger guys about that all the time. You got to go in there and you got to be able to execute and have a good grasp on the gameplan."

Buying in, staying committed

In his second season as head coach at Madison County, Harris has turned around a 4-7 record in his first season to a 10-1 state finalist in his second year.

In the football-mad town of Madison, the expectations are always high for the team, and when last season ended, questions were being asked. But despite all of that, Harris said his team stayed committed and knew the potential of how good the Cowboys could be.

"It's not about me, it feels good and I'm proud of what we've done, but it's really about these kids," Harris said. "Them buying into what I was preaching back in January, all the way through the summer. The way in which they bonded with each other and with their teammates has been special to see. It's just cool for me to look at how far we've come since last year."

It hasn't just been an improvement on the field, Harris's team has improved grades in the classroom, raising the team's cumulative GPA by nearly six points. Even with the onfield success, it's been the collective turnaround that has been the biggest win for Harris.

"For me, that's what I take pride in, and that's what I look at," Harris said. "I have paused and looked at all that stuff. It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice along the way and my wife has sacrificed a lot of stuff, so I just take that pride and look at how far we have come."

Thursday's state championship game between Madison County vs. Hawthrone will be at Bragg Memorial Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m. Tickets can be found on Ticketmaster.com, where convenience fees will be charged, and through the FAMU Box office.

All games will be streamed live on Bally Sports.

Liam Rooney covers preps sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Madison County football to face Hawthorne in class 1r state title game