HILLIARD, Fla. – It has been a good year for Hillard.
Back in March, the Red Flashes basketball team reached the state final for the first time since 1965.
Now, their football team has kept the success rolling. The Red Flashes are 6-0 and riding a six-game winning streak that ties the longest in school history.
“It would be nice to [get] seven, wouldn’t it?” said Hilliard coach John Pate.
The Red Flashes last won six consecutive games in 2005.
This year’s early season success doesn’t come as a surprise to Pate. The Red Flashes have been trending in the right direction since last season when they won a playoff game for the first time in 14 years.
“I hate to say that I expected us to be here right now, but I expected us to be here,” he said.
With two games left in the regular season, Hillard is knocking on the door of its first undefeated regular season in school history.
“Sports out here mean something to a small community,” Pate said. “It is a sense of pride for the community. It is a rallying cry for the community.”
If the Red Flashes hope to stay undefeated, they will have to do it without their starting quarterback who will miss the last two weeks of the season because he was exposed to someone with COVID-19.
But he will be back in time for the Playoffs. The Red Flashes will host Mayo Lafayette on Nov. 13.