For the third straight year, an area girls and boys basketball team played for a state championship.

However, this time the teams and coaches were different.

It was a common theme for the top area girls and boys basketball coaches, as all four coaches are new selections this season.

Leading the way is Hawthorne boys basketball coach Greg Bowie, who led the Hornets to the Rural state title this past March. He joins Williston’s Willie Powers as the top boys and girls small school coaches in the area.

They join big school coaches Jazlynd Rollins (GHS girls) and Patrick Green (Newberry boys) as our 2024-25 Bosshardt Realty Coaches of the Year.

A panel of local sportswriters and coaches chose the All Area teams and coaches from Mainstreet’s eight-county coverage area. All first team players and coaches will receive commemorative plaques to recognize their accomplishments.

The Hornets lost to Williston in the Rural-District 7 championship game, but they defeated the Red Devils in the de facto state championship game in the FHSAA Rural-Region 4 Final on Feb. 17.

“Just playing a team like Williston, who is the two-time defending champ and probably one of the better teams in the state in any class this year, so to pick up a big win like that kind of gave us that motivation,” Bowie said. “There’s not going to be too many teams out there in our class like them, so once we got past them, we knew we had a really good chance of coming out here and winning.”

Bowie, who guided Hawthorne to its eighth final-four appearance in 18 seasons, led the Hornets to a 20-3 record and their third state title in program history (1987, 2020, and 2025).

He was named the Florida Dairy Farmers Rural Coach of the Year after Hawthorne defeated Crossroad Academy (Quincy), 59-38, to win the state title.

Special recognition goes out to Elven Sheppard of Fort White and Jim Ervin of Williston.

In 2023-24, Sheppard led the Indians (17-7) to their first playoff appearance since 2019. This past season he led Fort White (15-10) to its first final four in program history.

Fort White edged Trenton, 45-44, to win the Rural-District 6 title. It was their first district title since 2014.

They also advanced to their second straight regional final appearance, where they defeated top seed Hilliard on the road, 62-59, to earn their first trip to the state semifinals.

Ervin, who repeated as Bosshardt Realty’s Small Coach of the Year last year, played a difficult schedule but won 16 games and a third straight district title.

The Red Devils (16-12) defeated Hawthorne in the district championship game but lost on a pair of free throws with 0.3 seconds to play at Hawthorne in the region final.

Powers, who was in his first season as Williston’s girls basketball coach after a long career at P.K. Yonge, had the Lady Red Devils within a game of the final four.

Williston was in a tough district with two-time defending state champion Hawthorne and No. 1 Wildwood, which went 25-0 and won the Rural state title.

The Red Devils’ four losses were to final four teams: Wildwood (Rural state champion), twice, North Florida Educational Institute of Jacksonville (1A state runner-up), and 4A state semifinalist Rickards (Tallahassee).

Williston, which also lost to Wildwood in the Rural District 7 championship game, finished the season with a 19-4 record. They defeated Hawthorne, 57-44, in the district semifinals.

Fort White coach Brigay Harris was an honorable mention selection after taking the Lady Indians (16-8) to within a game of the final four. They lost at Rural-Region 3 No. 1 seed Hilliard, 67-64, in overtime.

“This season was the turning point in our program,” Harris said. “Winning another district championship, winning the first playoff game in girls basketball history and being Region 3 runner-up in the Rural class. This coaching staff and players all worked extremely hard, and it showed during the season. We fought through adversity and finished short of what we wanted to do in the playoffs, but it motivated us to push harder in the offseason.”

Gainesville’s Rollins, who helped lead the Buchholz girls to the Class 7A state title as a senior in 2013, led the GHS girls to their first final four since 1987 with a 64-57 win at Booker T. Washington (Pensacola) in the 5A-Region 1 Final.

They held off Northeast (Oakland Park), 54-52, in the 5A state semifinals to advance to their first state championship game appearance in program history.

The Hurricanes (17-9) were denied their first state title in over a century with a 56-49 loss to top seed New Smyrna Beach.

It was a historic season for the Lady Hurricanes, but Rollins believes it can happen again.

“I’m proud for making it this far,” said Rollins, who was runner-up for the Florida Dairy Farmers Class 5A Coach of the Year. “We’ve put in a lot of work, a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this program. We played the best we could and that’s all you can ask for. This is my first final as a coach, so it gives me a lot of confidence and it makes me believe that we can come back here.

“I’ve got a lot of hope for the future. Next year we’ll probably start young, but that’s fine, so I can mold them and build them. It may take some time, but I believe we can get back here.”

Dameon Hughes of Newberry, Sampson Jackson of Bradford (Starke) and Lonna Turner of Eastside all received special recognition.

Hughes led the Lady Panthers (17-7) to a 3A-District 3 title and a first-round playoff win against Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville), while Jackson led Bradford (13-9), which lost to Newberry in the district championship game, to a playoff appearance, and Turner led the Rams (12-11) to the 4A-District 5 title and postseason appearance.

It was also a historic season for Green and the Newberry boys basketball team, who raced out to a 24-0 start, a district title and a first-round playoff win. Their dream season came to an end with a 56-51 loss at home to Florida High (Tallahassee) in the second round of the 3A state playoffs.

“God is so amazing,” Green said. “This season was special in so many ways. One way I’m most proud of is how we brought our community together on game nights. Within the last 12 months or so, our students and community had to say goodbye to five students because their lives were cut short due to tragedy, things my players have had to overcome to pull off this amazing season that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.

“This team genuinely loves each other and enjoys having their community behind them. There’s no feeling in the world like that. I am fortunate to be from this community, and I still enjoy game nights as a coach just as much as I did as a player.”

Special recognition goes to Mike Barnes of GHS and Glen Banks of Santa Fe.

Barnes led the Hurricanes (21-8) to another district title, a 63-55 win against Leon (Tallahassee) in the 5A-District 2 championship game and a second-round playoff appearance in 5A. The ‘Canes lost by three at eventual state runner-up Ponte Vedra, 60-57, in the regional semifinals.

“This was a group with a lot of size, and I thought we used that to our advantage,” Barnes said. “This was a really great group of guys to coach and while we came up short this year, we will continue to work and improve in an effort to compete for a state title next year.”

Banks and the Raiders (17-11) captured the 4A-District 5 title and won a first-round playoff game against Liberty (Kissimmee).