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There is just something about Hogansville and football championships. The Hogansville Cowboys meant business on Thursday in the 12u Troup County Parks and Rec Textile Bowl, beating the Bearcats 34-14.

“We are addicted to winning in Hogansville,” Cowboys coach Quantavious Leslie said, flashing a big grin. “That’s just what we do.”

Leslie knows a thing about winning at Callaway Stadium, having played at Callaway High and leading his Hogansville Jets team to a win in the Textile Bowl last season.

“This is home for me,” Leslie said. “There is not much more I can say about it. My brothers played here, I played here and now I’m coaching. It’s hard to put into words.”

The Bearcats actually opened the scoring in the game when Kaden Lee found the end zone with four minutes left in the first quarter.

It would not be long before the Cowboys answered, as the game’s MVP Dwight Hardaway scored his first touchdown of the game from two yards out.

“He is a hard-nosed country player,” Leslie said. “If you’ve never seen a hard-nosed country player you can look him up because he makes plays on offense, defense and special teams. 

“Whatever I ask him to do, he does it. He never complains.”

The Cowboys trailed 8-6, but were able to pull off an onside kick to get the ball right back to their offense. The offense responded in kind with Hardaway getting his second of the day to put the Cowboys up 12-8. 

It was all Cowboys from there.

“Our offensive line was firing off the ball and making contact,” Leslie said. “I knew if we could do that we had the running backs that could make plays.”

Hardaway got his third touchdown of the first half with 1:20 left to go in the second quarter to put the Cowboys up 20-8. The Cowboys struck quickly in the second half to take a 26-6 lead when RJ Dunn threw a touchdown. 

Lee got his second touchdown for the Bearcats with 2:55 left in the game. It looked like the Bearcats would get back in the game after an interception by Kadarius Carr less than a minute later, but the team could not capitalize. 

Dunn delivered the final blow when he found the end zone with just minutes to go in the game to put the Cowboys up 34-14.