Weddington football threw an interception on its first possession of the 4A state championship game Saturday night, leading directly to a short-yardage Hoggard touchdown on the next play.
But little else went wrong for the Warriors from Union County the rest of the night, and the Matthews school rolled to a 56-21 triumph at NC State’s Carter-Finley Stadium.
Tyler Budge threw a pair of touchdown passes to Keenan Jackson in the first half and rushed for another score. Nick Diamond added 105 yards on the ground and two more rushing touchdowns. Jackson turned a fumble from a teammate near the goal line into a 5-yard TD.
Brady Ritter also found the end zone on a running play, and TJ Davis returned a blocked punt 12 yards for a score, helping the top-seeded Warriors complete their five-game romp through the 4A bracket.
Aside from a 14-10 win over Chambers in round two, each of Weddington’s post-season contests proved lopsided: wins by at least 17 points. The Warriors finish the season 14-2, also beating a South Carolina state champion (Dutch Fork) along the way.
Hoggard won 14 games in a row after dropping its season opener to Cleveland 28-20. The Wilmington school concludes its outstanding campaign as the state runner-up with a 14-2 record.
Budge, who has committed to Georgia Southern, completed 17-of-24 passes for 243 yards. He also rushed for 36 yards, earning his team’s offensive MVP honors.
Jackson, who has announced a commitment to North Carolina for 2024, had a spectacular first half. He caught 10 passes for 136 yards, including scoring plays covering 5 and 27 yards. He finished with 19 receiving TDs on the year and was named the overall 4A game MVP.
Diamond’s touchdown runs came from 12 and 47 yards out. Ritter’s TD jaunt covered 11 yards.
Aiden Harris earned Weddington’s defensive player of the game award. He picked off a pass, had a pass break-up and earned two tackles for loss in addition to four tackles.
Hoggard led briefly 7-0 after a Trey Nixon interception, which he returned to the Weddington 4. Hudson Wilharm hooked up with Charlie Kilbourne for a 4-yard TD pass on the next snap.
Hoggard’s other touchdowns came on a 65-yard rush by Wilharm in the third quarter and a 20-yard Wilharm-to-Ryan McAllister pass with 2:59 left in the game.
Wilharm, who earned Hoggard’s offensive MVP award, finished with 195 yards passing and 59 yards rushing to lead the Vikings in both categories. Aniziyon Session made seven catches for 125 yards for the Vikes.
Kamar Fulton, who had a game-high 13 tackles — including nine solo stops, was Hoggard’s defensive MVP.
Weddington won its fourth state championship in football. All have come since 2016. The Warriors are 4-1 in state title games, their lone loss in their first appearance coming as a 3A school in 2014. This is Weddington’s first 4A title.
Hoggard has appeared in one other state championship contest, beating Mount Tabor in the 2007 title tilt.
The Vikings had scored at least 39 points in each of their playoff games before Saturday, including 52 in a shutout over Chapel Hill in the opener and 51 in the East semifinals against Cleveland — avenging their only loss. Weddington held Hoggard to 232 total yards, while gaining 453.
