MINERAL WELLS — After having a back injury cost him a chance to play in Hawley’s first state championship game last season, senior running back Austin Cumpton took the challenge of leading the Bearcats back to Arlington personally in Thursday’s Class 2A Division I state semifinal matchup with Crawford.

The 6-foot-1, 225-pound bruiser, who missed the final three games of last year’s run with a pair of fractured vertebrae, was nothing short of dazzling against CHS, pounding the previously unbeaten Pirates for 175 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-20 win at Ram Stadium.

That performance, which came in a strong all-around effort by the Bearcats, earned Hawley (15-0) a return trip to AT&T Stadium, where it will face off with fellow state power Refugio next week for the 2A DI state championship.