HVA playoff-bound for first time since 2018
Within that timeframe, he wanted the Hawks to unlock an achievement they had not seen the previous five years: a postseason berth.
Fast-forward exactly 995 days, and Wynn and the Hawks have both delivered on that goal.
On Friday, Oct. 16, HVA knocked off Oak Ridge 32-21 for the biggest win in Wynn’s tenure. With the victory, the Hawks are guaranteed at least the 4-seed in the 2026 Region 2-6A playoffs. If Bradley Central loses
to Maryville and HVA wins at Cleveland, the Hawks will get the 2-seed and a home game.
“I wanted it for them,” Wynn said after escaping a potential Gatorade bath. “For me, it’s awesome, but when you come in and invest in kids and a community, you want it for them. You go to work for them. It’s about your impact on the hearts and lives of kids, and you want them to have return on investment.
“Football is here for a short while, but the lessons you can learn apply to everything the rest of your life. For me, the sigh of relief is because those kids got a small piece of what they have worked to get. They earned the right to win and that’s big.”
Indeed Hardin Valley did, going up by two scores at one point before holding on late for a program-changing victory.
Quarterback Riley Matz went a perfect 5-for-5 through the air for 186 yards and two scores. Receiver Nic Rivers hauled in three of those passes for 65 yards and a score, while tight end Cade Evans caught another on an 80-yard bomb for a touchdown.
On the ground, tailback Ayden Perry added one more score on a 15-carry, 46-yard night. And kicker Logan Holbrook nailed a 39-yard field goal late to ice the win before Rivers capped off the night with an interception.
Holbrook’s kick came on a crucial fourth-and-1 late in the game, as Wynn relied on his special teams unit to salt away the victory.
“I’ve got an All-State kicker sitting in the side, and I told him I’d give him a chance,” Wynn said. “So when it was fourth and 1, me and Holbrook looked at each other and I said, ‘Go kick it.’ I told him earlier in the week that I hoped it came down to that, and he delivered.”
Wynn also had other ideas up his sleeve that week, too. One of them included going for two after HVA’s first touchdown, setting the tone for the game.
That decision remained the same, even after Oak Ridge punched in the first score.
“We challenged our guys to be physical,” Wynn said. “From the first meeting
talking about this game, we wanted to be physical. We wanted to line up and show them we wanted to do that all night. We wanted them to have to chase points from the beginning, and they scored on us first. But as soon as we had the chance to have them chasing points, we took advantage of it.”
They also took advantage of several clutch plays from Rivers, who carried eight times for 56 yards to go with his receiving stats and game-sealing interception.
He would have taken that same pick to the house, too, if not for a penalty on the play.
“Wish we hadn’t had all the penalties and stuff and that
he would have gotten the defensive touchdown as well,
but that kid can play football for anybody,” Wynn said. “He shut down a 4-star receiver, had a touchdown in the back of the end zone. He’s a really high level football player, and because he’s so good in track and academically, you don’t know how it’ll shake out for him. But he can play for a lot of people.”
For now, though, Rivers is playing for a Hardin Valley team that appears primed for plenty more history this season.
