VHSL Class 6 Boys

HAYFIELD 67, BATTLEFIELD 47

Hayfield Head Coach Carlos Poindexter and his band of Hawks have now joined an exclusive club. By polishing off a perfect season with a convincing 67-47 win over Battlefield, they are now the Boys Class 6 State Champions, and one of the few that went through a Championship season unblemished and undefeated.

To their credit, Battlefield matched the Hawks basket for basket in the first half and entered the locker room at intermission trailing only 33-29. Maddux Tennant paced the Bobcats with 10 points, but Battlefield lost a key component in the first quarter when 6’5” junior forward Ryan Derderian was lost for the game with a separated shoulder.

“We tried to match their energy,” said Bobcats Head Coach Randall Bills. “But it got harder after Ryan dislocated his shoulder.”

Along with Tennant, Chase Nelson and Hasan Hammad pitched in mightily, with Nelson converting a pair of three-pointers, the second of which put Battlefield ahead at 29-26 with 2:32 left in the first half. Hayfield responded with a 7-0 run.

Continuing with their unique season pattern, the third quarter belonged to Hayfield, who outscored the Bobcats 21-10.

Asked to explain his team’s penchant for putting teams away in the third quarter, Poindexter laughed. “I’d like to think it’s my halftime talks.”

Greg Jones, the Hawks’ Class of 2023 standout, was more analytical.

“It’s hard playing on a big stage, and a bigger court (VCU’s college court is larger than the regulation High School parameters)," Jones commented. "But we adjust at halftime and the game gets easier in the third period.”

Poindexter concurred but added a caveat. “Once we got settled down, we knew that we could execute. But I had to go deeper into my bench than usual today. We stayed together through the storm.”

Sticking together helped Hayfield (32-0), whose unbeaten season was in jeopardy on several occasions this season.

“We would get too confident, too cocky in practice, sometimes, and we had little reminders throughout the year.," Poindexter noted.

In the second game of the season, South County almost upended the Hawks in a district game, falling 78-74. At the season’s midway point, Centreville stayed within six points, dropping a 75-69 decision.

But things started to click just before the playoffs. Remarked Poindexter, ”I think we peaked at the John Marshall game (68-54). We were told that would be the best team we had played up to that point – strong and fast.”

W.T. Woodson held strong in the Region 6C quarterfinals before faltering 63-57, while Washington-Liberty lost by a respectable 59-51 margin in the State Quarters.

Through all the challenges, Hayfield stayed tough, but Poindexter brought the reasoning full circle at the end of his remarks, stating, “We just play a great brand of basketball.”

An emphatic dunk by Jones (23 points) gave the Hawks the lead at 65-42 with 1:54 left in the game. With the game at hand, Poindexter utilized his bench freely, with all 16 players seeing game action.

Three other Hawks scored in double figures. David King had 12 points and seven rebounds, DJ Holloway tacked on 11 points, and Braylon Wheeler contributed 10 points and four assists.

Tennant led all Bobcat scorers with 12.

HAYFIELD 67, BATTLEFIELD 47

BATTLEFIELD 18, 11, 10, 8 -- 47

HAYFIELD 16, 17, 21, 13 -- 67

BATTLEFIELD (21-7): Nelson 8, Hammad 9, Tennant 12, Hammersley 9, Derderian 2, Zambrana 0, Warren 2, Gonzalez 0, Lee 0, Evans 0, King 0, Gordon 0, Cramp 3, Flores 0. Totals 19 3-5 47.

HAYFIELD (32-0): Wheeler 10, Holloway 11, Pratt 5, Jones 23, King 12, Tesfaye 0, Rouse 4, Burton 0, Payne 0, Henriquez 0, Ramirez-Novas 0, Souther 0, McKenzie 2, Brown 0, Cage 0, Thompson 0. Totals 23 15-20 67.

Three pointers: Battlefield 6 (Tennant 3, Nelson 2, Cramp). Hayfield 6 (Jones 3, Wheeler, Holloway, Pratt).

Hayfield Press Conference with Coach Carlos Poindexter and players Braylon Wheeler (left) and Greg Jones (right) following their historic 67-47 win over Battlefield in the VHSL Class 6 State Championship held at VCU in Richmond on Friday, March 11, 2022.

The Hawks completed a perfect 32-0 season, marking the most wins without a loss by a team in VHSL history. In fact, the last team in Virginia's highest classifications to finish unbeaten was GW-Danville in 1995-1996 when the Eagles went 28-0 overall and ranked #4 by USA Today.

Hayfield erased an early seven-point deficit to cruise to victory.

Of the 32 wins for Hayfield, 28 of them were by double-digits. They won by an average of 26.5 points per contest.

Hayfield point guard and dual-sport standout Braylon Wheeler chats following his team's 67-47 victory over Battlefield in the VHSL Class 6 State Championship at VCU in Richmond on Friday, March 11, 2022.

A 1st Team All-Gunston District performer, Wheeler finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists for a Hawks team that won their first ever state title.

Wheeler was the floor general of a Hayfield team that went a perfect 32-0 overall. Per the VHSL record book, it marks the most wins in a season without a loss in state history.

Hayfield Class of 2023 forward Greg Jones chats with VirginiaPreps.com's Matthew Hatfield after his team's 67-47 win over Battlefield in the VHSL Class 6 State Championship held at VCU in Richmond on Friday, March 11, 2022.

With the win, Hayfield completed a perfect 32-0 season with their first ever state title.

In the State Finals, Jones scored a game-high 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 from behind the arc and 8-for-9 at the foul line to go with five rebounds and four steals.

Chosen co-Occoquan Region 6C Player of the Year, Jones went into the State Tournament averaging 13.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game