HOPEWELL — At the Cotton Bowl Classic, Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (#32), a Hopewell native, scored a touchdown near the end of the second quarter. He ran 75 yards to make it happen! In the College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal, the Buckeyes played against the Texas Longhorns, winners of the Peach Bowl, at the AT & T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on January 10.

Two other Buckeyes made touchdowns: Quinshon Judkins (#1), one in the first quarter and one in the fourth quarter, and Jack Sawyer (#33) at the end of the fourth quarter. Sawyer’s scoop and score was exciting! I jumped out of my recliner and ran 83 yards to the end zone with him.

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“Sawyer’s fumble recovery and return marked a historic moment as he became just the third player in College Football Playoff history to return a fumble for a touchdown, and his 83-yard return set the record for the longest fumble return in playoff history,” Cole Sullivan, a trending sportswriter, reported for the Athlon Sports.

This Hopewell resident is proud of Henderson, 22, a 2021 Hopewell High School graduate. However, not so much for his unsportsmanlike penalty when he shoved a Longhorn in the face in the first half. The Buckeyes received a 15-yard penalty.

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Ohio State outlasted the Texas Longhorns 28-14 to win the Cotton Bowl. They will face off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Orange Bowl champions, in the 2025 CFP National Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on Jan. 20.

For a score-by-score recap of Buckeyes win in Cotton Bowl by Thomas Jones, a University of Texas beat reporter with Austin American-Statesman, visit statesman.com.

Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) scores a touchdown on a 75-yard touchdown catch and run against Texas Longhorns in the second quarter of the Cotton Bowl Classic during the College Football Playoff semifinal game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on January, 10, 2025.

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Watch the CFP National Championship Game: Here’s how

The national championship game between the No. 7 seed Notre Dame and No. 8 seed Ohio State will broadcast nationally on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. on Monday night. Will Hopewell’s Henderson score touchdowns in the game on Jan. 20? Watch it live streamed on ESPN+ or the ESPN app. Fubo is another option to watch ESPN live. At this time, Fubo is offering a free trial.

“I reached out to former Progress-Index sports and education reporter Zoe Collins Rath to see who she predicts will win, the Fighting Irish or the Buckeyes. Rath, a sports digital producer with Austin American-Statesman, stated, “Personally, I don’t like either team. Realistically, I think Ohio State can pull it off if Ryan Day can get the penalties in check and get control from opening kick.”

Kristi K. Higgins aka The Social Butterfly, an award-winning columnist, is the trending topics and food Q&A reporter at The Progress-Index voted the 2022 Tri-Cities Best of the Best Social Media Personality. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Contact Kristi (she, her) at [email protected], follow @KHiggins_PI on X and @socialbutterflykristi on Instagram.

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This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Ohio State Buckeyes win Cotton Bowl, face off against Notre Dame next