VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR)- For the second straight season, a battle of Hampton Roads heavyweights will meet to decide who will compete for a Class 5 state championship. Maury and Green Run collide in a rematch of their 2021 showdown.
"I know it's going to be even more than just Commodores," Maury head coach Dyrri McCain said of the hopeful crowd on Saturday. "It's a Norfolk versus Virginia Beach thing."
"It's barbershop talk, these days it's social media talk," Stallions head coach Brandon Williams said of the match-up. "We love it."
This marks round two between the two programs who have established themselves as area powers. Last year's meeting saw Maury down Green Run on the Stallions' home field, 35-7, using a strong second half to pull away and punch its ticket to the state title game. That's a loss that the Stallions will have sat on for 365 days.
"That's what we based our whole offseason off of is this game last year, so we're looking forward to this Saturday," Williams pointed out.
"We heard it all year starting right after the game, got back in the weight room and heard it all season," Green Run senior linebacker Zakai Hall noted. "7-35, wrote it on the board."
While the 2021 match-up may have dictated a lot of the Stallions' mindset and is one they've been thinking about for an entire year, the Commodores are approaching it much differently.
"It's a rematch for them," McCain said. "For us it's another game trying to get to next week, so we're not carrying that rematch title with us. That's over there."
"It's just another game, so we're going to treat it as such," added Maury junior wide receiver Da'Vonte Floyd.
No matter how the teams choose to approach it, the scenario is very similar to the way it was a season ago. Green Run is once again 13-0 and was largely untested up to this point. The 9-1 Commodores have won every game since losing their season opener to New Bern (NC). Both claimed their respective region championships last week and know they're in for a challenge come Saturday.
"There's a reason why they're undefeated," McCain said of the Stallions. "People have trouble beating them, but they're fast and that's their best asset."
"Their athleticism, of course, their physicality," said Williams of Maury. "They're a well-coached team and we know it's going to be a hard-fought four quarter ball game."
The stage is set for round two of Maury versus Green Run, Norfolk versus Virginia Beach. The two are the only things standing in each other's way of playing for a state championship next weekend, which both teams have seen as the ultimate goal since the beginning of the season.
"It would mean the world," said Williams. "That's what we set out to do. We're not going to get ahead of ourselves. We're going to stick to our game plan on Saturday and hope for the best."
"Of course we all want to win this game, but this game is just another one in the books," Floyd said. "We just want to get past this game to get back where we really want to."
"It would be good for the school," Hall noted. "Everybody that was talking, we can shut them up."
"It would be everything to get to next weekend and put ourselves in position to win it and to continue what we're trying to do in the program," said McCain.
Maury and Green Run kick off on Saturday at 2:00 PM at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. The winner will face either Highland Springs or Stone Bridge for the Class 5 state title next Saturday.
