NEWPORT NEWS, VA (WTKR)- Heritage is enjoy playoff success on the football field for the first time in seven years, but the journey to this point started well before 2023.
Hurricanes' head coach Scott Woodlief has seen his current group of seniors face more hurdles than most. The players were freshman during the pandemic-altered 2020 season. After that five-game spring campaign, the fall of 2021 saw COVID strike the program, as well as a shooting at the high school.
"It was very wishy-washy and just up and down, but at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason," said senior quarterback Derrick Gurley Jr.
"We came out the next year (after the COVID season), which was three months later," added Woodlief. "Then we had the incident and then we ended up getting COVID. We played a game, we had three weeks off, then we played a game and then we had another three weeks off."
Heritage played a total of ten games those two seasons during the 2021 calendar year, losing all of them and seeing a losing streak grow to 11 contests. After finally putting together a full campaign last year, hopes were high entering 2023. Still, the team opened the season 1-5.
"At the beginning of the year, I knew we had a good football team," Woodlief noted. "I just don't know if the kids knew we had a good football team and what we tried to do is tried to get them on board."
"It's just the little things with our team, the effort or one guys misses their assignment," added Gurley. [Now] we all have bought in and we're just winning on from there."
Winning is right. The Hurricanes have rattled off five straight victories and surged up the Region 3A rankings. Their latest triumph was a first round playoff win over Grafton, the program's first postseason conquest since 2016.
"It was huge for Heritage," said Woodlief. "We hadn't won a playoff game in seven years."
"It was very exhilarating," Gurley said. "It was a great experience. The fans were hyped the whole game. It was just a great game all together."
The job is not done. Heritage will face Hopewell in enemy territory Friday night, with the Blue Devils serving as the region's top seed. The Hurricanes will hope to take their storm on the road and earn the right to fight on while continuing to create their legacy.
"We've all stuck here together," pointed out Gurley. "We've all been here since two-a-days, been here working, putting in that hard work and in the beginning of the season it felt like it was just not clicking, but now it is and it's just feeling great."
"The guys, they wanted to start a tradition here at Heritage," Woodlief recalled. "They wanted to get back into the playoffs and that's been our goal, not just to get in the playoffs, but win in the playoffs."
Heritage and Hopewell kick off Friday night at 7:00 PM, with the winner advancing to the Region 3A title game.
