NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — Maury's lived with the memories of coming up short in both the 2021 and 2022 Class 5 State Championship games.
The Commodores will have a third shot at the trophy and some redemption.
Dyrri McCain's squad posted a dominant 55-0 win over Indian River in Saturday's state semifinals to punch a ticket to the Class 5 title game, it's third in a row.
"We came out firing in all three phases," McCain said. "But we're not satisfied. We know that the game on (Dec. 9) is not guaranteed."
On just the second drive of the game, Lebron Bond took a screen pass 77 yards for a touchdown to open up the scoring. Special teams became a separator in the game with the Commodores blocking a pair of punts, the second returned by Corey Jacobs for a touchdown to make it a 21-0 lead for Maury.
"We're real close to the goal in the hand, the goal we wanted and the goal we knew we'd get back to," said Commodore quarterback Au'Tori Newkirk. "We're really just focused so we can finish this thing."
Maury notched its seventh shutout victory on the season with a win, an unblemished record improving to 14-0.
Waiting in Charlottesville will be Stone Bridge, a rematch of the 2021 title game. The Bulldogs knocked off the Commodores 27-21 thanks to a final second 38-yard touchdown pass.
Maury fell to Highland Springs 33-19 in last year's Class 5 finals.
"You think it's going to be automatic and you really think you can just get back there easy, and it's not easy," McCain said. "The fact that we're here again, we know that we're not going to take any team lightly. We're going to be ready to go and we have to have that mindset next week."
These two teams met in the 2019 state championship game with the Commodores taking a 28-21 win.
