SUFFOLK, Va (WTKR) — For the second time since Nansemond River and King's Fork began playing in 2004, both teams enter the rivalry matchup unbeaten.
"For many years, football in the city of Suffolk, outsiders looking in might have said it's down," said King's Fork head coach Anthony Joffrion. "I think the city of Suffolk is on the rise."
Both the Warriors and Bulldogs also walk into Friday's game with a chips on their shoulder.
Nansemond River is off to its first 3-0 start since 2017, hot off the heels of its first win over Oscar Smith since 2002. Still, the team doesn't sense what they've shown is getting enough respect.
"We just got to prove everybody wrong. They think it was a fluke, but 20-0 in the second quarter isn't a fluke," said Nansemond River senior quarterback Alkendric Overton Jr. "We just got to do it again for the doubters."
On the other side, King's Fork (3-0) has won 27 of its last 33 games since 2021. After being left heartbroken in each of the last two postseasons, however, Joffrion's group out to avenge its playoff disappointments.
"It sticks with me every day. It weighs heavily on me, but you got to move past it and do better this year," said Bulldog junior running back Javon Ford. "We know we got a chance and we got some good competition coming up."
That's exactly the kind of game these two teams played a season ago, when Nansemond River won a one-point game in overtime.
"It's a lot. It's the city, people take it seriously," Overton Jr. said. "It was nice running it in, celebrating with the team, storming the field. It felt good."
"It's like a heartbreak. You know you're right there, you can't get it and you knew you should've had it," Ford remembered. "We've got to show them this year who's really on top."
Mix two rivals out to flying starts with something to prove and what's set up is a game with implications beyond the city boundaries.
"It's the City. Throw the records out the window," said Warriors head coach Alonzo Ricks Jr. "These young men understand the task that's at hand right now. We're still in the month of September so have these games against high quality competition just says a lot about setting us up for later down the line."
"What they're doing over there is very special, what we're doing here is special," Joffrion said. "It's great, now we get to play a game to see who's better on that day."
King's Fork and Nansemond River kickoff at 7:00 on Friday night at King's Fork High School in our 757 Showdown.
