NEWPORT NEWS, VA (WTKR)- The only two defeats suffered by Warwick last season came at the hands of eventual state champions. Phoebus topped the Raiders early in the campaign, while Dinwiddie downed them in the Class 4 state semifinals. This year the team looks to complete its run.
2022 marked a historic year for the Warwick program. The Raiders claimed their first region championship in 32 years and fell just two wins shy of their first ever state championship. The performance raised the bar for 2023.
"We talk about it, however we don't dwell on it," head coach Corey Hairston pointed out. "We're ready to move on and prove a lot of people wrong."
"The previous years, we were like 6-4," added senior lineman Adonus Watson. "We got knocked out first round. This time we went farther, so now we're coming in like we're ready to go for the next step December 9."
That's the date of the state championship game. Even though that state semifinal loss is in the rear-view mirror, the feeling is still in the front of the Raiders' minds.
"That experience last year, that was kind of like my first time experiencing that, like the game before states," Watson said. "I was real hurt, so now I've got to come in, no games, ready to go."
"It makes you hungry," noted Hairston. "Once that hunger's in your mouth, you want more."
Plenty of experience is back on the field from one of the best Warwick teams in history. 15 starters return who all have now gone through a deep playoff run and, if everything falls into place, the Raiders feel they have the pieces to be playing the last Saturday of the season.
"Stay together as a team," Watson said of what the squad needs to do to have a successful year. "If we stay as a team and we work together, bond, we'll be straight."
"Definitely state championship," Hairston said of his team's potential. "It just depends on how hard we work, stay injury free, lock in and we'll be fine."
Warwick makes a jump up to Class 5 this season. The Raiders kick off their season August 25 on the road at Grassfield.
