SUFFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Success can create a family atmosphere. Just ask King's Fork head football coach Anthony Joffrion, who is seeing his family grow both on and off the gridiron.
"Late nights, early mornings, so it's very challenging," Joffrion said of the last several months.
It might be hard to tell if the head Bulldog is describing his schedule on the field or in his new role away from it— dad.
"My newborn daughter, she just turned one," Joffrion smiled. "Sundays I have her all day. The first Sunday I was nervous, changing diapers, all that good stuff."
Adding Jade into his life is a highlight in what's been a year of milestones for Joffrion and his Bulldogs. The 2021 campaign saw King's Fork win its first ever region championship and advance to the state semifinals for just the second time in nearly two decades. That momentum has carried into preseason camp this year.
"We've come together this year," senior wide receiver Kaletri Boyd pointed out. "We really bond and have a strong connection."
"We've built chemistry over practice," added senior quarterback Cameron Butler. "We have more speed, no bad attitudes and we're all just ready to work."
The Bulldogs are riding the biggest high in program history into 2022, but the new dad has some fatherly advice for his players.
"Complacency," Joffrion noted. "That's the biggest weakness for any human being including a football program."
"Finish and not letting mistakes get us down,"said Butler. "This year, we've got to focus on what's going good for us and not what's going bad."
"We know what it takes to be there, so we're going to give it everything we've got," Boyd said.
There is still one trophy missing from the Bulldogs' display case and the milestones that have yet to be achieved are what motivates King's Fork entering the upcoming campaign, just like Joffrion watching his daughter grow up.
"It's just amazing how much my daughter has grown, to see how much this football program has grown and I'm just excited to keep seeing it grow."
King's Fork kicks off the 2022 schedule on August 26 at Smithfield.
