SUFFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Oscar Smith and King's Fork renew acquaintances for their annual showdown this Friday night on the Bulldogs' home field.
Is it a rivalry showdown? I guess that depends on who you ask.
"It means a lot," said King's Fork head coach Anthony Joffrion. "I would say, at this point, I would consider it a rivalry."
"Not really, no, not to me," countered Tigers' senior wide receiver Travis Johnson. "I think they beat us my freshman year, but other than that, no, they can't compete with us."
"It's a big rivalry," Bulldog senior linebacker Joshua Pittman said. "We're coming into this week looking to push hard."
"I just laugh at it," added Smith junior running back Ty'Jae Curtis.
Regardless of where one stands on this issue, these two squads have been among the top of their respective classifications in recent years. 2025 is shaping up to be no different. King's Fork is out to a 3-0 start, which includes a victory over Maryland powerhouse Wise. Oscar Smith is 2-1, with its only setback coming to Washington, DC, mainstay Gonzaga.
"That's another hungry team, just like us," Johnson said of the Bulldogs. "Every year it's a great match-up between us two and I think this year, y'all going to see, it's going to be different this year."
"Smith's been beating us for the last couple years," pointed out Pittman. "We got a win against them [in 2023], but we haven't beat them since so we're excited to play this team this year. We're going to dominate this game."
Plenty of 757 star power will be out on the field Friday night. The Tigers return plenty of top level talent from their 2024 state championship team, including Johnson, a Michigan commit, quarterback Lonnie Andrews III and defensive back Jayden Covil. Linebacker Joshua Pittman, who is verbally committed to Virginia Tech, spearheads the King's Fork defense, while Anthony Richardson is one of the area's premier receivers.
"They're very well coached," Joffrion said of Oscar Smith. "Last year they won a state championship, so we just have to do everything in our power to just compete with them and just play a penalty-free game, be disciplined. That's what it's going to come down to."
"They've got a good defensive end named Joshua Pittman," Curtis noted. "He's going to be some problems, but I trust in my line, we've got it."
Win or lose, both teams should be just fine when it comes to the postseason. However, the game has big stakes in the Southeastern District, as both look to handle a top opponent standing in their way of hopeful domination.
"It would mean a lot," Pittman said of a potential win Friday night. "We just beat Wise, a ranked team, so this would definitely mean a lot, put the city on notice and we're going to go out there and just dominate."
"We just approach it like they're in the way of our goals," Johnson said. "We've got to knock them off."
Oscar Smith has won the Southeastern District crown in four of the last five seasons. The Tigers came up short in 2023, when King's Fork took the title. Kickoff Friday night is set for 7 p.m.
