NEWPORT NEWS, VA (WTKR)- Oscar Smith and Warwick haven't met on the gridiron since the early 2000's, but Friday night sees the two renew acquaintances a generation later.
Both the Tigers and Raiders come in with a sour taste in their mouths after season openers that didn't go as planned.
"It's definitely a wake-up call," said Oscar Smith senior cornerback Jayden Covil. "We're Smith. We're not supposed to lose."
Expectations are always sky high for both the Tigers and Warwick, but both stumbled out of the gate. Oscar Smith fell at DC powerhouse Gonzaga last Friday, 17-0, while the Raiders fell short in a defensive battle Saturday, 3-0, at the hands of Mallard Creek out of Charlotte. Sure, not the ideal start, but there were plenty of takeaways from their respective setbacks.
"Our defense is definitely something," pointed out Warwick senior athlete Tracy Pope Jr. "The offense is something, too. We've just got to capitalize off the mistakes we did wrong. We just can't make those mistakes again next game."
"We just have to bounce back from it," Oscar Smith junior quarterback Lonnie Andrews III said. "How are we going to respond from that one loss? I feel like we all could've done better as a team so we've just got to stay together, back-to-back, and just execute our jobs."
Now both squads are turning the page. They'll collide at Todd Stadium Friday night with both teams looking for their first points and first victories of 2025. They'll take the field knowing that the team across the field is just as hungry to pick up a victory as they are.
"I think we both caught a bruise last week and I think both teams will come in hungry," noted Warwick head coach Thomas Sykes. "I'm pretty sure that he's (Oscar Smith head coach Chris Scott) going to come into this game ready to play some football, the whole team ready to play some football, so we've got to be matching the same energy."
"After every practice we do 15 push-ups just to signify that we've got to go that 15 games," Covil said. "14-1 is still going to sound good, but 15-0 would've sounded better."
Success has been a habit for these two programs. The Tigers are coming off a perfect 15-0 season that culminated in a Class 6 state championship. Warwick finished the regular season 9-1 and picked up a playoff game victory a year ago, before falling to Maury in the second round of the postseason.
"They're a good team," Covil said of the Raiders. "They've been good for many years. I know some guys over there and it's going to be a tough game."
"It's probably, offensively, the most well-balanced team we'll see all year," noted Sykes of Oscar Smith. "Defensively, they get to the ball, good sized kids, so they are the total package group of kids."
One will get back on track, while the other will head back of the drawing board. However Friday's game goes, both sides know the challenges of the early season will prepare them well for what's to come.
"We want to be prepared for that by playing some of the tougher teams on this side of the East Coast," Sykes said. "Those two games, from last week to this week, was something to help us prepare for it."
"We're going to be good," Andrews said. "If we come back with this W, it's just going to help us elevate going through the season."
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday night.
