NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Winning a state championship is hard. Going back-to-back is even more difficult and when a team hits three titles in a row, it joins elite company. Only 14 times in VHSL history has a program won three straight state crowns and Maury is hoping to add itself to that list in 2025.
The Commodores have established themselves as one of the best programs in the commonwealth and they don't shy away from the expectations. Dyrri McCain and his squad circle and discuss the state championship game date well before the season kicks off.
"It gives us extra motivation," sophomore quarterback Domo Everette said. "We know we want to get to that game. That's the goal at the end of the day."
"We have two-a days," added junior running back Tayshawn Branche. "We lift every day in the summer time, then we go outside and run and that just prepares us for now. Every team is not doing that."
Now Maury is two wins away from once again being the last team standing, but a familiar foe is standing in the Commodores' way in Saturday's Class 5 state semifinals. The program has a postseason history with Stone Bridge, a Bulldogs team that nipped Maury in the state title game on a Hail Mary in 2021. McCain's squad was able to avenge that defeat in the 2023 state championship contest. The Commodores also topped Stone Bridge to win the 2019 crown. The two will play the latest chapter to punch their ticket to the 2025 championship game against either Indian River or Highland Springs.
"It's a team that beat us before in the past and made us come short in a state title game," recalled Branche.
Plenty of the players on Maury's roster have experience playing in November and December. Everette, who took the reins of the offense as starting quarterback this season, is one of the few who has yet to etch his name on a state championship ring, but he has plenty of veteran leaders on which he can lean for support.
"I knew I had to fill a big role because [Au'Tori Newkirk] was here last year," the quarterback noted. "He was a great player so I had to fill some shoes."
"He hasn't been in the position that we are now," Branche pointed out of his QB. "I can help him out. Young people on our team, I can lead them and help them be better."
Two more triumphs stand between Maury and becoming the fifteenth program to achieve the trifecta, an accomplishment that would keep an impressive streak intact and one the current Commodores want no hand in losing.
"We talk about it every day," Branche said. "Coach McCain talks to us about it every day. We're either going to be the team that three-peats or we mess up our dynasty that we're trying to create right here."
"I don't want to be the team that messes it up," added Everette. "In my future years, I don't want those teams to mess it up either."
Maury and Stone Bridge kick off Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Bulldogs' home field.
