100 years of football state champions: From Newport News High in 1920 to Oscar Smith and Phoebus in 2021
The first high school football games of the 2022 season kick off Friday in Hampton Roads, and the teams all start with one ambitious goal: winning a state championship.
Chances are pretty good that at least one team will add to its trophy case. During the past 101 years — since Newport News High defeated Roanoke in 1920 — 69 teams from South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula have claimed a state championship recognized by the Virginia High School League’s Record Book.
The city of Hampton leads with 27 overall titles, followed by Norfolk at 16. In recent years, the focus has been on Chesapeake, where Oscar Smith has won four since 2008, including back-to-back titles the past two seasons.
Who will be next?
Below is a rundown of the teams from South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula that have won football state championships, including highlights of a selected few.
It’s important to note: Some championships came before integration, and before the VHSL began contesting statewide championship tournaments in 1971. From 1954-1970, the Virginia Interscholastic Association featured more than 100 of the state’s African American high schools and contested sports, including football.
1920 - Newport News High
The area’s first state title in football went to a Newport News High team that defeated Roanoke 14-7 “in front of a frenzied mob of more than 3,000 people,” The Virginian-Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark reported in Dec. 5 editions.
Newport News scored on a delayed double-pass, and John Todd recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown. “The game, as a football contest, was far superior to that staged here Thanksgiving by William and Mary and Hampden-Sydney Colleges,” The Pilot wrote.
Newport News, led by coach Nathaniel Jarrett Webb — a future member of the Virginia House of Delegates — capped its 5-0 regular season in the Eastern Virginia District with a 7-0 victory over Maury. Newport News scored on a fumble recovery in the end zone, prompting The Pilot to lament, “It was a case of the outplayed team lucking out winner.”
1921 - Maury
The Commodores ended the regular season with a resounding 42-0 victory over Wilson, then took the train out of Norfolk’s Union Station to Roanoke. Maury blanked Roanoke 28-0 on Dec. 3, giving the Commodores a third consecutive state title after also winning crowns in baseball and basketball that year. Reported The Pilot: “Immediately after the close of the game W.W. Koontz, State secretary of the Athletic Council of the University of Virginia, presented to Captain Elliott, of the Commodores, a handsome silver loving cup, in behalf of the Virginia High School Athletic and Literary League, emblematic of the State championship.”
1925 - Newport News
1926 - Woodrow Wilson
1927 - Woodrow Wilson
1929 - Maury and Newport News (tie)
“Spectators were unanimous in declaring the battle one of the greatest high school games of recent years in Tidewater,” The Pilot reported of the regular-season meeting between the Commodores and Builders that finished in a 14-14 tie. Maury rallied with 14 second-half points and apparently elected not to play another game.
“Of course we are proud of the record of our boys, and will claim both the sectional and state championship,” Maury’s coach told The Pilot for the Dec. 30, 1929, edition. “I do not think it is likely that Maury will engage in another football game this season, for there does not seem to be any need of further battling for what we feel that we have won.”
1931 - Newport News
1932 - Maury
1935 - Maury
1936 - Hampton
The Crabbers have won a state-record 17 football championships, and it all started here — nearly four decades before Mike Smith started his legendary head coaching career. Hampton defeated George Washington of Danville 13-0 for the unbeaten Crabbers’ seventh shutout in 10 games during the 1936 season.
1939 - Maury
1942 - Hampton
1944 - Granby (tie with Petersburg and George Washington)
1945 - Granby
1946 - Granby
1947 - Wilson
1948 - Hampton
1953 - Granby
1954 - Wilson
1955 - Norview
The Pilots’ first state championship came on Thanksgiving morning with a 32-6 victory over Oscar Smith before a crowd of 5,000 in South Norfolk. Quarterback Clyde Barnett completed 9 of 15 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns, including a 70-yard strike to Johnny Watkins. Norview finished 10-0 under first-year coach Pete Sachon — the former Wilson High coach — after back-to-back winless season against conference foes.
1959 - Norview
1967 - Princess Anne (tie with Annadale and Douglas Freeman)
1966 - Granby
1969 - Hampton
1974 - Bethel, Group AAA
The Bruins won the area’s first official Virginia High School League title, rallying to defeat Woodbridge 24-21 in the championship game during coach Dennis Kozlowski’s first season. Kozlowski won the first of his three state crowns with Bethel and the first of two titles over a three-year span. In 1974, the Bruins went 12-1, and two years later finished 12-0-2.
1975 - Hampton, Group AAA
The first of Hampton’s state championships under coach Mike Smith came at Todd Stadium with a 24-7 victory over Annandale. Woodrow Wilson, an all-state selection on both offense and defense, made a key stop and scored on an 87-yard touchdown run that gave Hampton the lead for good. The Crabbers’ stout offensive line included senior center Dwight Stephenson, who went on to play for Alabama and the Miami Dolphins before becoming a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
1976 - Bethel, Group AAA
1977 - Hampton, Group AAA
1980 - Hampton, Group AAA
1981 - Hampton, Group AAA
1981 - Tabb, Group AA
1985 - Hampton, Group AAA
1986 - Hampton, Group AAA Div. 6
1987 - Tabb, Group AA Div. 4
Six years after his older brothers, Wayne and Kenny, led Tabb to its first state championship, Terry Kirby turned in a season for the ages. He was only a sophomore, but Terry rushed for 1,178 yards — in four playoff games. His 43 touchdowns were a VHSL single-season record, and he scored four times in a 28-10 state championship-game victory over Martinsville before playing for Virginia and in the NFL for 10 seasons.
1988 - Hampton, Group AAA Div. 6
1989 - Wilson, Group AAA Div. 5
1990 - Tabb, Group AA Div. 4
1991 - Wilson, Group AAA Div. 5
1992 - Bethel, Group AAA Div. 5
1993 - Norcom, Group AAA Div. 5
The Greyhounds won VIA titles in 1935, ‘57 and ‘60, but this was the program’s first state championship after desegregation in 1972. Norcom coach Joe Langston, who played for the Greyhounds on the ‘57 and ‘60 championship teams, was in his 20th season. Running back Terry Ricks scored three touchdowns as Norcom (14-0) defeated Langley 19-0 for the title at Western Branch High in Chesapeake.
1995 - Indian River, Group AAA Div. 6
James Boyd’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Sam Hardy with 2:55 left gave the Braves their first state championship on a muddy field that was cleared of snow before the game in Manassas. Indian River, coached by Bob Parker, benefited from a missed extra point and trailed 12-7 late in the fourth quarter. The Braves marched 71 yards for a touchdown, converting a third-and-29, on the game-sealing drive.
1995 - Hampton, Group AAA Div. 5
The Hampton dynasty gained steam with the Crabbers’ first of four consecutive state championships. A sophomore quarterback named Ronald Curry — bound for North Carolina and then the NFL — threw for a state championship-game record 271 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-7 victory over E.C. Glass.
1996 - Hampton, Group AAA Div. 5
1997 - Hampton, Group AAA Div. 5
1998 - Hampton, Group AAA Div. 5
2000 - Heritage, Group AAA Div. 5
2001 - Phoebus, Group AAA Div. 5
Phoebus added its name to the city’s state championship ledger with a 26-7 victory over Patrick Henry of Ashland. Two-way star Xavier Adibi rushed for 155 yards and scored all four of the Phantoms’ touchdowns and tailback Travis McCright added 169 yards, giving him 2,138 for the season. Adibi, a future standout at Virginia Tech and a fourth-round draft pick of the Houston Texans, finished the season with a school-record 19 sacks. Also on the team: current Phantoms coach Jeremy Blunt.
2001 - Lafayette, Group AA Div. 4
2002 - Phoebus, Group AAA Div. 5
2004 - Landstown, Group AAA Div. 6
Percy Harvin, a consensus pick as the nation’s No. 1 recruit the following season, solidified his reputation as a big-game player. The dynamic junior piled up 476 all-purpose yards, including 292 on offense, scored five touchdowns and intercepted three passes to help give the Beach District its first outright football state champion (Princess Anne tied for the crown in 1967). The Eagles won 47-20 over Robinson of Fairfax at University of Richmond Stadium to finish a 14-0 season under coach Chris Beatty. “[Beatty] said that he was going to ride me to the championship, and I told him I was going to carry him,” said Harvin, who went on to win a national championship with Florida and a Super Bowl with Seattle.
2005 - Hampton, Group AAA Div. 5
2006 - Phoebus, Group AAA Div. 5
2008 - Oscar Smith, Group AAA Div. 6
Phillip Sims threw for 334 yards and six touchdowns and Tim Smith had six receptions for 224 yards and four scores as Oscar Smith won its first state championship on a snowy day at Virginia Tech. Sims tossed TD passes on the Tigers’ first five possessions in a 54-24 rout of Osbourn, giving coach Richard Morgan the first of his two state titles at Oscar Smith.
2008 - Phoebus, Group AAA Div. 5
2009 - Phoebus, Group AAA Div. 5
2010 - Phoebus, Group AAA Div. 5
2010 - Poquoson, Group AA Div. 3
Poquoson lost its season opener to Dinwiddie, then rattled off 13 straight victories to claim the Bull Island’s first state championship in football. The Islanders used a stable of running backs, led by 1,000-yard rusher Cody Hutchison, to average 400 yards per game and capped the season with a 23-17 victory over Richlands.
2011 - Phoebus, Group AAA Div. 5
2011 - Oscar Smith, Group AAA Div. 6
2012 - Lake Taylor, Group AAA Div. 5
Quarterback Delmon Williams threw touchdown passes of 68 and 19 yards in the second quarter and Jamel Spellman recovered a late fumble as the Titans beat Stone Bridge 20-14 at the University of Virginia to win their first state championship since the school opened in 1967. Lake Taylor (15-0) became Norfolk’s first public-school state champion since Granby in 1966, and coach Hank Saywer picked up the first of his three state championships.
2014 - Ocean Lakes, Class 6A
2014 - Lake Taylor, Class 4A
2019 - Maury, Class 5
Remember that state title back in 1939? The Commodores ended an 80-year state championship drought by scoring the game’s first 28 points and then holding on for a 28-21 victory over Stone Bridge at Hampton University. Quarterback EJ Gibson threw for 224 yards and KeAndre Lambert accounted for 135 total yards and two touchdowns for the Commodores (15-0).
2019 - Lake Taylor, Class 4
2020 - Oscar Smith, Class 6 (postponed to spring 2021)
2020 - Lafayette, Class 3 (postponed to spring 2021)
2021 - Oscar Smith, Class 6
Kevon King rumbled his way for 290 rushing yards and three touchdowns as the Tigers won their second state title in the same calendar year. Oscar Smith won in the spring when the 2020 fall season was pushed back because of the pandemic. Oscar Smith’s latest title came with a 42-17 victory over James Madison of Vienna at Old Dominion and gave coach Chris Scott his third state championship — he coached Ocean Lakes to the title in 2014.
2021 - Phoebus, Class 3
The Phantoms beat Liberty Christian Academy 22-14 to haul home their eighth state championship — and first under coach Jeremy Blunt — with a staunch defensive effort. Donald Gatling returned an interception 15 yards for a touchdown with 3:18 left, and Jalen Mayo’s interception with 27 seconds remaining sealed it.
Jami Frankenberry, 757-446-2376, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com. Twitter @JamiVP
