757Teamz football report: Salem’s interim coach is a familiar face in Virginia Beach; King’s Fork trying to ‘finish’ this season.

Salem returns to the field after a week off with interim coach Mark Hall III on the sidelines.

He took over for Marcus Johnson-Williams, who resigned last week to become athletic director at Denbigh High. Johnson-Williams led the SunDevils to an 8-3 record last season, and had them off to a 2-0 start this season.

Hall is ready for the challenge.

“Marcus had a good relationship with our players and staff. Our team understands the reasoning behind his resignation. It’s a tough loss for us, but we have to continue to play,” Hall said. “It was great that this happened during a bye week, so it gave our team time to let it sink in.”

Hall was the co-defensive coordinator at Green Run last season when the Stallions won the Beach District title and Class 5 Region A championship. He came to Salem in the offseason and was named defensive coordinator. He serves as a student support specialist for Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

“I’m grateful that he trusted me to be the guy to call the defensive,” Hall said about Johnson-Williams. “We made some minor adjustments on the staff, but we all work well together and we believe it will be a great season for us.”

Hall’s name isn’t new to sports in Hampton Roads. The former Green Run High standout scholar-athlete earned first-team All-Tidewater honors in both football and basketball in 2012 and was named The Virginian-Pilot Male Athlete of the Year. Hall, who maintained a 3.42 grade-point average and was in the National Honor Society, went to Virginia on a football scholarship.

His father, Mark, is a highly successful basketball coach at Cape Henry Collegiate in Virginia Beach. And his brother, Devon, starred at Cape Henry and Virginia and was 53rd overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by Oklahoma City and currently plays professionally in the EuroLeague.

Hall called being named the interim head coach “truly a blessing,” and said the support he’s received since the announcement has been amazing.

The SunDevils host Tallwood on Friday in Hall’s debut as a head coach.

“I know what it feels like to coach in December and our goal as a team is to play and win 15 games,” Hall said about winning a state title. “I will bring that postseason mindset to our team focusing on one game at a time, 1-0 each week. It’s going to be a great season for us.”

Maury opens again with loss to N.C. power

For the second consecutive season, Maury played North Carolina power New Bern in the season opener.

And like last season, the Commodores came up short, losing 21-14 to the Bears, who came into the game ranked No. 5 in North Carolina by MaxPreps. This was the fourth game for New Bern, which had outscored its first three opponents 154-3, including two shutouts.

Maury coach Dyrri McCain knew it was going to be another tough game, but he said it was just good to be playing.

“It was great to get back out there again and see what we have in this team moving forward,” he said. “Great to be back playing and coaching.”

When the Commodores lost last year’s season opener to New Bern, they turned it around and won nine in a row to advance to the Class 5 state championship game before losing to Stone Bridge 27-21.

McCain thinks the same thing can happen again.

“I saw a lot of great things on all three phases that we did well, and a lot of great teaching moments to prepare us for late November going into December,” he said.

Norcom rebounds losing season opener

Norcom has survived a rugged early schedule to go 2-1 under first-year coach Anthony Hawkins.

The Greyhounds began the season against Eastern District power Lake Taylor, then had games against Bay Rivers District favorite Warhill and Hopwell — winner of state titles in 2017 and 2019.

And all three games were on the road.

Norcom lost to Lake Taylor 41-0, but turned around and beat Warhill 16-0 and Hopewell 20-17.

“I’m grateful for my first win as the head coach of my alma mater against Warhill,” said Hawkins, who was a former Norcom assistant. “It’s an an amazing feeling of the alignment God has set forth. We had a gauntlet the first three games, in which we evolved as a program mentally and physically. We’re changing the culture to know the tradition and pride factor here at I.C Norcom , and we’re back and better with commitment to excellence.”

King’s Fork trying to “finish” this season

King’s Fork coach Anthony Joffrion is pleased to be 2-0 to start the season.

But this is expected as the Bulldogs try to do one better than they did last season when the school had its best football season in program history. The Bulldogs won their first region title and advanced to their first state semifinal since the school opened in 2003. They lost to eventual Class 4 state champion Varina.

And even though they graduated many key players, Joffrion believes this season can be even better.

“Last year we came up a little short. So we’re trying to get to Dec. 10 for the state championship at Liberty University,” said Joffrion, whose team has outscored the first two opponents 69-0. “That’s what we preach every single week. Our motto this year is finish. Last year we came a little short, this year we just got to finish.”

Big day for Kecoughtan’s Anderson

Despite missing the 2021 season with an injury, Kecoughtan lineman David Anderson signed before this season to play with Duke and was touted as one of the best two-way lineman in Hampton Roads.

Anderson, a 6-foot-4, 265-pound senior, a showed why in just his second game back on Saturday, with numerous big blocks in the Warriors’ 28-15 win over Heritage, while producing a monster game on defense with four sacks and two more tackles for loss among his eight stops.

“He was just dominating,” Kecoughtan coach Jeff Super said.

Peninsula-area standouts

Little was known about Smithfield’s personnel before its 51-7 win on Friday over Jamestown. RB Chris Dennis, a 5-10, 185-pound junior, emerged as a name to remember after running for 148 yards and five touchdowns in the victory. “He showed a great combination of speed and power,” Smithfield coach Tracey Parker said. ... Ri’jon Hammond was expected to be one of the Peninsula District’s best running backs this season and he validated that with his 208 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 11 carries in the Wolverines’ 43-0 win over Hampton. “Ri’jon was very productive because he was able to find some creases, and his speed allowed him to score,” Woodside coach Danny Dodson said. “More important, the offensive line and our tight end did an excellent job of giving him room to run.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com. Twitter @LHRubama

Marty O’Brien, 757-897-2917, mjobrien@dailypress.com. Twitter @MartyOBrienDP