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King's Fork football finds chemistry in a unique way

Every three months, the Bulldogs gather in an open forum to share their goals and common struggles as young men. It's impact has been profound.

SUFFOLK, Va. — King's Fork High School won its first ever regional championship last year taking the Region 4A title before falling in the VHSL Class 4 State semi- finals. The loss came in the final seconds of the game- a gut wrenching loss, especially to the seniors, 13 of whom went on to continue their football careers collegiately. 

In 2021, the team finished 11-2, and this year, the Bulldogs expect to be at Liberty University on December 10th for the VHSL Championships. 

As preseason gets underway head coach of the Bulldogs, Anthony Joffrion, keeps his philosophy the same. Although many coaches measure success by wins and losses, to him it's much deeper than that.

"We want to win football games, we're going to do that. But at the end of the day I want them to win in life," Joffrion said. "When football is done, are they going to have a plan to succeed? That's something I really pride myself on."

He sees himself as a mentor to his players and believes his team is as much of a family now more than ever. Every season chemistry still needs to be rebuilt, but they've got a good grasp on that already. 

"We have open forums where we just discuss things so that players can tell their story. Everybody is going through something and what's very unique about a football team is that there's usually about 5-10 guys going through the same thing so I think that's what's really important about team chemistry, just opening up to each other and understanding other people's struggles and also their successes as well," said Joffrion. 

Being able to confide in each other has only strengthened their brotherhood through shared feelings and experiences. 

"Once you see that you might be going through the same thing as another person, you can connect and talk about it together and eventually you can help each other get through it because you know how it feels to go through certain situations," said quarterback Cameron Butler regarding the forums. 

"If we know what each other is going through, we can see it on the field when someone feels down, we know to go pick them up because we know how it feels so its progresses on the field and transitions to the field too."

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