Players: Woodbridge football improved under Wortham

Tacketts Mill #FootballFriday -- Live coverage from Woodbridge Senior High School starts 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11

The varsity Vikings are playing to win tonight.

They'll have home field advantage when the Battlefield Bobcats from Haymarket come to Lake Ridge. The game starts at 7:30 p.m at Woodbridge Senior High School.

The Vikings are, for the most part, a new team. Coach Gary Wortham now leads these young men on the field. He came here after five years as head football coach at nearby Freedom High School.

"Woodbridge is home, and I'm glad to be home. It's a great opportunity for me. It's a dream job. And I'm living the dream," said Wortham.

He was an assistant football coach at Woodbridge from 1995 to 97, and again from 2003 to 2010, before leaving for Freedom.

Wortham has developed a team he says focused on both the running and passing game. It's a way to make sure all of those on the field are "playing honest."

Both Woodbridge and Battlefield are 2-0 in this early season. Tonight's match-up is an out of conference for the teams. And while both teams will play for a win, one of them will walk off the field tonight with its first loss of the season.

"You've got two very good teams. it should be an exciting game," said Wortham.

His players are focused on the task at hand. The confident senior defensive tackle Kyree Campbell, 17, followed Wortham from Freedom to Woodbridge and had already committed to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. It was on of 42 schools that made him an offer.

"This is a game where I've got to be selfless. I'm Kyree Campbell, and nobody can block me," he said.

Campbell said the team gelled over the summer by not only working out on the field but eating dinners together and going to the movies. The family base and the fan base at Woodbridge is better, he said.

Senior running back Jay-Jay Burris, 18, said he uses the energy on the field to get him excited to play well. If's he's breaking tackles, as he's done so this season on a regular basis, he's doing his job.

"...when I run the ball...as long as my team is on the sideline rooting for me, I'm going to clap it up when they get into the game," said Burris.

Cameron McAfee, 18, a senior, has been on the varstiy squad for three years, and a team captain for two years. He plays left guard on the defensive line. He's focused and determined not to make his teammates or his coaches look bad.

McAfee says the football program at Woodbridge has improved under Wortham.

"He was hard on us at first, and then we learned he was cool.. he wants the best for us," said McAfee.