By Will McFarlane, Staff Writer
As the saying goes, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” For junior Ethan Driver, this quote means a lot this week.
Tonight, the First Flight football team plays host to the Manteo Redskins for the annual Marlin Bowl. For the rest of the team, it’s just another Marlin Bowl, but for Driver, it means so much more.
Driver transferred from Manteo to First Flight in December of his sophomore year, and instantly became a foe in the eyes of Manteo students.
“Once I left (Manteo), to them I became the enemy,” said Driver, who raised some eyebrows with the move. “I’ve always lived on the beach. It had nothing to do with sports or the way Manteo was run, it was just a closer drive to the beach.”
Playing against his former team opens his eyes to how he felt in years past, as he had to watch First Flight celebrate wins while he held his head low in defeat. The Nighthawks are shooting for their fifth straight win in the series tonight.
“Well, it was kinda sad, obviously. You want to win every game,” Driver said. “But, after last year’s loss, I thought to myself, ‘Well, I’m going to play for First Flight next year,’ and now here I am.”
The wide receiver has not been in any sort of panic as he prepared to play against his former team.
“Coach (Jim) Prince has prepared me for this game in ways I have never gotten to experience,” Driver said. “Mentally and physically.”
Driver also compared the way he prepared at Manteo and the way he has prepared here, although MHS has a new coach and is off to a great start this year. Manteo is 2-0. FFHS enters at 1-1 after bouncing back from an opening-night loss against state power Edenton.
“It’s a lot more serious (here),” Driver said. “At Manteo, going into the Marlin Bowl, we never expected to win. But here, we are expecting to win and we’re expecting to win by a lot.”
The trash talk this week between Driver and the other players at Manteo is more intense than it’s ever been.
“We obviously won’t stay enemies forever,” Driver said. “But, after all the trash talk that’s been thrown at me, I finally get to play them. Let’s just say it’ll get interesting.”
Junior Will McFarlane can be reached at mcfarlanewi0712@daretolearn.org.
