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Richmond, are you ready for some football? City high schools kick off Friday

Fred Jeter | 8/26/2021, 6 p.m.
Four Richmond high schools will open their football seasons Friday, Aug. 27, and all four will have new head coaches.
Coach Harrison

Four Richmond high schools will open their football seasons Friday, Aug. 27, and all four will have new head coaches.

Armstrong High School, under first year Coach Jeremy Pruitt, will play at Thomas Jefferson High School, led by new Coach Josef Harrison.

Coach Harrison, originally from Baltimore, played football at Virginia Union University.

John Marshall High, under new Coach Willie Gillus, will play host to I.C. Norcom High from Portsmouth.

Huguenot High, with new Coach James Riley, will entertain Louisa County High.

Richmond’s lone returning coach is Jimmy Hart at George Wythe High. The Bulldogs open Friday, Sept. 3, at Caroline High School. Friday will be the first games for Richmond Public Schools since the close of the 2019 season. All games were canceled a year ago because of the pandemic.

The last game played by a Richmond school was Dec. 7, 2019, when Thomas Jefferson High School lost at Stuarts Draft in Augusta County in the Class 2 State semifinals.

Thomas Jefferson finished what was its best-ever season at 11-3. Since then, Coach P.J. Adams left for the head coaching position at Mills Godwin High School in Western Henrico.

Before Coach Adams’ arrival, Thomas Jefferson lost previous Coach Chad Hornik to Deep Run High School, also in Western Henrico.

Two years ago, Coach Bryan Jennings left Huguenot High to take over the program at Clover Hill High School in Chesterfield County.