Rivals
CURRITUCK VS.
CAMDEN COUNTY BRUINS
The Rivalry: The Currituck-Camden rivalry is a historic rivalry that predates the establishment of Currituck County High School. For many years, the two schools were both small 1 and 2A squads in Northeastern North Carolina and the two counties have much in common geographically, socially, and demographically. These commonalities elevated the rivalry to the status it had for so many years. Although the rivalry lost some luster following Currituck's domination in the late 1980s, and early 1990s, combined with the end of the 2nd contest (due to the schools no longer being in the same conference), it regained a strong feel with the implementation of the Byrd Bowl Trophy prior to the 2004 campaign. In the 2020s, the rivalry returned to a conference affair.
When Played: The non-conference game has always been (since CCHS opened), the second or third week of the season. The conference contest was held from 1976-1992 late in the season, generally towards the end of October. In the 2020s, when the game regained conference status, it was set in late September, midway through the season.
Highlights and Results: The first Currituck-Camden contest took place in 1976, and it opened up the home field at the old Knights Stadium. Currituck was victorious. In 1977, Camden swept Currituck, Donnie Simpson's only sweep of the Knights as Camden Head Coach. In 1978, the schools spilt the series, as Bob Sapp won conference game after arriving just five minutes prior to kickoff at Camden to avoid the Bruins from learning that Currituck's quarterback had been injured and was unavailable for the game. Camden upset the Knights in the second game of 1980, handing the 1A Eastern Regional Champs their only conference loss of the season. In 1981, Camden and Currituck split, with the Bruins winning the conference contest. Then, in 1982 Donnie Simpson, in his first year with Currituck, led Knights to a victory in the final game of the season, a cold, November night, to dash Camden's hopes of a conference title (coming after Camden has embarrassed the Knights via the air and the interception earleir in '82). Currituck would sweep Camden in 1983, 1984 and 1985, with the '85 game being a Camden Homecoming. The 1984 contest was highlighted by a Currituck version of Franco Harris' "The Immaculate Reception". Early in he fourth quater, Knights QB Vernon Owens threw a ball 35 yards to Walter Denby. Against double coverage, Denby and the defenders reached for the ball, but only deflected it a few yards upfield. Then, out of nowhere, Zachery Dunston caught the ball and raced for a touchdown. After the Knights victories, in 1986 the Bruins would shock Currituck, the fifth ranked 1A team in the East 20-14 (the Knights were down running back Billy Powell). Camden would win 20-14 again in the second game of '86 (Currituck's homecoming), and yet again in the first 1987 meeting. When Currituck held on for a 14-13 victory in late 1987, the Knights were so thrilled that Coach Simpson was dosed with a water cooler! After that, however, Currituck dominated Camden winning fourteen straight games in the series including a 1988 Saturday Night Homecoming win and the last Albemarle Conference game between the two 36-14 in 1992. From then on, the the rivarly would consisant of a single non-conference game rather than two contests. At the time, it seemed as though the rivalry seemed as though it was one of tradition and geography, not of competitiveness. However, the competitive attitude returned when Currituck held on for a 14-13 victory in 1994. The next year Currituck broke in its new field with a 34-6 Monday night win over the Bruins. 1997 was finally the year that Camden broke through shut out the Knights 20-0 behind a backup QB to end a decade long drought. In the 2000 game, Currituck rallied from 20-7 down to beat Camden. In 2005, the Byrd Bowl was instituted and a trophy awarded with it. Camden won in 2005 and 2006, and only of the 2007 squad's best moments was winning the Byrd Bowl Trophy for the first time. In 2008, Camden took back the trophy with a 25-7 victory. 1500 people showed up for Byrd Bowl 2009 to watch a hungry Currituck squad knock out the Bruins 34-20, to give John Wheeler his first win as a head coach. One year later, both teams came into the new decade struggling, with the Knights winless since the '09 contest. Yet, it would be the Bruins who edged out the Knights in a 35-34 offensively dominated game. In one of the best offensive performances in Knight history however, Marquise Grizzle rushed for 295 yards: the mark set Currituck's all time rushing record until Grizzle would break his own record. Of this 295, an outstanding 228 was garnered in the first half. Yet, it was the Bruins who won, their 20th overall in the rivalry. Grizzle, however, was not finished in the rivalry. 2011's game, initially scheduled for week two, had a series of reschedules. Due to the threat of Hurricane Irene, the game was first moved to Thursday, than backed to Monday, and finally pushed off until week four. But, that only gave the Knights added confidence, as the contest finally kicked off on Thursday, September the 8th. When the horn sounded at the game's conclusion, Currituck had a 60-27 victory, and Grizzle had his second straight 300 yard game, setting a new school record with 7 Touchdowns in the game, in addition to breaking the all time school career TD record. The performance was only the 17th instance all time of a NC HS player scoring 7 TDs in a game. Thus, the 2011 Byrd Bowl returned to Barco. The next year, Currituck held a 6-0 lead deep into the fourth quarter before Camden was able to find 14 points in the final four minutes to prevail. In '13, the Streak of the Odds and the Home Team continued. For the 8th straight season the home team in the contest won the trophy while Currituck saw a win in the fourth consecutive odd year. Sporting an alternate black jersey with red numbers, Currituck held onto a 28-20 victory. In 2014, the streak finally ended, as Currituck traveled into the Swamp and came away with a commanding 42-20 victory over the Bruins. The win was the Knights' first in Camden in fourteen years (six meetings). Sophomore QB Ryan Edwards lead the way for Currituck with a 14-22, 251 yard, 3 TD performance and WR River Gwaltney pulled in five balls for 137 yards and 2 scores. In 2015, Camden and Currituck played another fierce and tight contest, but the Bruins ended their 2 year Byrd Bowl drought with a 26-19 victory. In 2016, Camden coach Scott Jones, after two years away, returned to the rivalry much in the same way he first entered it as a coach in 1992: getting shutout overwhelmingly at Camden, as Currituck took the 2016 Byrd Bowl 47-0. 2019 saw Currituck post the biggest margin of victory in the series with a 55-0 blowout in Barco. Currituck added a delayed 5th in a row in the spring of 2021, but only after the original game was delayed from week 2 due to pandemic exposures. The two schools scrambled to ensure that the Byrd Bowl occurred, and eventually slotted it in on the first game in April. Currituck would run the series streak to 8 in the falls of the early 2020s; however, these games would be narrow wins, akin to the mid-80s competitiveness: 27-26 in 2021, 28-25 in 2022, and 24-20 in 2023.
Victory Currituck (2009)!
Overall Series Record (not including Knapp): Currituck leads 43-22
1970 Knapp Sweep
1971 Knapp Sweep
1972 Spilt
1973 Spilt
1974 Spilt
1975 Knapp Sweep
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1976-Split
1977- Camden Sweep
1978-1982 Split each season
1983-1985 Currituck Sweep
1986 Camden Sweep
1987- Split
1988-1992 Currituck Sweeps each season
1993-1996- Currituck Wins
1997 and 1998 Camden Wins
1999 and 2000 Currituck Wins
2001-2002 Camden Wins
2003 Currituck
2004- 2006 Camden Wins
2007 Currituck
2008 Camden
2009 Currituck
2010 Camden
2011 Currituck
2012 Camden
2013-14 Currituck
2015 Camden
2016-19 Currituck
2021 S/F Currituck
2022-23 Currituck
The 2011 Byrd Bowl Winning Currituck Knights
MANTEO REDSKINS
The Rivalry: The historic "Battle of the Beach" was a long standing rivalry between Currituck and Manteo. Like the Knights-Bruins battle, the Beach contest dates back to long before the opening of Currituck County High School, and the rivalry was deeply interlaced with the fact Roanoke Island was once part of Currituck (until 1870), and that the two sides represented competing economic values (shad boats vs. pick up trucks; surfers vs. farmers; beach bums vs. 'tater diggers') . The rivalry was generally more important to Manteo players and fans than to those from Currituck. Starting in 1993, Manteo replaced Camden as the Knights primary conference rivals, and thus the game took on more importance. Later, a 2nd game was added. However, after Manteo split into two schools, the rivalry once again diminished from its top-tier place, this time for both schools and moved to solely non-conference status in 2005. After a decade and a half, Manteo rejoined the Northeastern Coastal Conference in 2021.
When Played: When the game has been non-conference, it has typically been early in the season. For most of the 2000s, the game was week 1 (2004-2019 and spring 2021). When, on the other hand, the game was a conference battle before the current alignment, it was usually either the season ender, or very close to it. In the 2020s, the contest has been scheduled in the middle of the season.
Highlights and Results: Currituck-Manteo has been marked by periods of dominance. Currituck held a clear edge early on, but Manteo has claimed a decided advantage in the 21st Century. By the time Currituck HS opened, the series was a non conference game, but still one with much bragging rights attached to it. After the 1981 alignment, Manteo and Currituck were both members of the Albemarle Conference, thus moving the game to conference season. That decade featured each teams battling one another, however on occasion the Knights pitched shutouts, a feat that traditionally was rare to befall the school on Roanoke Island (in fact one of the few few occurrences of Manteo's failure to score had been a 0-0 tie with Knapp in the mid 70s). Among those incidents included 1984, when Currituck scored a 34-0 homecoming victory over the Redskins, and 1989 which saw the Knights' end of season thrashing of the Redskins, 66-0 in what amounted to a 1989 playoff tuneup. The 1990s saw the Manteo rivalry game more and more prominence, especially after Manteo remained in Currituck's conference throughout the decade. One notable event was a 25-24 Manteo victory in Barco in 1994, which doubled as Coach Punk Daniels' only ever win at Currituck, in what was his final Manteo-Currituck game. Soon, the schools began to play twice in a season (frequently the season opener and ender). From a Currituck perspective, the most memorable one of all was the 2000 end of season game, in which Currituck won in overtime 44-43 in Donnie Simpson's last game as Knights head coach. After Simpson, Manteo has dominated Currituck in the season opening game, going 13-1 since 2001. Among the wins included many blow-outs, and a 7-0 overtime win in 2008. The Knights only victory during the period was a 3-0 thriller in 2007. As the 2010s began, hopes were high for a new start in the series' standings, however once again the Redskins proved too much with a 22-0 victory in Barco. In 2011, a hopeful Knight squad traveled to Roanoke Island with hopes of finally vanquishing Manteo, but the #10 ranked Skins had too much firepower and doubled up the Knights 48-24. The Skins kept the streak alive in 2012 behind the Bryant brothers who each scored on one of the game's first two drives, and together put up more than 300 yards in the win. In 2013, the Knights finally broke through, winning for just the second time since Coach Simpson retired. In a struggle much like 2008, both offenses failed to find the end zone. This time, however, Currituck's Dakown Foreman outjumped two Redskins on a corner route from Tyler Schuster at 4:19 in the game, and that after a Foreman INT, a Schuster Fumble and a Schuster INT was enough to give the Knights the monumental victory, a win in honor of the late John Wayne Wheeler, Sr., father of Knights head coach John Wheeler. In 2014, the game was played for the second straight year on a non-Friday day of the week. On Monday Night Football, Currituck won its first game at home against the Redskins in 14 years, quickly rallying for a 6-0 deficit to score 27 in a row and take home a victory over Manteo for the second time in a row. In 2015, the Redskins exacted payback, and as usual for Manteo, a win over Currituck was the precursor to a playoff season. 2016 marked the second time in a row the game in Barco got moved from Friday to Monday night, This time, Currituck had no trouble putting up points, scoring on Manteo in ways not seen since the end of the Donnie Simpson era. Behind a record breaking 5 TD passes from Senior QB Ryan Edwards, Currituck grabbed a 36-0 halftime lead en route to a 42-2 blowout of Manteo. In 2018 and 2019, weather impacted the game heavily. In 2018, the contest was played at 3 different locations. On Friday night in Barco, the lights at Knights Stadium overheated and failed to turn on, causing the game to be delayed and relocated. In Manteo on Saturday night, the schools made it only to halftime before severe thunderstorms created unplayable conditions. Coming back to Barco on Monday evening, Currituck finished the game with a win. In 2019, weather also pushed the start of the game, this time to Saturday. On an unusually chilly (high 60s/low 70s) August night, both teams were rather slow out of the gate and uneven offensively, but Currituck prevailed by two scores, with the outcome never really in suspense. Afterwards, Manteo would go on a significant run and would finish the season with double digit wins. The two schools opened the bizarre spring 2021 season on a cold, wet, Friday in February, a Currituck shutout win. This notched Currituck's first three-peat against Manteo in this century. The Knights would comfortably win in fall 2021, then paste Manteo by a combined score of 96-0 in '22 and '23.
Overall Series Record: Currituck leads 29-27
1970 Manteo Sweep
1971 Split
1972- Knapp Sweep
1973- Knapp
1974- Tie
1975- Knapp
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1976- Currituck
1977- Currituck
1978- Manteo
1979- Manteo
1980- Currituck
1981- Manteo
1982- Manteo
1983- Manteo
1984- Currituck
1985- Currituck
1986- Currituck
1987- Manteo
1988- Currituck
1989- Currituck
1990- Currituck
1991- Manteo
1992- Currituck
1993- Currituck
1994- Manteo
1995- Currituck
1996- Currituck
1997- Currituck Sweep
1998- Manteo Sweep
1999 and 2000- Currituck Sweep
2001-2004 Manteo Sweeps
2005-2006 Manteo Wins
2007- Currituck
2008-2012 Manteo
2013 and 2014: Currituck
2015: Manteo
2016: Currituck
2017: Manteo
2018-2019: Currituck
2021 S and F: Currituck
2022-2023: Currituck
FIRST FLIGHT NIGHTHAWKS
The Rivalry: The series features the two schools that are in the most Northern of the Outer Banks region (CCHS of course serves Corolla). Both sides take the rivalry intensely, even if it is a new one. Adding to the rivalry is the fact that both schools are in the Northeastern-Coastal Conference as was the fact the Currituck hired Rex Sponhaltz First Flight's only head coach in 2008.
When Played: With the exception of 2004, First Flight-Currituck is the season ending game (thus Senior Night for Currituck when at home). In 2009-10, the schools agreed to play a second contest early in the season and that notion was revived for the 2013-14 campaigns.
Highlights and Results:
First Flight opened in 2004, and immediately beat the Knights its very first year. Currituck took the contest in 2005, while First Flight shocked many by winning in 2006. After the Knights 2007 win, the Nighthawks scheduled homecoming and senior night against Currituck in 2008 and won. FFHS decimated the Knights in 2009 both times, including a 83-42 contest in Barco that was then the 7th highest scoring game in North Carolina
history. In 2010, once again the Nighthawks produced a victory in Barco, this time beating Currituck 56-20 despite 18 FFHS penalties. Nevertheless, by November, the Knights were much improved and fell by only 13 points, 46-33, the closest game since Currituck's last win in the series. In 2011, Currituck came into the game, also Senior Night and Homecoming, fed up with years of frustration against the Nighthawks. The scoreboard quickly reflected such attitudes, as Currituck jumped to a 44-0 halftime lead, and a 60-0 final. Finally, the five game skid against FFHS was over. Alas, in 2012 the Nighthawks were able to put another victory on the board as a 13-7 halftime lead for Currituck fell into a 26-13 defeat. In the first game in '13, the Knights got back on the winning side of the ledger as the Schuster show came to Barco: QB Tyler Schuster accounted for 3 TDs and Two INTs while his brother Jake added a game icing pick six for Currituck. Later in the season, Currituck shut out the Nighthawks, finishing the first ever Currituck sweep of its newest rival. In the 2014 first game, Currituck traveled to Kill Devil Hills on a Thursday night and steamrolled the Nighthawks 60-13. The Knights run past First Flight to the tune of 426 total yards, with Chuck Nichols gaining 200 and four TDs on just seven carries. This time Currituck lead 27-0 out of the gate and held a 47-7 halftime advantage. In the second game, FF's arrival was delayed due to a crash on the Wright Brothers Bridge, causing the game to take on an unusual 9 PM kickoff. Nevertheless, the Knights still prevailed 40-20 to sweep the season series for the second consecutive year. In 2015, First Flight and Currituck did something they never have: split the season series. After Currituck prevailed to even the all time series in Barco, First Flight held on to a win in a dramatic game ending sequence in Kill Devil Hills. Down 1 with almost no time left, Currituck attempted a game-winning field goal, only to have it miss. A stunning penalty on FF gave the Knights another chance. This time, however, FF blocked the try, to hold onto a win and snap a five game losing against the Knights. In 2016, First Flight swept Currituck, its first sweep in six years. The 2017 single game between the schools was perhaps the most important head-head contest in the series history. With the #2 overall spot in the Northeastern Coastal Conference and a playoff berth up for grabs, the two teams squared off in the newly re-named Warren C. Judge, III Memorial Field. FF scored 16 points off Currituck turnovers, and that proved to be the margin as the Nighthawks topped Currituck 30-14. In both 2018 and 2019, Currituck would win, and in 2019 Currituck would win by a 41 point shutout. With FF scheduled to close the pandemic spring 2021 season, the game was further delayed due to adverse conditions on Friday. Thus, the two schools played on a Saturday morning in April and Currituck came away with a 50-16 victory. The Knights would add 3 more resounding victories post-pandemic.
Overall Series Record: Currituck leads 14- 12
2004: FFHS
2005: Currituck
2006: FFHS
2007: Currituck
2008: FFHS
2009: FFHS Sweep
2010: FFHS Sweep
2011: Currituck
2012: First Flight
2013: Currituck Sweep
2014: Currituck Sweep
2015: Split
2016: FFHS Sweep
2017: First Flight
2018-2019: Currituck
2021 S / F: Currituck
2022 - 2023: Currituck