North Henderson football players Damien Murphy, Austin Vanhoy and Kalin Ensley.
No one needs to say it publicly at North Henderson.
Perhaps no football team in Western North Carolina is more emboldened for its home opener on Friday — the Knights are lying in wait for Roberson and their former coach, J.D. Dinwiddie.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. from Marlow Stadium.
Dinwiddie was 15-30 in four seasons at North Henderson. A 14-7 win over Roberson last fall led to the first winning program for the Knights (7-5) since 2000. Dinwiddie took the Rams’ job in January and former Western Carolina University quarterback Justin Clark is his replacement.
Clark largely avoided the elephant in the room when he talked about the season opener for both schools.
“This the first chance for a lot of our boys to play under the lights and they’re excited about it,” Clark said.
“If you don’t get excited when those lights come on, then we have a problem. It’s going to be fun to get out there. Every since we started spring practice, you could tell there was a chip on these kids’ shoulders. It’s going to be fun to compete Friday and see wherever it leads.”
Austin Vanhoy (125 tackles and four interceptions in 2015) is the lone returning all-conference player for the Knights. Along with playing safety, he is expected to get carries at running back. Devon Graham (64 tackles), Cameron Bumgarner (57) and Dakota Vosburg (40) should also provide depth on defense.
Clark, who is a bit of an authority on the subject, thinks that sophomore Kalin Ensley is a future Division I quarterback.
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