Vanquished to the tune of 49-7 by the Maury Commodores in September of 2019, the Lake Taylor Titans took the "Clash of State Champions," battle on the first Friday of March.

Both teams came out swinging with Maury, which went undefeated on their way to the Class 5 crown in 2019, up 14-7 after the first quarter.

Versatile junior Ahmarian Granger broke off a 43-yard touchdown run, evoking visions of some of the big plays the Commodores used in its previous win over Lake Taylor as well as a week ago in routing Booker T. Washington 32-8.

That would quickly change as Jeff Foster found Darious Speight for an aerial scoring strike, followed shortly by a pick-six. That interception return for a touchdown came courtesy of the Titans' Camauri Hunter and that was about it for the end zone trips.

Lake Taylor, the defending Class 4 State Champs, cruised to a 27-14 win, keeping a prolific Maury team out of the end zone over the final three quarters of play. In fact, it marked the fewest points the Commodores have scored since 2017, Head Coach Dyrri McCain's first season at the helm, when the likes of Norcom and Norview held them to seven points in back-to-back weeks in October that year.

This matchup also marked the first time since 2011 that the two Norfolk rivals combined for fewer than 50 points with defense playing a much larger role in the game's outcome.