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PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg South's last trip to Stadium Field was a wild 28-19 loss in 2021.
"I played defense my sophomore year," said Parkersburg High senior right tackle Caleb Norman. "It's beyond fantastic to play on that field, especially against your rivals. It means so much to me and it's my final year. I hope I can go out winning this one.
"It's much more than a game I'd say. The community and everyone comes to this game. Like last year at Erickson and my sophomore year it was packed. It felt like a college game and that's what makes it feel so different."
Senior quad captains Casey Stanley and David Parsons along with the Stalnaker twins, Matthew and Andrew, concur.
"We definitely want to leave that one behind and these coaches are making it hard for us to do that," said Stanley, who was last year's Class AAA all-state first team kicker. "They are doing things all this week to push us to remember last year what happened to us then and make sure it doesn't happen again.
"We don't want that to happen ever again. Mercy rule (55-7 loss at Erickson All-Sports Facility) is never something you want as a football team. In a way you kind of got to forget about going into the game, but also keep a chip on your shoulder and hold a grudge about what happened to you."
The No. 2 Patriots and No. 4 Big Reds are each vying for a fourth win to open the season.
"They had a great year last year, but that was last year," Parsons said. "We are looking at this year, you know, and the object of the game is to go out there and win.
"That's our gameplan. That's what's in the front of our mind and what they did last year doesn't mean anything to us this year."
Matthew, the older brother by a minute, is looking forward to the rubber match.
"We're 3-0, yeah, but we really haven't played anybody really good," he said. "This is our first real test of the year. The rivalry game is always fun, but this year we have to prove ourselves after last year.
"Last year wasn't a good showing, but this year we have something to prove. I feel like we've gotten better as a team and I feel a lot more confident in our guys this year."
Andrew admitted "these games are always big, having a whole city behind you and the rivalry. It's a big game and it's always fun to play the game. This is one of the most fun games playing against South. For three years now, it's just one of the biggest games of the season.
"This is our third year and most of us have all played varsity since our sophomore year. We just have started to work more as a team and really bind down together, and we just know what (coach Matt) Kimes wants and his expectations. It will be a good game Friday night."
Parsons knows all about "the whole city" being behind one team or the other.
"Northside, we got a lot of people representing for us," Parsons said. "I went down to eat (Monday) at Wings Etc. with my friends and that's all everybody was saying. Are you all winning? South. South. South. PHS. PHS. PHS. It's a lot of tradition and it's a big thing throughout the community.
"We need to go out there and do what we do and stand for the community. This week, I mean we know they are going to score points. That's just part of football, but we are going to score points, too. They haven't handled adversity and neither have we."
Norman realizes it's going to take a team effort to knock off the rival Patriots.
He's just hoping to do his part.
"We have to play our hearts out," he said. "That's the key for all of it. I think we're just working so hard and our coaches are pushing us harder than we've ever been pushed here.
"I think the results are kicking in. It's phenomenal what these coaches are doing with this program. It's definitely more of a drive to play South."
Although anything can happen on the gridiron, Stanley is trying to be a realist.
"It's definitely going to be competitive," said the Big Red. "I think the one thing I'm looking forward to the most is just going to be like the battle of the tough. You know, who is going to tough it out the most. We've shutout our last three opponents and obviously that's not going to happen Friday.
"They are going to score. We just got to find ways to score more than they score. It's going to definitely be adversity. I'm just excited to see who handles it better and who comes away with this game because I think it's going to be a pretty exciting one."
All the players agreed things would be a lot nicer going into Monday's practice at 4-0.
That's why they've continued to work hard this week in preparation for the 56th meeting in the all-time series, which the Big Reds lead 38-17.
"It's just a day by day thing," Andrew said. "We hope to go in and have some good practices, have some good film sessions and get right on what everyone knows what to do like their assignments and jobs, and just hope we can all play together on Friday and come away with a victory."
The elder Stalnaker chimed "this year we just got to handle adversity better. I feel like we really got letdown after the loss to South and we let that get to us too much into the following games, and didn't perform to the best of our ability.
"It's a fun game, but it's very competitive. I mean the crowd is always great, but it's very nerve racking to go into the game with that many people. People want you to win on this side and if you don't win you feel like you let them down, but it is what it is."
Even though that's true, a perfect record heading into next week is the goal.
"We're 3-0 and hoping to be 4-0 and that would be a lot better going into our really hard stretch of games, but win or lose we got to find a way as a team to keep pushing no matter what," Stanley added. "It's a pretty exciting environment to be in.
"You try to act like it's just another week, but it's not. It's the most exciting week of the year. It's like Christmas. You get to play a game against dudes who live in the same town as you do and dudes you've known and played against since you were little."
Needless to say, Parsons is looking forward to the rubber match.
"The environment of the game, there's nothing like that," he said. "I've never played on a stage like that.
"My junior year we were over there and they got us. I'm 1-1 with them so I owe them one. I owe them one."
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com