By Kyle Morton, HighSchoolOT producer

When Northern Nash football coach Andrew Farriss saw the makings of the 2023 class of seniors as freshman, he knew something special was brewing.

He was right, as a core group of Knights spent the next three years growing, improving and developing as they helped turn the program around from losing seasons to winning ones.

As seniors, they led the way through an unbeaten season, claiming a conference championship and establishing themselves as the top team in their competitive area.

They then progressed through a challenging playoff run, beating all comers in the 3A East in a litany of fashions.

The Knights fell short in the 3A state championship game, but the coaching staff and players have much to be proud about from their historic season.

“We’re very excited to have been here tonight,” Farriss said after the game. “I’m just proud of our guys and the way they fought. They never quit.”

The community was proud of them as well.

Anecdotally, Northern Nash had the most fans on its respective side of the field of any of the eight state championship game participants.

Governor Roy Cooper, an alum of Northern Nash, was on the sideline donning a Knights varsity jacket.

“I did take a chance here and there to sneak a peak,” Farriss said. “I want to thank the community for coming out and supporting us, they’ve been amazing… I had a feeling we’d have a pretty good crowd tonight, and it absolutely means a lot for them to be here.”

“It was awesome,” senior Carson Jenkins said. “I definitely didn’t expect that many fans.”

The fans there got to see what the team had provided all year, even in defeat. The Knights battled hard and made plays, even against a juggernaut East Lincoln defense.

Quarterback Keno Jones, who had been dominant all season long, helped his offense put up over 300 total yards against the state’s top defense.

Despite the loss, the run and the appearance in the title game serve to put Northern Nash back to the forefront of football in its area.

Long dominated by Rocky Mount and Southern Nash, the Knights are now squarely back in the picture of programs in Nash County that are capable of claiming a championship.

“I’m glad that they’re back on top,” Jenkins said. “Hopefully it continues that way. We set the standards, and now the people below us have high standards as well to continue what we started.

“Just for them to pick up and keep the tradition going,” Jones added. “It was a pleasure to play for [Coach Farriss] for three years and especially to get to where we were today for our senior year, it was a pleasure.”