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CHOCOWINITY, N.C. – Nothing feels better on a Monday than celebrating a win over a conference and area rival.

Can Southside’s football team do it again this Friday?

The Seahawks (1-6, 1-0 Coastal Plains Conference) go to Northside (5-3, 1-1) for the 24th annual Anchor Bowl. The two teams, who have also been longtime conference rivals, have squared off for the trophy created by the Washington Daily News when Northside and Washington met each season, every season since 2000.

While Northside may hold the edge playing at home, it is the Seahawks who have already won one rivalry game. Southside went to Pamlico County last Friday and won the Fossil Bowl, the annual rivalry between those two schools. So, in a season that has been a struggle at times, the Seahawks feel pretty good about where they are at right now.

“Well, we went back to some basics,” Southside coach Jeff Carrow said. “We went back under center a little bit more. Went back to some basic stuff and told the guys that it’s a brand-new season.

“It’s one game at a time, one play at a time. Gotta get the mentality right, play together, fight for each other.”

One thing that really worked well was the ground game and, in particular, the play of senior MyQuan Clark. Against Pamlico County, he had the best offensive output by a Seahawks player this season. He rushed for a season-high 292 yards and five touchdowns (82, 7, 54, 52, 37). The team rushed for a season-high 473 yards.

“Well, we came out with energy, just came out and we had our sights on getting a win, getting on the ball, keeping it,” Clark said. “We went out there, O-line did it, and receivers, everybody, went out there, made key blocks, and the backs read the holes, and we got it in there.”

“The first game of conference, the bowl game, so we knew we had to make a statement,” said Teddrick Minor. “So we came outside with a new mindset from the past six games, and we knew we had to make some change for us.”

It certainly worked as the Seahawks got to spend Monday not only basking in the glow of a win but also knowing that for one game at least, the hard work and frustrating losses turned into a positive moment to build on against their Beaufort County rivals.

“That’s the most important part,” Minor said. “We’ve got to keep that same energy we had last week, multiply it and bring it on this week even better than last week.”

“I feel like we’re going to come out with the same energy, probably even better energy because, you know, last year we lost it (Anchor Bowl), but I feel like this year we can go and just do what we got to do to get it back,” Clark said.

Having those good vibes and seeing things pay off comes at a good time for Southside, which knows it’ll have to be at the top of its game against Northside.

“There’s some good guys up there, we finally played together as a team, as a whole unit, and it showed,” Carrow said. “So real proud of this line, and the backs, we did ball fake, blocked for each other big time. I just felt like we played an unselfish game, and it showed.

“Conference rolling in, it’s brick by brick. And you got some momentum, got some confidence in them. Wanna build off of that going into this week, being able to execute.”