The football teams for King’s Fork High School, Nansemond River High School and Nansemond-Suffolk Academy will be looking to add memorable wins to their schools’ homecoming festivities tonight, while Lakeland High School hopes to spoil Hickory High School’s homecoming.

Grassfield (5-1) at King’s Fork (5-1) — 7 p.m.

Last season: Bulldogs 19, Grizzlies 10

Games between King’s Fork and Grassfield have been intense the last couple of years. The Bulldogs earned a program-defining 25-21 win in 2012, the Grizzlies regained the edge in 2013 with a 35-28 victory and the Bulldogs won last year, helped by 339 rushing yards from Deshaun Wethington.

Tonight, King’s Fork will be without Wethington and coach Joe Jones after they were ejected from last Friday night’s game against Lakeland.

“Our expectations remain the same,” Jones said on Thursday. “We’re going out tomorrow night to win a homecoming game.”

He is encouraged his team will have junior lineman Austin Williams back from injury, as well as junior lineman Phillip LeClair and senior slotback/defensive back Thomas Jones.

Jones said he thinks tonight’s game features two evenly-matched teams that are a lot alike.

He noted his defense will need to contain senior wide receiver Grant Holloway who is a good athlete and is “probably the fastest guy on the field every Friday night when he plays.”

Norfolk Academy (4-2) at Nansemond-Suffolk (4-2) — 7 p.m.

Last season: Bulldogs 56, Saints 42

Nansemond-Suffolk faces an archrival in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools tonight and a Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division I team that Saints coach Lew Johnston noted is well-coached.

“Coach (Steve) Monninger’s created a culture of success over there,” he said. “We haven’t beaten them in three years, which kind of sits in our craw.”

Winning this game could also be NSA’s key to winning the conference championship this year.

“That makes it a big deal,” Johnston said, and it being homecoming adds to it. “I guess in the back of our minds, too, just the fact that we played so poorly at St. Anne’s(-Belfield School), it’s a time to redeem ourselves and to show that we really are a good football team. So, a lot on the line.”

The Saints will aim to contain junior running back Victor Robinson, while seeing through the motion and misdirection present in the Bulldogs’ offense.

“Our defensive game plan is going to be pretty basic,” Johnston said.

Great Bridge (0-6) at Nansemond River (3-3) — 7 p.m.

Last season: Wildcats 35, Warriors 31

Nansemond River is counting on getting a boost from the homecoming atmosphere tonight.

“I’m hoping that will help us get through, because we’re a tired football team,” Warriors coach David Coccoli said. “We are a tired and banged up football team, to say the least.”

The Warriors have seen a lot of action within the last eight days since inclement weather rearranged their schedule. They suffered a disappointing 28-26 loss to visiting Western Branch High School on Oct. 8, then fell 41-13 to host Indian River High School on Tuesday.

While Great Bridge has gone through an in-season coaching change and is winless, Coccoli said, “They’re probably the most impressive 0-6 team I’ve ever seen.”

He said that with the coaching change, the Wildcats had a couple weeks where they had to get used to a new system.

“They now run a Wing-T,” Coccoli said, and he praised their effort level. “Most 0-6 teams don’t play hard. (The Wildcats) play extremely hard.”

Lakeland (2-4) at Hickory (1-5) — 7 p.m.

Last season: Cavaliers 21, Hawks 7

Lakeland senses a great opportunity tonight to improve its position in the playoff picture at the Group 3A level.

“It’s a big game for us this week, especially with it being against a 5A school,” Cavaliers coach Kevin Knight said.

In football, teams’ rankings are based upon power points, and a victory against a team from a higher classification translates into more power points than usual.

Knight also noted he is quite familiar with Hickory’s coach, Jupiter Wilson.

“We played college ball together,” Knight said. “It’s a big game, as well, because of that.”

The Cavaliers beat the Hawks last season, but Knight said Hickory has since changed its offense to more of a Wing-T set, similar to Western Branch.

Knight changed up his own offense this week, shortening receiver routes, in part, to aid freshman quarterback Tyquan Holloman, who has shown growth in the past two weeks.

“We just want to build off that, keep his confidence up,” Knight said.