The Nansemond River High School Warriors will hit the field tonight in pursuit of their first win of 2013 as they host Churchland High School.

The Truckers are coming off consecutive wins; the first was a 21-13 win over Warhill High School, and the second was a 31-26 victory over York High School.

The Warriors looked good early against visiting Grassfield High School last week, but then gave up big plays in the second half to start the year 0-1 with a 36-15 defeat. One problem Nansemond River players faced during the game was cramping, which is symptomatic of a lack of conditioning.

NR head coach Tracey Parker said this would be addressed with running in practice and on Thursday, he said, “It’s been going well. We haven’t had any problems.”

Regarding the Truckers, Parker said, “They bring a lot of athleticism. For us, we’re going to have to be consistent in doing our job every play. We can’t have any mental breakdowns, physical breakdowns.”

He said the Churchland offense has all areas covered, with a good, athletic quarterback, a running back who can make things happen with his feet, and a receiver who can catch and knows what to do after the fact.

“They’ve got some speed on the defense,” Parker said, but they are not especially big up front.

“We’ve got to control the line of scrimmage and just like on defense, we’ve got to make sure that, again, this week we don’t give up the big plays,” he said.

With regard to the switch at quarterback from junior DeShon Saunders to junior Jermaal Wells, Parker said it was the right decision, since Saunders had been basically filling in behind center.

“Fortunately, we were able to get a quarterback or have a quarterback here that could take that off of his plate,” Parker said.

Now, Saunders is free to play at running back and slot receiver, Parker said.

When the coach heard his team was the only Suffolk school in action on Friday, he chuckled. “Tell everyone in Suffolk to come to Nansemond,” he said.

The game begins at 7 p.m.