Amid a slew of penalties, King’s Fork and Lakeland high schools competed for pride, family and victory on the gridiron Friday night.

The visiting Bulldogs used their trademark run game to emerge the victors by a score of 33-7, taking a step toward winning the unofficial Suffolk city title for a third year in a row.

“This was an unbelievable game,” King’s Fork coach Joe Jones said, declining further comment about the contest.

It was a game defined by steps forward and backward. On more than one occasion, one of the teams would make a significant gain on offense only to have it called back by a penalty, including personal fouls.

“There were so many penalties this game,” Cavaliers coach Kevin Knight said. “We’ve got to be smarter. You can’t win games with a lot of penalties.”

The Bulldogs managed to do it in large part because of another impressive performance by senior feature back Deshaun Wethington, who finished with 25 carries for 214 yards and two touchdowns.

“Defensively, we’ve got to tackle better,” Knight said. “We didn’t tackle well tonight.”

King’s Fork also got rushing touchdowns from others, including sophomore feature back/slotback Darran Butts, from 34 yards out, and senior quarterback Ryan Kluck, from one yard out.

Offensively, Lakeland did not execute when it needed to.

“We had plenty of opportunities, and we just couldn’t do it,” Knight said. “We were in the red zone maybe four times tonight, and we couldn’t put the points on the board. We’ve got to do better.”

In the fourth quarter, Cavaliers freshman quarterback Tyquan Holloman put together a strong drive, with pass completions to multiple receivers including junior Derrick Grant and senior DeAndre Drayton.

Lakeland marched down the field, but the drive was derailed when King’s Fork sophomore defensive back Quincy Gregg intercepted a Holloman pass in the end zone.

The Cavs got the ball back a couple minutes later and then successfully completed a drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Holloman to Drayton.

“I think Tyquan played a good game tonight, except for the one interception, but we’ve got to help the freshman out,” Knight said. “Everything across the board, we’ve just got to help our young freshman out, because he threw the ball well.”

Holloman finished with 13 completions for 110 yards and a touchdown to go with eight carries for 38 yards.

Drayton had five receptions for 62 yards and the touchdown.

King’s Fork senior linebacker Notorious Brown had a mixed reaction to Friday’s game.

“Honestly, I felt good about it and everything, but we’ve still got kinks and cramps that we need to work out as a family, so we’re going to work on that Monday and just try to be the best we can be next week,” he said.

Next Friday night, King’s Fork (5-1) hosts Grassfield High School while Lakeland (2-4) visits Hickory High School.