Grace Reza, who plays for the Middlesex Chargers, wrote her name in the VHSL history book when she ran for a score against Charles City her first game back after an injury.

Before he came to coach at Middlesex High, Mark Bowen spent many years as an assistant at L.C. Bird in Chesterfield. Both communities love their teams, but in the Middle Neck, it's a whole town's worth of support.

"It's more of that hometown crowd," Bowen said. "It's smaller, but everybody's involved in the program. It's not just the coaches and the kids' parents. There's more people now interacting."

The two teams may play the same game and share a color pattern, but the circumstances and challenges surrounding each couldn't be more different. The number of players the Skyhawks might have on their roster is close to

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