star junior Brysen Wright<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cYeah, the first play of the game, you get a pick,\u201d Bullock said. \u201cFlipped the game right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s rivalry week: Principal\u2019s Cup on the line<\/p>\n
That Week 1 result is already in the past inside Mandarin\u2019s program. Week 2 brings a different kind of energy \u2014 the annual rivalry trophy game against Atlantic Coast, known as the Principal\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n
Mandarin fans at a previous Principal’s Cup game. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
Wide receiver Jace Kemp said the Mustangs know what\u2019s at stake.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never lost since I\u2019ve been here and we don\u2019t plan to this year,\u201d Kemp said.<\/p>\n
Atlantic Coast has been a familiar opponent for more than a decade. The series dates back to 2011, with Mandarin holding an 11-4 advantage. The matchup has been lopsided in recent seasons: Mandarin has won 10 of the last 11 meetings, including four shutouts in that span.<\/p>\n
Even so, players said they\u2019re treating it like a game that demands focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cAC \u2014 we gonna do them,\u201d linebacker Jerel Stephens said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great game for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linebacker Kaden Bryant described the approach as businesslike.<\/p>\n
\u201cAtlantic Coast to us is really just a practice,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cWe just practice hard\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Bullock: \u2018Principal Cup is everything\u2019<\/p>\n
For Bullock, the Principal\u2019s Cup is about more than a win-loss record. He calls it a tone-setter \u2014 for the school, the community, and the rest of the athletic year.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrincipal Cup is everything,\u201d Bullock said. \u201cIt is our goal to never lose it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s part rivalry, part pride \u2014 and something he takes personally.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anybody ever thinks I\u2019ll take Atlantic Coast not serious\u2026 that will never happen,\u201d Bullock said. \u201cThey will always be a major issue for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bullock said the game matters because it helps define the identity of the school well beyond football.<\/p>\n
Mandarin practice ahead of game against Atlantic Coast. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want kids to want to be a Mandarin,\u201d Bullock said. \u201cWe want people to have pride of being at Mandarin and the Principal\u2019s Cup\u2026 starts that year off that way\u2026 We want to dominate in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
For players like Kemp, it\u2019s simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I don\u2019t want to lose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Stephens said the game means a lot \u2014 but he\u2019s ready for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMean everything to me,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cBut to me, just a regular game. I\u2019m ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
About the series<\/p>\n
Episode 3 is part of Varsity 4\u2019s \u201cPlus 2\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a season-long look inside Mandarin football, with weekly stories that will later be combined into a longer special.<\/p>\nCopyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Mandarin\u2019s season started the way the Mustangs hoped it would: a win and momentum. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2625,116,118,117,23024,153702,110],"class_list":["post-383319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-high-school","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-mandarin","tag-plus-2","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}