It’s the big game, the Optimist Bowl, and you need to be there in person at Southern Vance High School.  Like and share on Facebook, Tweet your friends, bring a neighbor.  And, if you can’t make it to the game, be sure to listen live on 1450 AM WIZS and online at wizs.com.  Click on Listen Live!

Pregame show at 6:45 p.m. and the kickoff follows at 7 p.m.

Scouting Report by Jeff Jenkins

Northern Vance at Southern Vance — Friday 11/3/2017

Friday’s Optimist Bowl will feature the leading passer in the Northern Carolina 1A/2A Conference, Southern Vance’s Elijah Stewart (1999 yards), and the league’s leading receiver, Raider WR Kyree Ford (692 yards). On top of that, Southern RB Tyrese Henderson is number 2 in rushing yardage (1065), Number 5 in total TDs (12), and number 4 in total points scored (80). Raider DB Malik Boyd has 4 interceptions – good enough for 3rd in the conference. With an even 5-5 overall record, and a 4-3 winning record in the conference (currently 5th place), a win tonight for Southern Vance will probably not lift them into the playoffs, but a Raider victory would result in an overall winning record for the first time since 2011, as well as taking the Optimist trophy back from the Vikings, who won the match-up 27-6 last year.

Northern Vance pales in comparison to these impressive stats: The Vikings and new head coach Antwain Cook had a difficult time overcoming the loss of Stewart and Ford, who both transferred to Southern Vance when former Viking offensive coordinator Darry Ragland took the Raider head coach position. Northern’s Coach Cook, who was the defensive coordinator for Northern before his promotion to the top job, did not find a consistent quarterback until sophomore Samien Burell took over the signal calling and the Vikings began to avoid shutouts (they failed to score in 3 of their first 4 games). Northern got their first victory in week 7 over 1A conference member Louisburg, failed to defeat the other 1A member Granville Central the next week , but then caught fire last week for their second win, a 33-13 thrashing of J. F. Webb in Oxford. This surge of offense is great for the 2-8 (2-5) Vikings, but it remains to be seen whether it will be too little / too late against the Raiders. Both teams allow opponents an average of 28 points per game, but Southern scores 30 per game, while Northern has averaged just under 10 points per game.

In the past 10 years, this rivalry has been pretty close: Southern Vance holds a 6-4 lead in the series for that period, but Northern has the largest margin of victory with a 42-0 victory in 2008. Since 2013, the teams are locked at 2-2, with Northern holding the trophy from last year’s victory.