SportsTalk: Minor League Update and Panther Woes

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Scout Hughes and Steve Lewis give an update on the latest of Minor League Baseball around North Carolina. The guys also explain the sad song that is the Carolina Panthers.

Friday MiLB Scores:

  • Durham Bulls 8 Gwinnett 0
  • Charlotte 12 Jacksonville 5
  • Greenville 7 Winston-Salem 5
  • Hudson Valley 3 Greensboro 1
  • Bowling Green 10 Asheville 0
  • Fayetteville 13 Salem 7
  • Hickory 8 Charleston 6
  • Fredericksburg 5 Carolina Mudcats 1
  • Kannapolis 8 Augusta 1

Saturday MiLB Scores:

  • Gwinnett 4 Durham Bulls 3
  • Jacksonville 11 Charlotte 3
  • Hudson Valley 1 Greensboro 0
  • Asheville 8 Bowling Green 0
  • Winston-Salem 4 Greenville 3
  • Kannapolis 13 Augusta 4
  • Salem 13 Fayetteville 9
  • Charleston 2 Hickory 1
  • Fredericksburg 5 Carolina Mudcats 0

Sunday MiLB Scores:

  • Durham Bulls 4 Gwinnett 2
  • Charlotte 9 Jacksonville 7
  • Greensboro 4 Hudson Valley 1
  • Bowling Green 6 Asheville 2
  • Double Header
    • Winston-Salem 13 Greenville 2
    • Greenville 9 Winston-Salem 1
  • Augusta 10 Kannapolis 0
  • Salem 3 Fayetteville 2
  • Carolina Mudcats 6 Fredericksburg 3
  • Charleston 12 Hickory 8

Tuesday Games Today:

  • Durham Bulls vs. Norfolk – 6:35pm
  • Charlotte vs. Omaha – 1:05pm
  • Division Series Playoffs, Game 1
    • Greensboro vs. Brooklyn – 6:30pm

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SportsTalk: VCFNF Week 3 Recap

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Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue recap Week 3 in the High School Football Season. The guys also go over scores from college and the NFL.

High School Scores for Week 3:

  • Jordan 52 Vance County 0
  • Franklinton 26 South Granville 14
  • Millbrook 48 Wake Forest 7
  • Leesville Road 50 Heritage 3
  • Panther Creek 24 Knightdale 21
  • Southeast Raleigh 52 East Wake 7
  • Bunn 71 J.F. Webb 32
  • Louisburg 42 Northampton County 0
  • Wake Prep 54 Pamlico County 8
  • Hopewell (VA) 16 Mecklenburg County (VA) 14

College Scores around our area for Week 2:

  • North Carolina 20 Charlotte 3
  • Illinois 45 Duke 17
  • NC State 35 Virginia 31
  • Wake Forest 42 Western Carolina 10
  • East Carolina 56 Campbell 3
  • App State 20 Lindenwood 13
  • Vanderbilt 44 Virginia Tech 20
  • Old Dominion 54 NC Central 6
  • Presbyterian College JV 39 Louisburg College 29

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SportsTalk: 1-1 Vipers Ready to Face Jordan Falcons Friday

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UPDATE – FINAL SCORE 

Jordan 52

Vance County 0

RECAP MONDAY ON SPORTSTALK 

••••••••••••••••••••••••• 

Vance County Vipers Head Coach Aaron Elliott was able to find something positive in last week’s 33-6 loss to South Granville High School, and that’s enough to keep him and the team focused on Friday’s matchup against the Jordan Falcons.

The offense racked up “a considerable amount of yards,” Elliott told WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle. “We improved from the week before. We’re not where we want to be, but we improved offensively.”

Elliott said there will be a half dozen or so JV players dressed out, mainly because of some lingering injuries hanging around.

“I’ve never had the injury bug hit us like it’s gotten us the last two weeks,” he said. Zion Thornton is still nursing an ankle injury he sustained in a pre-season scrimmage, for example.

“Our main goal with him – and everybody really – is to get them healthy for conference time,” Elliott said.

But he’s not looking past Jordan, which he said is a good team with a solid coaching staff. They’re 2-0 in the young season, and Elliott said the Falcons beat two good teams – a 22-20 victory over Leesville Road and a 30-7 romp over cross-county rival Southern School of Energy and Sustainability (formerly known as Southern Durham).

“I’ve told my guys all week, if we’re prepared and (we) do not make mistakes – if we play a mistake-free ball game, we can definitely compete,” he said.

Keys to the game are making sure the players are playing assignment football and executing the plays.

“We’ve talked all week about executing,” he said. “I think we’ve got a good game plan, we’ve just got to execute. We’ve got to line up right defensively and we’ve got to do all the small things offensively,” he added.

The Labor Day Holiday meant a shortened week of practice for the Vipers, but Elliott said the team has had a couple of really good days. At the team meeting, Elliott and his staff addressed first thing all the missed assignments and alignments that hampered the Vipers against South Granville.

“We made too many mistakes,” Elliott said of his team’s performance last week in Creedmoor. “The very first play on defense we lined up wrong.” But he’s not one to wallow too long in what could have been.

He told his team not to let that game define who they are as a team. “We want to win. We want our best out there, but we have to think about us being healthy going in to conference play.”

“We built this schedule to make us better…the next three weeks are going to be tough,” Elliott said, but that’s ok because it will only help toughen up the team for what Elliott hopes will be  strong conference play that extends through the regular season and in post-season play.

And, just for the record, the last time Vance County took the field against Jordan was in Elliott’s first year as head coach. After a lackluster first half performance, Elliott was able to rally his team for a second half surge and ultimately a W with a 28-27 final score.

“I’ve definitely learned, especially from that season, that these kids are going to fight to the end,” Elliott said. “Our kids didn’t fold.”

Vance County hosts Jordan on Military and First Responders Appreciation Night for Week 3 of the 2025 season on Friday, September 5th and you can hear all the action on WIZS 1450AM, 100.1FM, and online at wizs.com with pregame starting at 6:50 p.m. and kickoff thereafter at 7:00 p.m.

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SportsTalk: Minor League Baseball Update and AP Top 25 Release after Week 1

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Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue give an update on Minor League Baseball here in North Carolina. The guys also speak on the AP Top 25 Poll for College Football that recently released.

Friday MiLB Scores:

  • Durham Bulls 5 Worcester 3
  • Nashville 5 Charlotte 4
  • Wilmington 2 Greensboro 1
  • Hub City 8 Asheville 0
  • Rome 2 Winston-Salem 1
  • Delmarva 6 Carolina Mudcats 2
  • Kannapolis 10 Salem 7
  • Hickory 6 Columbia 5
  • Fayetteville 8 Myrtle Beach 1

Saturday MiLB Scores:

  • Durham Bulls 7 Worcester 2
  • Nashville 10 Charlotte 0
  • Asheville 9 Hub City 4
  • Wilmington 6 Greensboro 2
  • Rome 7 Winston-Salem 6
  • Hickory 6 Columbia 1
  • Delmarva 3 Carolina Mudcats 2
  • Kannapolis 9 Salem 6
  • Myrtle Beach 5 Fayetteville 3

Sunday MiLB Scores:

  • Worcester 10 Durham Bulls 1
  • Nashville 7 Charlotte 0
  • Winston-Salem 5 Rome 0
  • Hub City 4 Asheville 2
  • Greensboro 7 Wilmington 1
  • Delmarva 1 Carolina Mudcats 0
  • Columbia 1 Hickory 0
  • Fayetteville 12 Myrtle Beach 3
  • Kannapolis 4 Salem 1

Labor Day MiLB Scores:

  • Durham Bulls 4 Gwinnett 1
  • Salem 8 Fayetteville 5
  • Kannapolis 10 Augusta 6

Tuesday MiLB Scores:

  • Jacksonville 6 Charlotte 1
  • Hudson Valley 4 Greensboro 0
  • Winston-Salem 1 Greenville 0
  • Bowling Green 2 Asheville 1
  • Carolina Mudcats 9 Fredericksburg 5
  • Hickory 3 Charleston 2

Wednesday MiLB Games Today:

  • Fredericksburg 4 Carolina Mudcats 3
  • Durham Bulls vs. Gwinnett – 7:05pm
  • Double Header
    • Charlotte vs. Jacksonville – 5:05pm
    • Charlotte vs. Jacksonville – after game 1
  • Greensboro vs. Hudson Valley – 6:05pm
  • Winston-Salem vs. Greenville – 6:30pm
  • Asheville vs. Bowling Green – 7:35pm
  • Fayetteville vs. Salem – 6:35pm
  • Hickory vs. Charleston – 7pm
  • Kannapolis vs. Augusta – 7:05pm

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Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Vance County vs. South Granville Recap

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Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue recap the weekend starting with Vance County football game vs. South Granville. The guys go over other high schools in the area, as well as the college games from the Labor Day Weekend.

High School Games from Week 2:

  • South Granville 33 Vance County 6
  • Franklinton 48 Bunn 6
  • Leesville Road 35 Wake Forest 14
  • Millbrook 36 Heritage 0
  • Enloe 55 Knightdale 25
  • Rocky Mount 20 East Wake 14
  • Warren County 54 J.F. Webb 24
  • Louisburg 31 Southeast Halifax 14
  • North Moore 22 Wake Prep 21 
  • Mecklenburg County (VA) 47 vs. Brunswick (VA) 14

College Games from Week 1:

  • TCU 48 North Carolina 14
  • Duke 45 Elon 17
  • NC State 24 East Carolina 17
  • Wake Forest 10 Kennesaw State 9
  • App State 34 Charlotte 11
  • Virginia 48 Coastal Carolina 7
  • South Carolina 24 Virginia Tech 11
  • New Hampshire 27 NC Central 10
  • Central Georgia Technical 41 Louisburg College 36

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SportsTalk: Vance County Prepares for South Granville

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UPDATE – FINAL SCORE 

South Granville 33

Vance County 6

RECAP TUESDAY ON SPORTSTALK 

••••••••••••••••••••••••• 

The Vance County Vipers head to Creedmoor Friday to take on the South Granville Vikings in a non-conference matchup, and Head Coach Aaron Elliott hopes his team can add another win to 1-0 start to the season.

Elliott told WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle Thursday that the team had a good week of practice following a close call with the Warren County Eagles in the season opener last week.

“We worked on the little things,” Elliott said, pointing out that small mistakes like missed blocks and mishandled snaps added up during last week’s game.

Elliott and Vikings Head Coach Mike Hobgood go way back and have a long history of playing against each other.

“They’ve got a lot of speed,” Elliott said of this year’s Vikings team, with a good quarterback.

But mostly, Elliott said it’s the Vikings’ physicality that they’ll bring to the field.

“He does a good job coaching those guys up,” Elliott said. “Hopefully we’ve prepared our kids to be more physical – we know that’s what we’ll see from South Granville.” The Vipers spoiled the Viking Homecoming, taking a 12-7 victory, so he expects Hobgood and team to be looking for a little revenge.

Elliott said he’d make a couple of adjustments on special teams and said he’d had the punt unit working on clean snaps and catches.

He’d like to see the offensive output increase from last week’s sub-100 yard performance.

“Defensively, we did a fair job, but we gave up 135 yards rushing. We’ve got to be able to stop the run, control the pass. If we can force them to do things they’re uncomfortable doing, we’ll be in good shape,” he said.

He said each year, his teams have improved their record on the road, which he’s happy about.

“This game is pretty important,” he said. “Each week, it gets harder and harder. Getting a win this week will get us ready for Jordan…it only gets harder from here on out,” he said of this season’s schedule.

Vance County travels to South Granville for Week 2 of the 2025 season on Friday, August 29th and you can hear all the action on WIZS 1450AM, 100.1FM, and online at wizs.com with pregame starting at 6:50 p.m. and kickoff thereafter at 7:00 p.m.

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SportsTalk: Carolina Mudcats in the Home Stretch

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Scout Hughes and Steve Lewis talk about the Carolina Mudcats and how they will play their final regular season home series this week against the Delmarva Shorebirds, as the team will move to Wilson, NC at seasons’ end.

Friday MiLB Scores:

  • Lehigh Valley 5 Durham Bulls 2
  • Norfolk 4 Charlotte 1
  • Double Header
    • Rome 7 Asheville 1
    • Asheville 3 Rome 1
  • Winston-Salem 9 Wilmington 0
  • Bowling Green 5 Greensboro 2
  • Salem 3 Carolina Mudcats 1
  • Lynchburg 6 Hickory 4
  • Delmarva 6 Kannapolis 2
  • Fredericksburg 9 Fayetteville 5

Saturday MiLB Scores:

  • Lehigh Valley 5 Durham Bulls 4
  • Norfolk 4 Charlotte 2
  • Greensboro 6 Bowling Green 1
  • Rome 5 Asheville 3
  • Winston-Salem 9 Wilmington 5
  • Hickory 8 Lynchburg 1
  • Kannapolis 5 Delmarva 1
  • Fayetteville 4 Fredericksburg 2
  • Double Header
    • Salem 2 Carolina Mudcats 0
    • Carolina Mudcats 11 Salem 6

Sunday MiLB Scores:

  • Lehigh Valley 5 Durham Bulls 4
  • Norfolk 6 Charlotte 4
  • Wilmington 10 Winston-Salem 5
  • Greensboro 4 Bowling Green 1
  • Salem 3 Carolina Mudcats 2
  • Hickory 9 Lynchburg 8
  • Kannapolis 10 Delmarva 4
  • Fayetteville 6 Fredericksburg 3

Tuesday Games Today:

  • Durham Bulls vs. Worcester – 6:35pm
  • Charlotte vs. Nashville – 7:35pm
  • Greensboro vs. Wilmington – 6:30pm
  • Asheville vs. Hub City – 6:35pm
  • Winston-Salem vs. Rome – 7pm
  • Kannapolis vs. Salem – 6:30pm
  • Carolina Mudcats vs. Delmarva – 6:30pm
  • Fayetteville vs. Myrtle Beach – 6:35pm
  • Hickory vs. Columbia – 7:05pm

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Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Vance County Football Week 1 Recap

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Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue recap Vance County’s win against Warren County on Friday Night. The guys also give an update on other scores in Week 1 for high school football, in addition to Louisburg College Football’s season opener.

High School Scores from Week 1:

  • Vance County 13 Warren County 12
  • Franklinton 29 Person 20
  • Southern Durham 47 Wake Forest 28
  • Heritage 29 Wakefield 20
  • Southern Nash 42 Knightdale 26
  • East Wake 42 Riverside 6
  • J.F. Webb 46 Western Harnett 22
  • Bunn 18 South Granville 0
  • North Raleigh Christian 19 Wake Prep 6
  • E.C. Glass (VA) 28 Mecklenburg County (VA) 0

College Games of Interest in Our Area:

  • Louisburg College 28 Methodist 3
  • North Carolina Central 31 Southern 14

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SportsTalk: Vipers Ready for Season Opener

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UPDATE – FINAL SCORE 

Vance County 13 

Warren County 12 

RECAP MONDAY ON SPORTSTALK 

••••••••••••••••••••••••• 

Tonight’s County Line Clash pits the Vance County Vipers against neighboring county rival Warren County Eagles. It’s a non-conference game, but Vipers Head Coach Aaron Elliott said his squad is ready to kick off the season in a big way.

“The energy these kids have, they’re ready for Week 1,” Elliott said.

Despite the fact that the Vipers and Eagles are in different conferences – the Vipers are a 6A and the Eagles are a 2A, Elliott said he expects the season opener to be competitive.

“I like it because it fires up the kids for Week 1 and gets them ready,” Elliott said on Thursday’s Sports Talk with WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle. “We try to tell them to treat it as a normal game, but it’s hard to do,” Elliott said. The first game of the season against a rival, even though it’s a non-conference game, brings with it a lot of emotions and nerves, the head coach said.

“We’ve got to limit the mistakes, win the turnover battle,” Elliott said. If the Vipers can do that, “I really feel like we’ll be excited in the fourth quarter.”

Last season’s matchup was a close one – with the Vipers leading 7-0 at the half. The Vipers pulled away in the fourth quarter to finish out with an 18-0 win.

Warren County’s team is young, but they’re a seasoned group that’s seen some good playing time.

Elliott said he’s counting on Warren County to bring their best effort to Viper Stadium for the 7 p.m. kickoff. “They’re ready to play football. They’re going to test us a little bit.”

Elliott said he got a chance to see them in action at the recent Jamboree in Louisburg, noting that they’re a “typical Warren County team – well coached, giving 100 percent on every play, with plenty of energy and effort.”

But Elliott said the Vipers are up for the challenge. With Senior Marcus Thomas at quarterback and Aiden Foster, the team’s “Swiss Army knife,” showing up on defense and offense, he said this team is going to be fun to watch.

And then there’s the depth at running back – there are five or six guys at that position, none of them seniors, Elliott noted.

Aiden Labra is back this season to add to the kicking game. Labra gets his kicks in on the football field, then heads over to soccer practice. Elliott said the Viper kicker got a personal best on Wednesday with a 47-yard field goal.

“We practice special teams every single day,” Elliott said. “If you want to be good at it, you’ve got to practice.”

The team starts out each practice with special teams, when they’re fresh, so they’ll be ready at the end of the game. “We’ve got to do everything right when we’re tired too,” he said.

Elliott and his coaching staff installed a new defense that he hopes will work well for this year’s team.

“The kids love it,” he said. “It allows them to fly around and make plays…we’re interested to see how that plays out and works for us.”

There are 14 seniors on the varsity roster, and Elliott said this season’s Vipers team includes a dozen players from the Early College, one from Vance Virtual Academy and a couple of homeschooled students.

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SportsTalk: Warren County Sets Its Sights on the Vipers

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Friday’s County Line Clash pits the Vance County Vipers against the Warren County Eagles in the opening game of the fall football season.

Last season’s matchup was a close game, said Doc Ayscue, with the Vipers clinching it in the fourth quarter for the 18-0 victory over the Eagles.

And he and Scout Hughes are looking for another good game Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Viper Stadium.

“It’s going to be an interesting game this year,” Ayscue said. The two schools are in different conferences following a reorganization last year – Vance County High School is 6A and Warren County is 2A, but

that doesn’t seem to bother Eagles Head Coach Victor Hunt.

Beginning his seventh year as head coach, Hunt said the off-season has been pretty good and he’s looking forward to going head-to-head with non-conference teams like the Vipers.

“We accept all the challenges,” Hunt said. “We want to win a state championship,” he said. “You do that by playing playoff caliber teams.”

If that results in some non-conference losses, so be it. Hunt sees them as learning experiences for his team, which, although young with a small group of seniors, has seen a good deal of playing time.

The Eagles participated in the recent Louisburg Jamboree, and Hunt said he saw a lot of good things on the field and some things to work on.

Friday’s game is going to be physical, he said. “That’s what we want…just being tough – that’s our brand of football.”

Penalties hurt them last season against the Vipers, he said, so limiting penalties and turnovers Friday will be key, he pointed out.

“The practice is always exciting Week 1,” he said, noting that there’s a little added pressure – especially for the seniors.

“It is a rivalry game, but it’s not going to determine any championships,” Hunt said. And his players are up for the challenge.

They’re rising to the occasion in guiding the underclassmen with their leadership and holding each other accountable for plays on the field.

holding each other accountable.

For Hunt, coaching is a blessing. “I think I have the greatest job in America. I love our kids. I love our community. It’s so much bigger than football…it’s about the family we’ve built here.”

Former players are returning to talk to this year’s team, working with them and offering encouragement.

“It means everything,” Hunt said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

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