Coach's Corner Logo

SportsTalk: Coach’s Corner: WIZS Players Of The Week – Championship Recap

/by

Conference championships are hard to come by but Thursday night Vance County had two schools do just that.  Vance Charter’s women’s team took the Triangle North Athletic Conference Tournament Championship with a 58-47 win over Oxford Prep and Henderson Collegiate took the men’s championship with a 59-46 victory over Durham’s Voyager Academy.  Vance Charter relied on Allie Bliss’ 15 points to propel the team to victory and Henderson Collegiate’s T.J. Ragland scored 2o points in their win.  Their performances earned them WIZS Player of the Week honors.

Ragland topped his tournament average of 18 points per game in Henderson Collegiate’s win. He did have help however as Markel Lloyd contributed 18 points and Ellis Williams poured in another 8 points including two back-to-back three pointers at the beginning of the second half.  (Listen to the Audio Recap Below.) Henderson Collegiate now waits until Saturday to find out just where they will be seeded and who they will play as they pursue another state championship.

Vance Charter’s Bliss didn’t begin her basketball career as a starter but she worked hard to move up from a reserve spot and as a senior is one of the team’s leaders. She averaged 17 points per game in the conference tournament. With their conference championship win they also wait until Saturday to find out where their seeding is and who the next opponent will be as the state playoffs begin.

Congratulations to Henderson Collegiate’s T. J. Ragland and Vance Charter’s Allie Bliss. WIZS Players of the Week.  The Players of the Week can be heard every Friday at 1pm on the Coach’s Corner segment of SportsTalk on WIZS 1450am, 100.1fm and online at wizs.com.

SportsTalk: Coach’s Corner: Craddock And Rogers WIZS Players Of The Week

/by

When not in a pool or on the soccer field, you might find Kailen Craddock on horseback.  Craddock wasn’t named women’s varsity WIZS Player of the Week for her equestrian skills but for her work in the pool at Vance Charter. The sophomore swimmer placed 3rd in the regionals and 13th overall after turning in a time of 116.15 in the 100 meter breaststroke.  Her performance was good enough to make her this week’s women’s player of the week.

For the men’s varsity player of the week, the honor goes to Drew Rogers, a senior basketball player at Crossroads Christian.  Rogers is averaging 20 points per game. On February 4th he scored 20 against Lee Christian and last night he scored 25 in the semi-finals of the Mid Carolina Conference tournament also against Lee Christian.  His performance for the team makes him the men’s varsity player of the week. Tonight Crossroads Christian plays Grace Christian for the conference championship.

The WIZS Players of the Week can be heard every Friday at 1 p.m. during the Coach’s Corner segment of Sportstalk on WIZS 1450AM, 100.1FM and online at wizs.com.  Congratulations to both Kailen Craddock and Drew Rogers.

 

Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Vance Co. Vipers Hoping For Wins To Make Playoffs

/by

The state high school basketball playoffs are just around the corner and despite only having a 5-11 record on the season, Vance Co. High School Athletic Director Joe Sharrow thinks the Vipers have a good shot at getting in.  Sharrow was a guest on today’s SportsTalk with Trey Snide.

Sharrow knows that it will take a few more wins and those wins have to start with tonight’s game against Northern Lakes Conference rival Durham School of the Arts who are 3-17 on the season. While 5-11 against 3-17 might not look like much Sharrow says records are misleading, “The Northern Lakes Conference is a Murderer’s Row,” Sharrow said. Case in point, Vance County beat Southern Durham in what Sharrow calls the best win in school history to only lose to them in a second game a few days later.

Sharrow acknowleges the Vipers got off to a slow start but he says key injuries played a role and now that the Vipers are healthy he expects the team to be strong going into the final weeks of the season.

There won’t be much time to rest after tonight’s game as the Vipers will welcome J.F. Webb to Henderson tomorrow night for senior night.  J.F. Webb won the previous matchup in Oxford on a last second shot 57-54. Sharrow says if the Vipers can win tonight and tomorrow they will likely make the state playoffs.  If they drop one of these two games it will take a run in the conference tournament to get in.

The conference tournament will take place Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of next week.

 

Crossroads Christian School

SportsTalk: Gladieux Signs To Play For Trine University

/by

“If somebody gives you an opportunity to follow your dream, that’s amazing,” Ryan Gladieux said at his son’s Letter of Intent signing at Crossroads Christian as part of today’s SportsTalk show on WIZS.  Mason Gladieux, a 6’3″ senior guard with the Colts, will be playing college ball next season for Trine University in Angola, Indiana.

Two years ago, Mason was at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. He and his family had never heard of Henderson or Crossroads Christian but when Cardinal Gibbons made a “no school, no sports” decision because of Covid 19 his family decided to look for another school so Mason would not miss a year of basketball.  After Mason’s father, who is former player at Stetson, did some research, met with Crossroads Head Coach and Athletic Director Scotty Richardson, and visited the school, it was decided that Mason and Crossroads would make an excellent fit. It was Richardson’s idea of not wanting to win today but to have someone to build a program around that convinced the Gladieux’s that Crossroads was the right school for Mason.

“He’s the model player. He can play all five positions,” Richardson said of Gladieux. “His impact on campus and in basketball and crosscountry is tough to put into words,” Richardson continued. Gladieux won a state championship in crosscountry this past season at Crossroads and now he and the team are looking to do the same thing in basketball. Crossroads will first have to bring home the conference championship. That tournament begins in a few days. A state championship would be a great way for Gladieux to end his high school career but he has to battle through an ankle injury that has hampered him this season.

“I loved the campus,” Mason said of Trine University. His mother, Brittney, said the family has roots in Indiana and that with Mason choosing Trine it feels somewhat like he is going home. She said Trine feels a lot like Crossroads. Trine is a division 3 school but that isn’t a concern for Mason’s father, Ryan. “This school isn’t offering you a destination. They are offering you a beginning,” Ryan said.  Trine was the number two team in the country last season in Division 3 basketball.

Congratulations to Mason Gladieux on signing to Trine University.

SportsTalk can be heard Monday through Friday at 1pm on WIZS 1450am, 100.1fm and online at wizs.com.

 

 

Jones and Taylor are WIZS Players of the Week

/by

For two years Christian Jones has been the go to guy off the bench for the Vance County Vipers men’s basketball team.  The 6’4″ Jones has been so good off the bench that he has now worked his way into the starting lineup. The Vipers have won three of the last four games and Jones is a big reason why. This week the Vipers beat Granville Central and Jones contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds. In a second win this week against Southern Durham, Jones pumped in 18 points and had another 8 rebounds.

Vance County Athletic Director Joe Sharrow says Jones is a game changer and added that with Jones’ contributions and getting their best player back into the lineup, the Vipers are starting to put things together and will be a force to be reckoned with.

Meanwhile, over at Crossroads Christian, it’s Abby Taylor who is making a significant contribution to the women’s team. Taylor, a freshman, is only averaging 5 points per game but she is the team’s leader and a captain on the Colts’ team. She is the player that communicates with everyone to keep them all on the same page during games.  She helps on both ends of the court and while her contributions may not show up on the stat sheet, she is likely the most important player on the team.

Congratulations to Vance County’s Christian Jones and Crossroads’ Abby Taylor, WIZS Players of the Week.  Players of the Week are named every Friday on the Coach’s Corner segment of Sports Talk. Sports Talk airs at 1pm Monday through Friday on WIZS 1450am, 100.1 fm and online at wizs.com.

 

Coach's Corner Logo

SportsTalk: Coach’s Corner Players Of The Week

/by

In order to be a successful athletic program at any level, you have to have the players, and both Vance Co. High School and Henderson Collegiate have two such players: Jayla Taylor and Ellis Williams. These two athletes are this week’s WIZS Players of the Week.

Taylor has helped power the Vance Co. Women’s Vipers to three consecutive wins. Against South Granville Taylor contributed 17 rebounds, 12 points and a steal. Taylor added another 15 blocked shots, 9 rebounds and 7 points in the Viper’s win over Granville Central and against Carrboro she grabbed 8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. An impressive set of numbers for Taylor earns her player of the week honors.

Over at Henderson Collegiate, Ellis Williams is putting up some impressive numbers as well. So far on the season, Williams is averaging 18.5 points per game, 3.5 steals and 4 rebounds. Against Eno River, Williams scored 15 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and made 5 steals and then against Heritage he contributed 22 points, 1 assist and 3 rebounds. His performance earns him player of the week honors.

Congratulations to Vance Co. High School’s Jayla Taylor and Henderson Collegiate’s Ellis Williams, this week’s WIZS Players of the Week.

 

Vance County High School

Vance Co. High School Basketball Games Scheduled for Fri., Jan 14 Postponed

/by

According to an email sent to WIZS from Vance County High School Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Joe Sharrow, the JV, women’s varsity and boy’s varsity games scheduled between the Vipers and Southern Durham for Friday, January 14 have been postponed until Wednesday, February 2. The games will be played at their usual time on February 2 – JV at 4:30 p.m., Women’s Varsity at 6pm and Boy’s Varsity at 7:30 p.m.

SportsTalk: Tharp Has Settled In As AD Of JF Webb

/by

It was Alex Tharp’s long-term goal to become athletic director at JF Webb High School in Oxford, but he thought that might happen a couple of years down the road. “The opportunity came earlier,” Tharp said. Tharp replaces Mike Carroll who is still at the school helping Tharp in his new position.

Of course, like so many ADs, Tharp is also a coach. He’s the head man for Webb’s varsity men’s basketball program. The Warriors are currently 7-9 on the season. The team started off hot but cooled recently. A win this week over Science and Math by the score of 77-47 has Tharp feeling good about the program. “We put it all together for an entire game,” Tharp said of the Warrior’s victory.

Some of the recent losses were to bigger 4A schools and that was by design according to Tharp. The idea was to schedule tough games early so the team would sharpen its skills for conference play. “We are figuring stuff out,” Tharp said of the Warriors.  That fits in with his goal for the season of stringing together a few wins which likely will come with the improved play Tharp hopes to see through the remainder of the season.

Friday, January 14th will see the Warriors taking on county rival Granville Central in a conference match up. Tharp says Granville Central is playing well. It should be a terrific 32 minutes of basketball tomorrow night in Granville County.

Click Play

Coach’s Corner: Kayla Simmons WIZS Player Of The Week Honors

/by

“We don’t often play in close games,” said Vance Charter Knights’ head women’s basketball coach Brian Howard on the Coach’s Corner of SportsTalk with Trey Snide. However, the Knights found themselves in a nail biter this week against Granville Central.  The 6 – 3 Knights scored with 4 seconds left to pull out a 60 – 59 win over Granville Central who fell to 5 – 6.  Kayla Simmons was the game’s hero scoring the last second basket. She totaled 17 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. With her performance, she was named WIZS Player of the Week.

Simmons and the Knights got off to a great start with an early 15 point lead but a series of turnovers allowed Granville Central to get back in the game. Coach Howard said the close game was beneficial to his team. The Knights get a lot of minutes from two freshmen and Howard said the stress of a close game was helpful to those freshmen players.

In speaking about the Granville Central game after Simmons hit the winning shot Howard said is first thought wasn’t about the shot but about getting back on defense. Four seconds can be an eternity in basketball and Howard wanted to make sure his team was prepared for a last second shot by Granville Central.

Howard said he expects that level of play from Simmons every game, She certainly delivered against Granville Central.  Congratualations to Kayla Simmons, the WIZS Player of the Week.

 

TownTalk: Kevin Britton is the new Program Specialist at Recreation Dept.

/by

Young athletes who dream of playing at the college level and beyond should take a page from Kevin Britton’s life playbook – pages filled with plays his mom, grandmother and others drew up for him that involve discipline, leadership, giving back to the community.

And sports. Oh yes, sports.

Britton said he’s been in love with sports since he was 8 years old. Fast-forward a few decades and Britton is bringing that passion to Henderson in his role as program specialist for the Henderson-Vance Recreation and Parks Department.

Born and raised in Durham, Britton said he is looking forward to putting in place programming for the whole community – it’s not going to be limited to young people. Or to athletics, for that matter.

“I have been given the opportunity to create programs through recreation and parks to benefit the community,” he told John C. Rose on Monday’s Town Talk.

“I’m talking about the whole community, not just the youth.” He said he was raised by his grandmother, who was fond of saying, “if you don’t use it, you lose it,” Britton said. By helping senior adults in the community, he hopes programs will have a domino effect to the middle-aged and to youth as well.

“I truly believe if we can help the community as a whole, it’s better.”

In addition to his family, it was his participation in the Durham Salvation Army’s Boys & Girls Clubs when he was a youngster that opened the world of sports to Britton. “I received a lot of love” at the Boys & Girls Club, he said. “It was very important in the growth of my younger years.”

The foundations and basics he learned early served him well – he played basketball at Durham High School and earned a scholarship to play at N.C. Central University. The 1989 Eagles’ team won the NCAA Division II national championship.

Basketball gave Britton the opportunity to see beyond his community and to claim achievements that otherwise may not have been possible for him to attain. Having a network of support, be it from family members, fellow players or coaches, is key for young people today, he said.

“I feel like recreation is the foundation,” Britton said. Children who start playing at the rec league level can develop that “basketball IQ” that benefits the players – and the programs they play for – later on.

Part of that sports IQ, if you ask Britton, is having a Plan B. The development of the student athlete – student first, athlete second – is something that he stresses.

“If you don’t have the grades, you can’t play. You may be the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James, but if you don’t have the grades, the world won’t see it,” he said.

“One day the air’s going to come out of the ball,” he said. When that happens, he says, “you can fall back on your education and still be a winner.”

Click Play