Vance Charter Lacrosse Makes History

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Articles submitted by Dan Sandlin

From March 27, 2022:

Knights Winning Streak Extends to 4

The Vance Charter Knights Varsity Men’s Lacrosse team had another successful week, winning 17-0 against Voyager Academy and 17-3 against Union Pines High School. This takes the Knights to a 4-4 record this season and leads the Northern Lakes Athletic Conference.

At the Voyager Academy game, the Knights took an early lead and never looked back. Leading the way was Senior Ryan Parker (4G, 6A) and Sophomore Gavyn Sandlin (4G, 2A). Junior Lucas Satterwhite had a shutout in the goal. Other points were obtained by Junior Jahlaine Scotland (2G), Freshman Caleb Towne (2G), Junior Dominick Abate (1G), Senior Davis Suther (1G), Sophomore Adam Bobbitt (1G), Freshman Noah Wagner (1G), Senior Wyatt Yount, (1A), Junior Sam Frazier (1A) and Freshman Jackson Gordon (1G).

The Knights continued their game-winning streak at home on Friday, hosting Union Pines High School out of Moore County. This non-conference game started strong, with the Knights up 7-3 at the end of the first quarter. Union Pines was blocked from adding anything to their score the rest of the evening by the Knights Goalie Lucas Satterwhite (Junior). Leading scorers for the night were Senior Ryan Parker (7G, 4A), Sophomore Gavyn Sandlin (4G, 4A), Senior Wyatt Yount (3G, 1A). Other points came from Junior Jahlaine Scotland (2G), Junior Christian Bean (1G) and Junior Sam Frazier (1A).

Following Friday’s game, this puts Parker and Sandlin with a combined 100 points during the first 8 games of their season. Parker and Sandlin are both ranked in the top 10 for 1A/2A/3A Goals and Points and in the top 15 for Assists according to MaxPreps.

The Knights are on the road this week, traveling to Roxboro Community School on Tuesday and to Union Pines High School on Friday.

From March 20, 2022:

Vance Charter Lacrosse Makes History

Vance Charter School Men’s Lacrosse is off to a record-breaking start. The team, currently ranked first in their conference, captured a win on Friday, March 18. The team took on Roxboro Community School at home with nine of the Knights putting points on the board. Goals came from Sophomore Gavyn Sandlin (12), Senior Ryan Parker (7), Senior Wyatt Yount (3), Junior Christian Bean (3), Senior Davis Suther (1), Senior Jacob Seaman (1), Sophomore Adam Bobbitt (2) and Freshman Jackson Gordon (1). Assists throughout the game came from Ryan Parker (7), Gavyn Sandlin (6), Wyatt Yount (2), Davis Suther (1) and Freshman Caleb Towne (1). The team pulled away with a 30-1 victory over the Roxboro Bulldogs.

The game started strong with a 12-0 lead in the first quarter. At that time, a running clock began as second quarter yielded continued success for the Knights with another 7 goals on the board. Third quarter the team added another 4 points and Roxboro gained their sole goal by Nate Stovall. The Knights finished strong adding 6 more goals in the 4th quarter. Jacob Seaman carried the face-offs, winning 26 of his 30 attempts throughout the game. This success allowed the Knights to keep the ball on the offensive end.

The Knights scored their 100th point of the season during the game, a first in the program’s history. Sophomore Attackman, Gavyn Sandlin, captured the state record for most points in a single game with 12 goals and 6 assists. The previous record of 16 points in a single game was held by Gabriel Barker from West Stokes High School. Senior Attackman Ryan Parker’s contribution of 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists), ties him for 9th in the state for points in a single game.

The Knights are led by Head Coach Dennis Sandlin and Assistant Coach Dan Sandlin.

Crossroads Christian School

SportsTalk: John Eason Jr. Letter Of Intent Signing

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“I’m not going to play against him” was one of the comments John Eason Sr. had about his son, John Eason Jr.  The younger Eason will be playing next season at Central Carolina Community College now that he is wrapping up his senior season at Crossroads Christian. He signed his letter of intent at the school today (Wednesday) continuing a journey that began when the senior Eason taught him how to hold a basketball over his head at age five.

“He feels like a son to me,” Crossroads basketball coach Scottie Richardson said. “He’s one of those guys you love to have in the locker room,” Richardson continued. Richardson said Eason does the little things needed to win and described him as a team player. Eason started the season on the bench but by the end of the season he had worked his way into the starting lineup.

Central Carolina Community College coach Lamont Whitaker was on hand for the signing and said his interest in Eason stemmed from a call from Richardson who told him there was someone he needed to see. Whitaker watched Eason play three times when he decided he had seen enough and felt Eason was someone Central Carolina needed. “He has the physique. He gets after it and gets rebounds,” Whitaker said of what he saw in those three games. Eason was also impressed by Central Carolina as he liked the atmosphere, the school and the campus.

While the senior Eason may have helped him learn the moves and skills of being a basketball player, his mother was not about to be left out of helping her son either.  Beverly Eason also played basketball and played with her son. She tried to help him with his hook shot hoping he would be as good at it as the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but she joked that her son hasn’t quite got the shot down to her satisfaction yet.

John Eason Sr. also said that the education side of college is equally as important as basketball. “Get the book work together and you can go anywhere you want to go.”

Before Eason signed his letter of intent he told WIZS’ Trey Snide that without Crossroads Christian he wouldn’t be in the position he is now. Then with a stroke of the gold pen brought along for the occasion, Eason signed his letter of intent with thunderous applause from his team, friends and family. Congratulations to John Eason Jr. on signing to play college basketball with Central Carolina Community College.

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SportsTalk: Coach’s Corner: Henderson Collegiate Advances To Sweet 16

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For the fourth consecutive time the Henderson Collegiate men’s basketball team has made the Sweet 16. Last night Henderson Collegiate defeated West Columbus at Aycock Gym by the score of 62 – 39. The game marked the program’s 100th win and star T.J. Ragland reached the 500 point mark in his high school career. “We knew we had to wear them down,” Coach George Marshall said. “This team is super unique, we know how to win ugly,” Marshall continued.

Marshall feels the team is peaking at the right time. When you consider the team lost nine seniors from last years team then the march through the playoffs is even more impressive. Marshall also feels the team does have room for improvement citing more patience at the free throw line and the need to score a few more points. “The odds of 20 point wins from here on out are slim to none,” Marshall said. Henderson Collegiate also defeated Vance Charter School 74-41 earlier in the playoffs and those big wins are going to disappear most likely starting with tomorrow’s game against Kip Pride.  Henderson Collegiate defeated Kip Pride 68-57 back on February 5th but that was a different time.  Marshall described Kip Pride as hungry and healthy. Coach Marshall says his team has been great at finding a way to work together to get the job done.  In the first meeting with Kip Pride the team trailed by 15 going into the fourth quarter before pulling out the win.

Tomorrow’s game will be the third home game in a row during the playoff run and Marshall is looking forward to a full gym at Aycock tomorrow as Henderson Collegiate looks to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

 

 

SportsTalk: Louisburg College Hopes To Make It To The World Series

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The list of legendary college coaches in North Carolina includes the likes of Dean Smith, Jim Valvano, Mack Brown, Mike Krzyzewski, Kay Yow and many more.  One legendary coach that might get overlooked is Russell Frazier. For 40 years, from 1959 to 1999, he led the Louisburg College Hurricanes and instilled a winning tradition that the school has had since. While his school never won a national title, his teams went to the National Junior College Athletic Association’s World Series on many occasions.  Louisburg’s last trip was in 2002 but now, 20 years later, the Hurricanes have their sights set on a return to Colorado for the series.

Louisburg College Head Baseball Coach Blake Herring told our Trey Snide on SportsTalk that his players are starting to buy into the idea that the Hurricanes are strong enough this season to make a run.   “If we can get out of our league, we have a good chance to get back to the World Series,” Herring said. While he is excited at the chances the Hurricanes have he cautions, “we can’t want it more than the players.”

His team is young. All but one pitcher are freshmen. He has a new outfield and says that the left side of the infield could be the strongest part of the team. This week rain has hampered practice but it’s nowhere as bad as last season when the school had 17 games rained out.  When inclement weather keeps them off the field, he takes his players to a parking lot at the school to practice throwing and hitting. “The most stressful thing to me is playing a meteorologist,” Herring says of his job as head coach.

At 33, Herring is young and has been with the school for seven years, first as an assistant for three years before taking the head coach position four years ago. Currently the Hurricanes are 6-1 having won there last six games.

Keep up with the Hurricanes at lchurricanes.com or on You Tube at Louisburg College Official.

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SportsTalk: Lance Stallings And Vance Charter Prepare For Busy Spring

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Between National Letter of Intent signings, basketball playoffs and preparing for spring sports Lance Stallings, Athletic Director at Vance Charter, is a busy man.  Stallings says that in the last week both Logan Privett and Charlie Cooper, two stars of Vance Charter’s softball team, have had letter of intent signings and once the dust settles, about half a dozen softball players will have signed their letters of intent.

Stallings is excited that those young women will be continuing on to play college level softball but he is also excited about the school’s basketball program.  Both men’s and women’s teams are in the state playoffs.  The men’s team has never been in the state playoffs before but after a third place conference finish they qualified. “I could not be more excited,” Stallings said of Vance Charter’s mens team. They will have to take on crosstown conference rival Henderson Collegiate tonight in the first round. The women’s team will take on Eno River. Even the middle school teams are playing for conference championships

While basketball is certainly foremost on Stallings’ mind at the moment, there is more happening at the school. Baseball gets underway on Monday with Ty Breedlove in his first year as head coach. Softball and Lacrosse will get underway later next week not to mention that the golf and tennis teams will be starting their seasons very soon.

Stallings is happy but doesn’t take all the credit. “It’s a family atmosphere. Everybody pitches in and is willing to help,” he says.

 

SportsTalk: Hunt Is Getting The Feel Of The Warren Co. Eagles’ AD Position

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It was only a week ago Victor Hunt, head football coach at Warren Co. High School, was named as athletic director at the school. He characterizes his first few days as a time to grow and learn.

This past football season Hunt took the Eagles to the state playoffs, something that hasn’t happened in quite a few seasons for Warren County.  The team made it to the second round before falling. He feels that injuries and Covid hampered the Eagles’ effort last season and they would have been better had those problems not been a part of the season. Despite the Eagles improvement on the grid iron Hunt was not happy. “When you don’t win a championship, you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished enough,” Hunt said.

However, Hunt is very pleased with the showing of the Eagles Women’s basketball team.  With only seven to eight players, the Eagles are in the state playoffs. “They have to play a lot of minutes,” Hunt said of the girls. “They never complain,” he added.  According to Hunt, the program is taking steps in the right direction.

It’s been harder for the men’s team which finished the season at 2-21. “It was tough,” Hunt said of the Eagles season.  He said half of the team had never played organized basketball before. Despite the losing record Hunt remains optimistic, “I don’t look at losses as losses but as lessons.”

The Eagles are now gearing up for spring sports with, what he describes, as a good group of kids on the baseball team and the highest participation in quite some time for softball. Track and field will get underway next week.

 

Coach's Corner Logo

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

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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

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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

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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

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“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.