SportsTalk: Hurricanes Football Starts Off Right
Quinderra Spellman, Head Coach of Louisburg College Football, joins SportsTalk with Scout Hughes to speak on the Hurricanes’ Week 1 win against Community Christian College 62-0.
Click Play!
SportsTalk: Vance County Football Week 2 Recap
Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue recap the week that was with High School Football. The guys also talk about some college football games that happened over the weekend.
High School Football Scores from Week 2:
- South Granville 50 Vance County 48 OT
- Franklinton 42 Bunn 13
- Wake Forest 31 Leesville Road 21
- Millbrook 47 Heritage 0
- Enloe 36 Knightdale 6
- Rocky Mount 42 East Wake 20
- Warren County 44 J.F. Webb 0
- Louisburg 28 Southeast Halifax 0
- Wake Prep 47 North Moore 8
- Brunswick, VA 20 Mecklenburg County, VA 12
Area College Football Scores for Week 0:
- UNC 15 TCU 10
- Virginia 34 NC State 8
- Texas Southern 42 NC Central 30
- Louisburg College 62 Community Christian College 0
Click Play!
SportsTalk: Vance County Vipers Host South Granville Vikings Thursday 7 PM
50 South Granville
48 Vance County
Final – OT
**************
For the second time in as many weeks, the Vance County Vipers will be playing on Thursday night, thanks to the forecast of stormy weather on Friday. Head Coach Aaron Elliott said the team practices this week have focused on tackling, timing and limiting turnovers after the season-opener loss at Warren County.
“It’s not that we can’t tackle,” Elliott said on Thursday’s SportsTalk. “We’re just not being physical.”
Junior quarterback Aiden Trowbridge had a good game for the Vipers, and Elliott said with a little more work on timing and connecting with his receivers, he’ll just get better and better.
Although playing on Thursday takes away a day of practice, Elliott said he expects tonight’s 7 p.m. home opener against South Granville High School to be a tough matchup.
(Story Continues Below; Click Play!)
The Vikings beat Bunn last week, so they’ll be coming to Henderson with some momentum. But Elliott pointed to contributions from Vipers Harry Cheek – who is expected to play tonight – and Jaleak Davis, who will share some playing time at running back. Davis had close to 100 yards in last week’s game that contributed to the Vipers’ 270 or so yards of total offense, the coach noted. And sophomore Jerimi Strong had 80-plus yards receiving last week, too.
Having depth at the different positions is key, Elliott said, especially in close games. Being able to move players in and out and not have to play them on defense and offense preserves their energy and keeps them humming along all game long.
“We’re able to last and play a full four quarters,” he said.
Next week’s game against Jordan in Durham was always on the schedule for Thursday, Sept. 3 in advance of the long Labor Day weekend. But last week’s and tonight’s games were shifted to Thursday because the weather was expected to be stormy.
Elliott said he can’t remember any time over his 19 years of coaching that any team of his has played three consecutive Thursday night games.
And although it means they miss that extra day of practice between contests, Elliott said this season’s Vipers team would probably be up to play games every night of the week.
They’re looking to redeem themselves tonight and improve their record to 1-1.
SportsTalk: South Granville’s Coach Johnson Aims For Great Strides
Head Coach Sterling Johnson led his South Granville High School Vikings to a 27-6 win last week over Bunn, and the first-year head coach said his team played hard, which was what he was looking for in Week 1 of the high school football season.
Week 2 brings the Creedmoor team to Henderson to face to Vipers, and – for the second time in as many weeks – the game is being moved up a day because of the threat of stormy weather on Friday.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27 at Viper Stadium.
Johnson, a high school All American and defensive standout at Cleveland High School, committed to Clemson and played three years there before heading to Coastal Carolina for his last two years of eligibility. He was captain and all-conference at Coastal and, as he put it in an interview with WIZS’s Scout Hughes, “had a little stint with the Jets” after college.
He was defensive line coach at his old high school and then went up to Canada to play for a while with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
For the last couple of seasons, he was defensive coordinator at Wakefield High School in Wake County.
When he reviewed South Granville’s 2025-26 season and saw that they’d lost a bunch of close games, he determined that he’d be inheriting a pretty good situation for his first foray into head coach duties.
Besides, he felt a strong community feel at South Granville, reminiscent of his time in Cleveland both as a player and a coach.
The Vikings beat the Vipers pretty good last year, but Johnson said his team is going to have to be ready to play when it faces a Vipers team, known for its offense and its winning history.
“We’re going to have to play to our best abilities,” he noted. “We’re just going to have to play our best and hope things turn out in our favor.”
Area High School Football Games for Week 2:
- Vance County (0-1) vs. South Granville (1-0)
- Franklinton (1-0) @ Bunn (0-1)
- Wake Forest (0-1) vs. Leesville Road (0-1)
- Heritage (1-0) @ Millbrook (1-0)
- Knightdale (0-1) @ Enloe (0-1)
- East Wake (1-0) vs. Rocky Mount (0-1)
- J.F. Webb (1-0) @ Warren County (1-0)
- Louisburg (0-0) @ Southeast Halifax (0-1)
- Wake Prep (0-1) vs. North Moore (0-1)
- Mecklenburg County, VA (0-0) @ Brunswick, VA (0-0)
(Note that it was announced that the High School Football Game between Vance County & South Granville would be moved to Thursday after Wednesday’s SportsTalk had concluded.)
Vance County hosts South Granville on Military and First Responders Appreciation Night for Week 2 of the 2026 season on Thursday, August 27th 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.
CLICK PLAY!
SportsTalk: Coach Spellman Ready For Canes Football In 2026
Quinderra Spellman, Head Football Coach of Louisburg College, joins SportsTalk to speak about the great strides that the Canes team has made in the offseason, as well as to preview the upcoming Week One game against Community Christian College.
Click Play!
SportsTalk: Vance County Football Week 1 Recap
Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue recap Vance County’s loss to Warren County back on Thursday.
High School Football Scores from Week 1:
- Warren County 52 Vance County 12
- Franklinton 34 Person 14
- Southern Durham 26 Wake Forest 21
- Heritage 30 Wakefield 28
- Southern Nash 33 Knightdale 13
- East Wake 27 Riverside 20
- J.F. Webb 28 Western Harnett 7
- South Granville 27 Bunn 6
- North Raleigh Christian 33 Wake Prep 13
- Mecklenburg County, VA 19 Rustburg, VA 6
Click Play!
SportsTalk: Coach Brind’Amour Inspires Us All
Head Coach of the Carolina Hurricanes Rod Brind’Amour joins SportsTalk with Scout Hughes and George Hoyle to speak about winning the Stanley Cup as a player and now as a coach. Coach also talks about how he’d like to grow the sport of Hockey more in the Triangle and North Carolina.
Click Play!
SportsTalk: Vipers Getting Prepared for Week 1 Rival
UPDATE – FINAL SCORE
Warren County 52
Vance County 12
RECAP MONDAY ON SPORTSTALK
•••••••••••••••••••••••••
Vance County High School Head Football Coach Aaron Elliott said tonight’s County Line Clash that takes the Vipers to Warren County High School is going to come down to which team can be more disciplined and more in control of emotions – it’s Week 1 AND a rivalry, to boot.
The game was moved to Thursday because of the threat of storms on Friday.
But that’s ok with Elliott. “This is my favorite week as a coach,” he told WIZS’s Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue on Wednesday. “You tend to get a little extra out of the kids – Week 1 and playing a rival – you get the best out of them this week.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Warrenton.
Elliott said the Vipers’ offense is shaping up pretty well after playing a couple of scrimmages. They moved the ball pretty well during the Jamboree and had some positive runs against last week’s scrimmage against Sanderson in Raleigh.
The Vipers will need that and more when they take the field against the Eagles, a team that Elliott said is a physical team. “They like to get after it. They’re going to play hard…they’re going to bring their A game,” he said.
Coach Victor Hunt’s team has athletes “all over the field,” and the Vipers have been able to review a bit of film to create a game plan for the matchup.
The Eagles are a 2A team, but the County Line Clash always seems to be a close one, although Vance County has more W’s in the rivalry.
Tune in to WIZS for the pre-game show at 6:50 p.m. tonight and then listen to the play-by-play for Week 1 of Friday Night Football.
Area High School Football Games for Week 1:
- Vance County @ Warren County
- Franklinton vs. Person
- Wake Forest vs. Southern Durham
- Heritage @ Wakefield
- Knightdale vs. Southern Nash
- East Wake @ Riverside
- J.F. Webb vs. Western Harnett – Game at Granville Central MS
- South Granville vs. Bunn
- Wake Prep @ North Raleigh Christian
Vance County travels to Warren County High School for Week 1 of the 2026 season on Thursday, August 20th 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 at 7:00 p.m.
CLICK PLAY!
SportsTalk: Eagles Ready for Rivalry Game vs. Vance
Warren County Head Football Coach Victor Hunt, joins SportsTalk with Scout & Doc to speak about how they have prepared to host Vance County for Week 1 of the High School Football Season.
(Our WIZS written coverage will appear here soon.)
CLICK PLAY!
SportsTalk: AP Preseason College Football Top 25 Released
Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue talk about the new preseason College Football Top 25 released by the AP, Monday at 12 noon.
The Preseason AP Top 25:
- 1. Ohio State
- 2. Oregon
- 3. Georgia
- 4. Notre Dame
- 5. Texas
- 6. Indiana
- 7. Miami (FL)
- 8. Texas A&M
- 9. Ole Miss
- 10. Oklahoma
- 11. LSU
- 12. Texas Tech
- 13. Alabama
- 14. BYU
- 14. USC
- 16. Michigan
- 17. Washington
- 18. Penn State
- 19. SMU
- 20. Tennessee
- 21. Utah
- 22. Iowa
- 23. Houston
- 24. Louisville
- 25. Missouri
Click Play!