SportsTalk: Vance Charter Girls Basketball Advances
Brian Howard talks about Vance Charter Girls first round tournament victory.
SportsTalk: Oxford Prep Softball Looking For Back To Back Championships
It’s never easy to repeat as a champion, but Oxford Prep Softball Coach Tommy Anstead feels as though his team has a pretty good chance to win a conference championship in 2024. “We have 12 or 13 girls returning including all of our starters except one,” Anstead said on Thursday’s SportsTalk.
The team is counting on another strong performance from pitcher Addison Faucette. Last season, as a freshman, Faucette was 16-3 on the year with an earned run average of 1.79. Oxford Prep can hit the ball too. “We had seven players with a batting average of over .300 and of the seven, four were over .400,” Anstead said.
Anstead expects tough competition this season citing Roxboro and Vance Charter as teams that could cause problems for Oxford Prep this season. Anstead also says the team has a tougher schedule this season. Oxford Prep opens the season on March 1st against county rival J.F. Webb.
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SportsTalk: UNC Baseball Starts Friday
Former Kerr-Vance Academy standout and Granville County native Daniel Wilkerson is excited about Friday! Wilkerson, assistant to the head coach for UNC Baseball, is ready to get the 15th-ranked Tar Heels on the field for the first game of the season Friday. “I can’t sleep the night before. It’s like Christmas morning,” Wilkerson said.
The Tar Heels open the season with a three-game series against Wagner. The first game is Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Tar Heels are just one of six ACC teams ranked in the top 15 nationally including No. 1 ranked Wake Forest. “We didn’t play them last year and I can’t wait to go to Winston-Salem this year,” Wilkerson said. “The rankings are meaningless. I ignore the rankings. We still have to go win baseball games,” Wilkerson added.
Wilkerson is also excited about his team’s prospects. “We’ve got young arms and a good pitching staff. We are deep in the bull pen,” said Wilkerson.
Daniel Wilkerson joined the UNC baseball program as Assistant to the head Coach and Clubhouse/Equipment manager during the 2022 fall semester.
SportsTalk: Crossroads Gets Ready For Tournament
Scottie Richardson has reason to be happy, back-to-back regular season championships for the Crossroads Christian boys basketball team. Richardson, the school’s athletic director, was a guest on Wednesday’s Sportstalk, and he said, “The boys will get a bye in the first round and we will play at home at 2 p.m. Saturday.” The opponent will be the winner of the New Garden/Halifax matchup.
Richardson is very proud of the accomplishments of his team. “This is the third year in a row the boys team has been a top 4 seed. “We’ve played New Garden three times this year and I think we will play them a fourth time Saturday,” Richardson added.
His girls team is also in the state tournament and plays at 6 p.m. Friday against Albemarle. “If they win, they will play again Saturday against Ridgecroft,” Richardson said.
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SportsTalk: Louisburg College Softball Is Ranked No. 1 In The Nation
When we think of a No. 1 ranked college athletic program, we may think of UNC, Duke or a team from a nationally known institution in other parts of the country. Most people probably don’t think about Louisburg College. Perhaps they should as the Louisburg College Hurricanes softball team is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the country. Eric Lee, who took over the Hurricanes program in 2017, was Thursday’s guest on SportsTalk. “It’s a good job,” Lee said of his position at the college.
Last year the Hurricanes led the nation in homeruns, not just at the junior college level but at every level including NCAA Division I. That’s an impressive achievement for any school but even more so from a small junior college like Louisburg. The college has a rich athletic history with names like Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice, baseball coach Russell Frazier, basketball coaches Enid Drake and Mike Holloman. “I’m honored to be at the school, but I don’t think of myself as being up there with those names,” Lee said.
With the recent success the college is spending $100,000 on upgrading facilities at the school. These upgrades will hopefully lead to more kids wanting to play at Louisburg. “You can recruit here,” Lee said. One of Lee’s goals is to recruit locally as much as possible from not only Franklin County but the surrounding counties of Wake, Vance, Warren and Granville Counties. “We’ve had success recruiting locally. A lot of students want a traditional college experience,” Lee added.
SportsTalk: Former Southern Vance Football Coach Dave Jennings Talks About The Super Bowl
Dave Jennings is likely a familiar name to those who follow local athletics. He was head coach at Southern Vance High School for 14 years before moving on to Franklinton High School where he was an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator . Coach Jennings was a guest on Monday’s SportsTalk and shared his thoughts on the big 49ers vs. Chiefs game this weekend but also talked about his coaching days as well. “I’m retired now,” Jennings said. While he may no longer prowl the sidelines on Friday night, he is proud of his accomplishments on the field. “We had a winning record 13 of 14 seasons,” Jennings said. Jennings also took Southern Vance to the state championship game in 2006 where they lost by three points to Shelby.
Today’s high school game is different with the influx of charter and private schools. “You have to go with the flow. You have to take the players you have and just go with it,” Jennings said.
During his time at Southern Vance he had the opportunity to coach Aaron Elliott, the current head coach at Vance High School. “Coach Elliott is doing a great job,” Jennings said.
As for Sunday’s big game? “I believe it will be lower scoring than most think,” Jennings said. He feels that the Chiefs should come away with the victory on Sunday.
SportsTalk: Local Coaches Prep For Basketball Tournaments And Spring Sports
John Hammett and Scottie Richardson may be athletic directors for different schools in different counties but they are both facing the same things: a basketball season that is winding down and the start of spring sports.
Hammett, Oxford Prep’s athletic director, says his boys’ basketball team is having a real strong year despite a loss this week to Vance Charter. “We’ve got some real good shooters,” Hammett said. They take on Roxboro Charter Friday night. “Roxboro is young but they have a couple of good player,” Hammett said of the team’s opponent. The girls team is currently 7-9. “They have been getting better throughout the year,” said Hammett. Oxford Prep has five games remaining before they start the conference basketball tournament.
Meanwhile, at Crossroads Christian, athletic director Scottie Richardson says his girls team will be the second seed for their upcoming tournament. The boys could be. “We control our own destiny,” Richardson said. It will take a few more wins in the remaining four games for Crossroads to secure that second seed.
One of the problems both men face is an overlap between basketball and baseball. “I would like to see both basketball and baseball seasons shortened to eliminate the overlap,” Hammett said on Thursday’s SportsTalk. Richardson said it is difficult to coordinate with coaches when players play multiple sports.
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SportsTalk: Alex Tharp Talks JF Webb Basketball
Alex Tharp, J.F. Webb head basketball coach, discusses the current basketball season.
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SportsTalk: KVA Prepares For Playoffs And Spring Sports
For Kerr-Vance Academy’s athletic director, Mike Joyner, it’s been a long fall season. Basketball tournaments and the holidays have all contributed. Joyner, who was a guest on Thursday’s SportsTalk, said the season is going well. “Our boys basketball team has won two conference games in a row,” Joyner said. The most recent victory was Wednesday night against Halifax. The boys team is just over .500 for the season. Meanwhile, the girls and JV teams have already qualified for the state playoffs. “The playoffs should start with the first round on February 13th,” Joyner added.
Joyner also looked ahead to spring sports. “Our baseball team should be able to contend,” Joyner said. The team was a solid playoff team last year and lost no players to graduation and the same can be said for the school’s golf team, while girls soccer will bring back almost all of the players from last year.
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West Virginia defeated North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, 30-10
— by Patrick Magoon freelance writer for WIZS
The West Virginia Mountaineers received the opening kickoff of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and stunned the North Carolina Tar Heels with a one-play, 11-second scoring drive. Quarterback Garrett Greene connected with wide receiver Traylon Ray, who carried the football 75 yards for a touchdown.
While under pressure early in the first quarter, UNC quarterback Conner Harrell demonstrated exceptional quickness and vision. Harrell’s ability to pivot and evade West Virginia’s defenders resulted in back-to-back first-down runs totaling 32 yards.
“I thought Connor did really well,” said UNC head coach Mack Brown. “I didn’t think we helped him enough.”
However, during the next set of downs, UNC failed to advance the ball effectively through the ground game and had to punt the ball away.
West Virginia failed to gain significant yardage during its second offensive series and had to punt the ball away.
On the ensuing drive, UNC responded with an impressive 47-yard passing play featuring sophomore wide receiver Gavin Blackwell. Blackwell’s one-handed grab moved the Tar Heels into the red zone.
Despite the huge gain through the air, UNC’s offensive momentum quickly dissipated. Harrell’s next pass attempt was intercepted in the end zone, and the Tar Heels finished the first quarter with zero points.
UNC’s defense found its footing late in the first quarter, forcing a fumble near midfield. With possession to start the second quarter, UNC’s offense executed 14 plays, advancing the ball 45 yards to set up a 28-yard field goal. The field goal shrunk West Virginia’s lead to four.
West Virginia failed to score on its next two possessions due to strong tackling and tight coverage from UNC’s defense.
After two sluggish offensive possessions, the Mountaineers responded by scooping up a fumble on a 42-yard punt and carrying the football 78 yards for a touchdown. The touchdown extended West Virginia’s lead to 11 with 1:29 left in the first half.
The scoring didn’t stop there. UNC’s offense quickly marched 76 yards for a touchdown. West Virginia’s offense responded by picking apart UNC’s defense and accumulating 63 yards in 23 seconds to set up a 29-yard field goal.
At the start of the second half, UNC relied on the speed and strength of running back Omarion Hampton to keep the chains moving. However, UNC’s first offensive possession ended abruptly after Harrell’s pass was intercepted and returned 24 yards to the WVU 45.
With under three minutes left in the third quarter, West Virginia’s Michael Hayes kicked the football 34 yards through the end zone. West Virginia extended its lead to 10.
Trailing by 10 to start the fourth quarter, UNC was limited to 14 yards on offense with nowhere to run. In contrast, West Virginia achieved success through its elusive rushing attack, gaining 59 yards and a touchdown.
For the remainder of the final quarter, UNC failed to build momentum on offense. Both of UNC’s fourth-down conversion attempts in the final quarter fell incomplete, and Harrell was sacked on the final play of the game for a loss of seven yards.
“I think it’s just one of those situations where the better team won,” said UNC linebacker Kaimon Rucker. “I’m not discrediting anything that we’ve done.”