TownTalk: Vance Co. Venom Win Initial 7 On 7 Cup

/by

7-on-7 football is a bit different, but according to Vance Venom coaches Theo Perry and Trenton Ware it’s still football.  “It’s the same strategy. We look to take advantage of the other team’s weakness,” according to Ware.  On Sunday, May 21st, the Vance Venom hosted the First Annual Carolina Cup with teams from Warrenton, Knightdale and Goldsboro participating.  The Venom were victorious in what Perry and Ware hope will be a yearly event with more teams.

Perry and Ware, who both appeared on WIZS TownTalk, say that one of the goals is to help develop players age 7 to 18 in the Vance, Granville and Warren County areas.  “We want to give the kids something to do. Keep them off the streets and the right path, doing something positive,” Perry said.

This season focuses on high school kids, but Perry and Ware hope to expand next year and have more players who are younger so the Venom will be able to field more teams organized by age group.  Ware said many of the younger players this year look up to the older kids who play for the Vance County High School Viper team.  “Those kids are well coached and want to learn,” Ware said of the Viper players who play with the Venom.

 

Third Overtime Score Propels Vance Charter School Women’s Soccer to Elite 8

/by

The Vance Charter School women’s soccer team defeated Voyager Academy Monday night 2-1 on an Addison Clary assist to Abby Cole for a one-touch score.

Coach Johnny Yount told WIZS News, “(The) second overtime 10-minute period was ours and carried over to the first 5-minute OT.”

The winning score came in the first minute of the third overtime as the 12th-seeded Knights upset 4th-seeded Voyager in Durham.

Yount said, “(This is) such an incredible achievement for this program and everyone involved.”

Vance Charter will face top-seeded Woods Charter on Wednesday at 6 p.m., according to Coach Yount, in the Elite 8 round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state playoffs.

High school soccer overtime rules require two 10-minute periods which are not sudden victory.  The contest becomes sudden victory in the third OT.

Lucas Satterwhite Signs to Play Varsity Lacrosse at Guilford College

/by

Coach Dan Sandlin submitted the text and photos.

Today marks a monumental day for the Vance Charter Lacrosse team. Lucas Satterwhite, a four year varsity starter and a three year captain of the team, signed his letter of intent to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. In the fall, Lucas will be attending Guilford College in Greensboro and will be a member of the Varsity Lacrosse program for the school.

Oxford Prep School

SportsTalk: Oxford Prep Wraps Up Successful Spring Season

/by

Spring sports at Oxford Prep have wound down, but Athletic Director John Hammett is happy with the outcomes of his teams at the school. The softball team won a conference championship, the baseball team was third in the conference, posting a winning record and advancing to the second round of the state playoffs, and the soccer team posted the most victories in school history with five.

With the softball conference championship, that makes for seven banners in ten years for teams from Oxford Prep. And Hammett is excited for upcoming seasons as well. “Our entire baseball team returns next season, and all but one from our softball team will be back as well,” Hammett said on Thursday’s SportsTalk.

Hammett also indicated that most of the soccer team will also be back, and he feels the next several seasons could be strong for all of his teams.

With the school year at an end, one might think things will be slowing down, but Hammett will be busy with camps for the students getting them prepared for what should be another exciting year for Oxford Prep sports.

CLICK PLAY to hear Athletic Director John Hammett!

 

SportsTalk: Vance Charter Soccer Advances To Third Round Of Playoffs

/by

Update 10 p.m. — Congratulations to Vance Charter!  Survive and advance.

Final Score

VCS-1
Lejeune-0

Read more

SportsTalk: Local Schools Making A Run In State Playoffs

/by

It’s an exciting time at Oxford Prep and Kerr Vance Academy.  Both schools have teams advancing through the state playoffs.

At Oxford Prep it’s Tommy Anstead’s softball team that is looking to make it to the third round of the state playoffs.   “We’ve never been as far as the third round,” Anstead said on Thursday’s SportsTalk on WIZS. On Tuesday Oxford Prep had a convincing 5-3 win over Union High School.  That school featured a pitcher with 196 strike outs this year.  When asked how you prepare for a pitcher with that type of talent Anstead said, “You hope they don’t have any,” referring to the strike outs. This is the school’s third time advancing to the second round and they must defeat Riverside Martin from Williamston Friday night to make it to round three.  Riverside Martin is ranked eleventh in the state.  That game is in Oxford and will be at 6pm Friday.

Meanwhile, Mike Joyner, Athletic Director at Kerr Vance Academy, will need to be in two places at once Friday night as both the baseball team and the girl’s soccer team will be playing.  The Spartan’s soccer team is ranked #8 in the state and escaped with a 1-0 win over Lee Christian earlier this week and will now face local rival Crossroads Christian.  That game is at 5pm Friday.  At 6pm the #1 seeded baseball team, which is coming off a first round bye, will take on North Hills Christian.  “We lost in the semi-finals last year and we felt we were in good shape to make a run this year,” Joyner said of the team.  “We are young with no seniors but we added two really good players,” Joyner added.  KVA will be at home throughout the playoffs with the championships coming up on May 19th and 20th.

CLICK PLAY!

 

 

 

SportsTalk: Vance Charter Names Athletes Of The Year

/by

Lance Stallings, Athletic Director for Vance Charter School, and his teams have been very successful on the field during the Spring sports season.  The school’s lacrosse team, co-conference champions with J.F. Webb, hosts a second round playoff game against Swansboro Friday night. The softball team is currently in second place in the conference and two golfers, Hunter Gill and Bill Taylor, have qualified for state regionals.

Stallings, who was on SportsTalk Thursday, also announced that senior Christian Bean has been named male Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year and sophomore Katherine Suther has been named female Athlete of the Year.  “These two students are nominated and selected by the entire athletic department not just their coaches,” Stallings said.  Both Bean and Suther joined Stallings on SportsTalk to talk about the award.

Bean plays three sports at Vance Charter: cross country, lacrosse and basketball.  Once he graduates this year he plans on attending Appalachian State and majoring in recreation management. Suther also plays three sports: volleyball, basketball and soccer.  “Soccer is my favorite,” Suther said.  “We’ve grown together as a team.  We had a lot of freshmen who had never played before,” Suther said. Suther also said that even though she is only a sophomore she has already begun to look ahead to college where she is considering going into sports medicine.

Soccer is just winding up the regular season and plays Oxford Prep Thursday night.  A win by Vance Charter will ensure the team a share of the conference championship, but a loss will give Oxford Prep the title outright.

CLICK PLAY!

 

SportsTalk: Orange Co. Speedway Is A Destination For Short Track Racing

/by

Stephen Dunn — race promoter, announcer and enthusiast — discussed short track, Saturday night racing at Orange County Speedway.  Also, we talked about North Wilkesboro and Hickory and the CARS Tour.

Dunn operates several businesses that help in the sport of racing and beyond.  He is Founder at RPM Group (rpmgroupnc.com), CEO at GXS Wraps (gxswraps.com) and Principal at Graphix Solution (graphixsolutionnc.com).

The Stickered Up Podcast, the Official podcast of the Solid Rock CARS Tour, is hosted by Dunn and can be found anywhere you download podcasts.

For more now CLICK PLAY!

Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Viper Football Starts Spring Workouts

/by

Football may be months away but the Vance County Vipers are busy with preparations as they start Spring workouts. Coach Aaron Elliott is back for his second season and is the only coach in the school’s history to return after their initial year. “We have been wide open for Spring workouts with great numbers. We had 45 kids on Monday. A lot more than we expected,” Elliott said, on Thursday’s SportsTalk.

The team is returning a number of star players from last year’s playoff team including all of last year’s starting linebackers. One of those returning players is Tashon Alston. Alston is also getting looks from division one schools. South Carolina has made an offer to Alston. “It felt good. It felt awesome to hear about the offer,” Alston said while joining his coach on the show.

Elliott is also pleased that his entire coaching staff from last season has remained intact and, while pleased with all of the players and coaches that are returning, he is also excited about new faces to the program. For the first time the Vipers now have a weight training instructor. “That was the missing piece to the puzzle,” Elliott said.

The Vipers will practice through the end of next week and then take a break for exams and graduation before ramping back up in June.

CLICK PLAY!

 

Oxford Prep School

SportsTalk: Best Season Ever For Oxford Prep Softball

/by

It’s been a great year for Oxford Prep softball.  “We’re having a really good season. It’s the best year we’ve ever had,” said coach Tommy Anstead on Thursday’s SportsTalk.   Currently, Oxford Prep is 13-3 on the season with just three games remaining on their conference schedule.  One of those games is with Vance Charter while a double header with Voyager will take up the final two games.

Currently, Oxford Prep is number seven in the RPI rankings and will likely move up. “A lot of people underestimated us,” added coach Anstead.  One of the reasons is no one knew of the strong freshmen class.  These freshmen players included Addison Faucett. The freshmen pitcher has 118 strikeouts on the season.  Additionally, the team has five players batting over .400 on the season and Oxford Prep as a team has a batting average of .355.

If the final three games go as expected, meaning wins, then Oxford Prep will get a first round playoff game at home and a strong possibility of a second home playoff game. However, Anstead and Oxford Prep are trying not to look ahead.  “I tell the girls all the time to take it one game at a time,” Anstead said.

CLICK PLAY!