by Kevin Bullock
It has been a tale of two seasons for Vance County High School football teams. Northern Vance comes into Friday’s game red hot against Southern, and yet the Raiders will look to turn their season around against the crosstown Vikings.
Northern Vance has already picked up a victory this season over 4A East Chapel Hill, and had an impressive victory last week against Warren County.
Southern suffered a tough loss against Ravenscroft in week one, and J.F. Webb was able to pull away from the Raiders late in the fourth quarter in week two.
Players to watch:
Northern goes the way of Kristopher Haywood. The senior Viking quarterback will need the time to find his friends Joel Royster and Elijah Stewart. When he is pressured he as the running ability to take it down the field, but as a result is prone to major hits along the sideline. Haywood needs to say healthy if Northern wants to move the ball. Todd McKoon is the player to watch along the defensive line. You may think we are crazy, but no, this 5’6 145lb defensive lineman makes a great nose tackle.
Southern goes the way of their wide receivers. Mark Baldwin, Zamari Ellis, Laronta Durham, and others must limit their drops this week as compared to their game against J.F. Webb if they hope to stand a chance against Northern. Senior quarterback Jerry Throckmorton has a cannon attached to the right side of his body, which excuses the occasional overthrow. Raider wide receivers had over seven dropped passes last week, and that cannot happen Friday if the Raiders want the win.
The Optimist Bowl this year is at Southern Vance. Attend if you can, but listen to WIZS inside Raider Stadium on the all new WIZS.com or on the free Tune-In radio app. Kickoff is at 7:30p.m.
We hope to see you there.