Trey Snide and Ron Noel welcomed Vance Co. Head Football Coach Hunter Jenks, Duke Radio play by play announcer Chris Edwards and Granville Central Head Basketball and Soccer Coach Greg George on SportsTalk on Thursday.
Jenks, whose Vance Co. Vipers came up on the wrong end of a 42 – 6 score against Chapel Hill on Friday, said of the first game of the season, “We are never happy with losing.” He said four turnovers and too many plays on defense sealed the teams fate. The Vipers’ defense was on the field for 80 plays during the loss. Even though the Vipers lost by a large margin Jenks said, “By and large, with the first game, I was happy with the defensive side of the ball.”
Jenks explained that practices this week have been good as they prepare to take on Southern Durham on March 12. For that game Jenks hopes his offense will do a much better job at protecting the football. “Don’t be afraid to win the game on the last play of the game,” Jenks said when talking about what he has told his team this week. He said he has already seen improvement and hopes to see more consistency as the team moves through the season.
The game against Southern Durham will be the first road game for the Vipers and can be heard over WIZS radio beginning at 6:30 on Friday, March 12.
During the second part of the show, Chris Edwards talked about Duke baseball and what it has been like to not have games for the past eleven months. He said he missed little things like sunsets from the stadium that he won’t take for granted again. Duke has a weekend series against Pittsburgh. Edwards said it would be a big challenge for the Blue Devils since Pittsburgh just swept Florida St.
In regards to the ACC as a whole, “The ACC will beat up on each other,” Edwards said. He also feels that the ACC has a legitimate chance to have all fourteen teams in the NCAA tournament. Edwards says we will know more about how the teams will shake out after a month of, “beating up on each other.”
Currently, Duke is 4 – 4 on the season and are, “still trying to figure stuff out,” said Edwards. Much of Duke’s success will depend on the team’s bullpen figuring out its role.
In the third part of SportsTalk, Greg George of Granville Central spoke about the success of his JV team. He said the “JV team exceeded expectations. We keep trying to build it because that’s what lays the foundation for the varsity program going forward.”
George says it is challenging to coach so many different programs but he has a great support system with the staff and other coaches at the school. Currently Granville Central is number one in the conference with its soccer program. He said the disruption to the normal athletic schedules because of Covid has leveled the playing field for all of the schools in the conference. Lastly, George commented that the Granville Central football program is making great strides this season. Granville Central will take on county rival J. F. Webb on Friday night.
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