It’s Friday in the middle of football season so most schools will be taking the field this evening but not Vance County. The Viper’s scheduled game against the Northern Durham Knights was cancelled at the beginning of the week due to Covid 19 protocols meaning the Vipers won’t return to the field until April 5th when they will finally get to tangle with Northern Durham. According to Vance County High School athletic director Joe Sharrow juggling the schedule was the only way to get the Northern Durham game back. “We really didn’t want to lose the game with Northern Durham,” Sharrow said. Even though Northern Durham and Vance County will be in different conferences next year, the Knights will be part of the Viper’s schedule for the next two years.
The Knights will remain under quarantine until April 1st when they resume practice and will play the Vipers on Monday, April 5th, 6:30pm at Vance Co. High School. In order to accomodate the Northern Durham game the Vipers would originally have had to play three games in eight days as Northwood would have taken on the Vipers on April 2nd but “three games in eight days was too much,” according to Sharrow. “We’re pretty beat up right now,” Sharrow added. Sharrow said that one of the games on the schedule would have to go if they wanted to play Northern Durham. Sharrow and Coach Hunter Jenks were not in favor of cancelling the Cedar Ridge game scheduled for April 9th. Cedar Ridge is coached by former Northern Vance coach Corey Lee and Vance County has a good relationship with the school so that meant the Northwood game would have to go. However, Sharrow helped Northwood find another school to play, Panther Creek High School in Cary. Even though Vance County gets to keep the game with Northern Durham it does mean that the team will play one less game than intended.
At 0-3 with two games left on the schedule, Sharrow said that getting into the state playoff would require some help and that it is a long shot. The school would have to receive an at-large bid and that means the improving Vipers would certainly have to win out the rest of the season and then get the help Sharrow discussed. Sharrow says, “The primary focus is finishing up with Northern Durham and Cedar Ridge, to stay healthy and let our seniors play out the year.”
As far as athletics in general at Vance County High School, “I am ecstatic about the Vance County High School Athletics programs,” Sharrow said. Sharrow pointed to the really good numbers with the girl’s softball team and recent wins with that program along with strong numbers for the girl’s soccer team. Where many teams have had trouble finding players to field teams it hasn’t been much of an issue for Vance County. This is likely due to the fact that Vance County High School is the only school in the state conducting Covid 19 tests every week.
Once again, Vance County High School’s next game will be on Monday, April 5th against the Northern Durham Knights, 6:30pm, at Vance County High School. Tune into WIZS for full play by play coverage of that contest.
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