“We feel good. I would put them up against any team in the state,” Vance Vipers Head Coach Aaron Elliott said on Wednesday’s SportsTalk with Bill Harris. The Vipers have advanced to round two of the state high school football playoffs after a 28-26 road win against highly touted West Carteret last Friday in Morehead City. The Vipers were underdogs last week and may be so again Thursday night against conference rivals Southern Durham, who have already beaten the Vipers once this year.
Coach Elliott likes being an underdog. That, he says, eliminates the team having a target on its back. “As long as we are healthy, we can go a long way in the playoffs,” Elliott added. Right now the Vipers are healthy. An unexpected week off for the Vipers helped tremendously to get kids back after a round of flu contributed to the Southern Durham loss a few weeks ago.
All season long Coach Elliott has worked to instill the importance of practice with the Vipers and that has seemed to pay off this season, and he said this week has had great practices despite a shortened week. The game has been moved to Thursday night at Southern Durham with a kick off time set for 7:30 p.m. due to remnants of Nicole making an appearance in North Carolina. The Vipers and the Spartans may still have to work through some rain Thursday night, but everything is set for a rematch between two great teams looking to advance to round three.
Airtime Thursday night is at 7:20 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. from Southern Durham.
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