About half of the Vance County Vipers varsity football team is made up of underclassmen, a fact that Head Coach Aaron Elliott does not sidestep.
With 16 of the 32 players sophomores and freshmen, Elliott said his team is definitely on the young side, and that’ll pay off in the future. Right now, however, Elliott and his Vipers are looking at an 0-4 record, and they spent a lot of time at practice this week working on technique and fundamentals.
Coming off a lopsided loss on the road last week at Rocky Mount, the Vipers host Northeastern Friday night in the Communities in Schools matchup.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Elliott said the team has had a couple of weeks of good practices, and he believes they’ll be fine if they can remember technique and fundamentals.
“We’ve been averaging 200 or 250 yards of offense each week,” Elliott told WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle on Thursday’s SportsTalk. That usually translates into scores, but Elliott pointed to miscues and not sustaining drives to the lack of points on the board.
“I think our energy was down a little bit,” Elliott said, reflecting on last week’s game against the Griffons. “We were missing some key players.”
Quarterback Aaden Trowbridge and running back Jerimi Strong are both in concussion protocol, but Elliott is hopeful they’ll be back for the conference opener against Wake Forest High School in a couple of weeks.
“We can’t get on the good side of luck,” Elliott said.
The 3-1 Northeastern Eagles head into Viper Stadium with a good group of athletes all over the field, Elliott said. The Vipers need to stop the running game, but the Eagles also have a 6-foot-4 receiver so the defense will need to cover the pass game as well.
Keeping the players motivated and upbeat is something Elliott focuses on. It’s important to battle through adversity, whether you’re talking about a football season or life in general.
“You just gotta fight through it, move on,” Elliott said.
But he also like to have a little fun in practice, too. “I try my best to keep the fun in football. Obviously, these kids love it, and if you take the fun away, you’ll lose them.”
Area High School Football Games for Week 5:
- Vance County (0-4) vs. Northeastern (3-1)
- Franklinton (4-0) vs. Riverside Durham (1-3)
- Wake Forest (2-2) @ Hillside Durham (3-1)
- Heritage (1-3) vs. Holly Springs (1-3)
- Knightdale (0-4) vs. South Granville (2-2)
- East Wake (2-2) vs. Cary (1-3)
- Warren County (3-0) vs. Nash Central (0-4)
- Louisburg (2-1) @ Wilson Beddingfield (0-3)
- Wake Prep (3-1) @ North Edgecombe (3-1)
- Person (1-3) vs. Western Alamance (3-0)
- Mecklenburg County, VA (0-3) vs. Greensville County, VA (0-2)
Vance County hosts Northeastern High School from Elizabeth City for Week 5 of the 2026 season on Friday, September 18th and you can hear all the action on WIZS 1450AM, 100.1FM, and online at wizs.com with pregame starting at 6:50 p.m. and kickoff thereafter at 7:00 p.m.
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