by Jeff Jenkins

Southern Vance

Southern Vance continues conference play on the road tonight, traveling to the wilds of Granville County to meet Granville Central, one of the Northern Carolina Conference’s two 1A members.  These two teams have not played each other since 2011 and 2012, when Central was a very new school, and Southern Vance was riding pretty high.  In 2011, the Raiders finished 9-3, while the fledgling Panthers ended up with 3-8 record.  That year, Southern won the contest 45-6, and in 2012, when the Raiders had begun to slip, they still smothered the Panthers 58-6.  Fortunes have reversed for both teams in the intervening years, with Granville Central enjoying 4 consecutive playoff appearances, and winning a Tar-Roanoke 1A conference championship in 2015.  During those year’s Southern Vance slipped further into mediocrity, winning only 3 games in the previous 3 seasons.

This year, both teams have new head coaches, and both schools started off their season with games against Bartlett Yancey.  Southern Vance won that game 30-22 in OT, while the Panthers defense led the way to a 7-6 victory.  Central won its only other nonconference game 33-8 , against everyone’s favorite creampuff Kipp Pride; but got a rude introduction to its new conference last week with a painful 46-0 shut out at unbeaten Roanoke Rapids.   After 4 games, The Raiders are 1-3, but have averaged scoring 27.5 point per game, almost double last season’s average.  The defense has allowed 33 points per game, but Southern has not been beaten by more than 13 points.  At 2-1, Granville Central has only averaged 13 points scoring and is allowing 20 (thanks to the 46 scored by Roanoke Rapids).

On offense, the Panthers keep the ball on the ground, dividing the work among Jr. Deandre Moore, averaging 66 yards per game and 3 total TDs, Jr. Mike Wood, (50 yards per game and 1 TD), and Soph Jed Evans (30 yds per game).  Two soph QB’s, Kobe Jones and 5’2”, 120 lb Brady Smith, have played so far, but neither has passed much, and no TDs have been scored through the air.  The Panther defense held Bartlett Yancey to 6 points – better than the Raiders, and Central has returned one fumble recovery for a score.  Also, unlike Southern Vance, Granville Central has two players who have kicked extra points:  Jacob Burnette is 1 for 1, and the diminutive Smith is 3 for 5.

If the Raiders play as they have for the past 4 weeks, they should come out on top.  But they can not think of Granville Central as a 1A team, and they will have to be prepared for a defense that was quite effective until they ran into  Roanoke Rapids.  And so far, Southern Vance is no Roanoke Rapids.

Northern Vance

The Vikings of Northern Vance are happy to be home tonight hosting the Eagles of Warren County.  They are happy to have made it out of Creedmoor alive last Friday, after the 54-0 drubbing they took from South Granville   – all 54 points scored in the first half.  and they should be happy to be playing against a team tonight that is not picked to win any championships.  Warren is 3-1 on the season, with a win over 1A conference member Louisburg last week, and therefore have a right to be ranked third in the Northern Carolina behind unbeaten South Granville and Roanoke Rapids.  But it must be pointed out that all of Warren’s wins have been against 1A competition, including longtime pushovers Northwest Halifax and Kipp Pride Charter school.  They lost to Northampton County 22-17 – a good close game to be sure, but that looks like their only real test so far.   But in spite of the weak schedule, Warren ahs shown that they can score points and play defense:  they average scoring 31 points per game, and have only allowed 14 per game, and those numbers create a type of momentum that Northern Vance has not had a chance to create.

These two teams got together quite a bit during the offseason, matching up at a couple of 7 on 7 events in the summer and participating in a jamboree or two, so they know each other pretty well.  Jr. QB Cornelius Davis, who had a tough time in the starter role last year, has settled in well this season, passing for over 150 yards per game for 5 TD’s and 4 interceptions.  Davis can also run, gaining about 50 yards per game on the ground.  Three of Davis’ TD passes have been caught by Sr. WR Cornell Hendrick, who has 19 grabs for 336 yards on the season, and Jr. WR Laquan Satterwhite has the other two scoring catches.  The eagles 11 rushing touchdowns have been evenly divided among Jr. RB Dekarri Green who has 5, Hendrick with 3, and Davis with the other 3.