Coach Dan Sandlin submitted the text and photos.
Today marks a monumental day for the Vance Charter Lacrosse team. Lucas Satterwhite, a four year varsity starter and a three year captain of the team, signed his letter of intent to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. In the fall, Lucas will be attending Guilford College in Greensboro and will be a member of the Varsity Lacrosse program for the school.
Scottie Richardson, head men’s basketball coach and athletic director at Crossroads Christian, and Taron Downey, head men’s basketball coach at Vance Charter School, have both seen injuries to players throughout their careers.
Both men briefly discussed their thoughts on the tragic injury to Damar Hamlin in Monday night’s NFL game. “I thought the NFL made the right decision,” Richardson said and added that Crossroads has an on site defibrillator in case there is ever a need for one. “It was a very unfortunate and tragic situation. It’s part of the game and coaches have to deal with it as best as we can,” Downey added.
Both coaches are coming off holiday breaks at their respective schools. According to Richardson, Crossroads men’s basketball is ranked at third in the state but will meet a big challenge Friday as they hit the road to take on the top-ranked team in state, United Faith of Charlotte. “We are not getting on the road for three hours to lose,” Richardson said. It’s the longest road trip of the year for Crossroads. The school won on Tuesday defeating Thales Academy, but Richardson said they were sluggish during the win after the holiday break.
“We are trying to get back in the swing of things,” Downey said of Vance Charter. They are coming off a win this week against Eno River but travel to face rival Oxford Prep Friday, who Downey says has quick guards and tenacious defense. Downey also said the game will have a great environment. Downey feels that’s important to home teams.
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High school basketball season may not get underway until November, but you can be sure that many of our local players are on the court during the summer prepping for the upcoming season. Vance Charter Men’s Basketball Coach Taron Downey certainly has his team in the gym now preparing for November. Downey, who was a guest on SportsTalk Thursday, describes the team’s workouts as good. With five or six seniors returning, Downey hopes to advance into the state playoffs this season. Vance Charter finished 15-11 last year, good enough to earn the team its first appearance in the playoffs, but with such a senior laden team, he expects they will go much deeper in the playoffs this season.
Downey, who played his high school ball at J.F. Webb before moving on to Wake Forest and some pro ball says it’s different than when he played. “Social media is the big difference,” Downey said Thursday. Players use social media to promote themselves and highlight what they can do on a basketball court, but Downey adds that nothing beats seeing a player in person. “Social media can just be a highlight reel,” Downey stated. Still, Downey contends its an excellent recruiting tool that was not available to him during his time at J.F. Webb.
Downey feels the area produces some very good basketball players that can go on to college and have successful careers, but being in a rural area can mean that some deserving players go overlooked and once again social media can help with that. Downey thinks that he has a couple of players who would make good candidates to move up to the next level.
Right now, Downey has Vance Charter moving full speed ahead and praises his players for having great focus this summer. “They have bought into it,” he says of his players, and he says it is not easy to get players to do that. He says he hopes to “win’em all,” this season. He adds that may not be a realistic view, but he adds that there is nothing in the rule book that says you can’t do just that.
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Johnny Yount and Mike Joyner are used to success. They expect it.
Vance Charter Girls Soccer Coach Johnny Yount and his team are coming off a playoff run. The Knights were eliminated on Wednesday night with a 2-0 loss to Hobbton. While they didn’t make to the state finals, Yount was happy with his team which will be losing five seniors to graduation. Next year he will have another senior heavy team with six girls on the roster plus a strong class of freshmen will be moving up as well. “Give it your best and demand it from everyone around you,” Yount said on Thursday’s SportsTalk. Those are the words he tells his team. No doubt next year’s Vance Charter Girls Soccer team will hear those words many times during the season.
Speaking of Hobbton, that’s a school familiar to Mike Joyner, Kerr Vance Academy Athletic director. It’s one of several schools where Joyner has been involved with athletics. He recently spent 8 1/2 years as athletic director at Wake Forest High School and six years as the head baseball coach. This year he retired, or so he thought. “I was retired for seven hours. I worked a basketball game at Wake Forest, slept seven hours and worked a basketball game the next night for KVA,” Joyner said. He said it was tough leaving the kids at Wake Forest but he had to make the right decision for his family and step back. Wake Forest fielded 32 teams where Kerr Vance fields nine. His duties don’t include coaching at KVA so he can actually get home at a normal time and spend time with family. He says the difference from working in public schools as opposed to private schools is the closeness of the relationships. “It’s more of a family atmosphere,” Joyner said. At KVA he actually gets to spend time with the kids and that was something he was unable to do at Wake Forest.
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— article submitted by Vance Charter School
The Vance Charter Knights Varsity Men’s Lacrosse team had another strong showing with 2 more wins added to their record. On April 21, the Knights traveled to Cary Christian, which proved to be exciting from beginning to end. Cary Christian took an early lead, but the Knights quickly made a comeback by half-time. The game was tied 8-8 at the end of the third quarter and went into overtime when it was 11-11 at the end of 4th quarter.
The defense held strong throughout the night, with Junior Lucas Satterwhite tallying 19 saves. Daniel Mangum, Ayden Callahan, Johnny Kilian and Davis Suther all provided strong support for their goalie on the defensive end. Jacob Seaman won 19 face-offs on the nights, though the one going into overtime would prove to be the most critical, getting the ball into the hands of the offense. The game-winning goal was scored by Gavyn Sandlin during over-time, with the Knights winning 12-11.
This game, though non-conference, will go down in history for Vance Charter, as two of the Vance Charter Knights scored their 100th point on the season. Ryan Parker and Gavyn Sandlin, both reached the 100th point in a single season milestone during this game.
Gavyn Sandlin and Ryan Parker, both scoring 100 points this season during the April 21st game against Cary Christian.
Scoring for the night was Sophomore Gavyn Sandlin (5G, 1A), Senior Ryan Parker (2G, 3A), Junior Christian Bean (2G), Senior Wyatt Yount (1G, 1A), Junior Jahlaine Scottland (1G) and Junior Sam Frazier (1G). The team had much to celebrate as they prepared for the final conference game on April 22 against Voyager.
The Knights hosted their final conference game of the season on April 22 at home. The Knights kicked off the evening honoring their seven seniors: Wyatt Yount, Davis Suther, Nathan Care, Jacob Seaman, Ryan Parker, Ayden Callahan and Hyson Ferguson.
The Knights controlled the game from the opening whistle, outscoring their opponents 16-1. Jacob Seaman dominated the face-offs, winning 15 of the 18. This put the offense in control of the game for much of the evening. Scoring for the night was Sophomore Gavyn Sandlin (4G, 6A), Senior Ryan Parker (6G, 2A), Senior Wyatt Yount (3G), Junior Sam Frazier (1G, 3A), Senior Davis Suther (1G), Senior Ayden Callahan (1G) and Junior Christian Bean (1A).
This victory kept the Knights undefeated in conference play, crowing them the Northern Lakes Conference Champions for the first time in the history of the program. The conference is made up of Voyager Academy, JF Webb High School, Roxboro Community and Vance Charter.
The Knights will look to keep their winning streak alive with their final regular season game on Wednesday, April 28 against Seaforth High School.
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With basketball season only about a month away expectations are high for the women’s varsity program at Vance Charter. “It’s the most excitement we’ve had going into a season in a long time,” says coach Brian Howard. The Knights, who return every player from last year’s team, are looking to this year as an opportunity to make a state championship run. Coach Howard says tryouts have gone well and this year he held summer workouts for his players for the first time. “We had about 80% participation,” Howard said. That meant some players would leave work, come to practice and then return to work. He is very pleased with the maturity level his four returning seniors are showing. “They have shown tremendous growth and are the leaders of the team,” says Coach Howard.
They won’t be relying only on their talented seniors. Last year’s undefeated J-V team was undefeated and many of those players are now freshmen and they will also play a huge role in the success the Knights are hoping for.
Coach Howard says that while some of his players do play multiple sports, they are very, very dedicated to the basketball program at Vance Charter. All of these factors figure into the belief that Vance Charter may indeed make a run at a state championship this season.
The road to that championship begins next month against Franklin Academy. A team who, at this point, Coach Howard knows nothing about. He’s not really too worried about that. “We just have to handle our business,” Howard said to Trey Snide on Thursday’s SportsTalk.
Vance Charter Athletic Director Lance Stallings is enjoying some downtime. While vacationing at the beach or anywhere else this time of year is enjoyable, Stallings is ready to get back to work and gear up for the upcoming school year. Stallings says it’s the part of the year where he is “making sure everything is ready to rock and roll.” In preparation, the basketball and volleyball teams have already been in the gym.
Not only are the teams getting ready but Stallings says that facilities are also getting prepared. An upgrade to the gym’s lighting systems has now been completed. “It will be a different atmosphere,” according to Stallings now that the new system is in place. No other facilities upgrades, improvements or construction are planned at this time.
Stallings will be overseeing volleyball, cross-country and men’s soccer as well as lacrosse during the fall athletics season. He says his student athletes have adjusted and adapted to the changes that have happened over the last year and are ready for a return to something closer to normal this fall.
Stallings has been impressed with the growth the school’s lacrosse team has made making the playoffs in only its second season. The school is the only one in Vance or Granville County with a lacrosse program and, by starting from scratch, the team has become like a family.
His expectations for all of the school’s athletics programs go beyond picking up wins and appearing in playoffs. “What can we do to be our best” is the expectation. Whether that’s on or off the field or in the classroom, Stallings wants to see his students win at life. He says being a part of Vance Charter is very very special. When asked the best part of being the AD at Vance Charter, Stalling said, “Seeing the kids smile.” Once back from vacation, Stallings should have plenty of opportunities to see just that.
Basketball season may be a few months away but Vance Charter Ladies Varsity Coach Brian Howard already has his team hard at work in preparation for the upcoming season. “Off season has been pretty good.” Howard said. “We are into our off season workouts. We are averaging 10 to 12 girls a day,” Howard continued. Howard characterizes that as a huge turnout.
The groundwork for the upcoming season was laid out at the end of last season. Howard told his team, “If you want to play on this team you have to do off-season workouts.” During these workouts Howard and his staff are tracking every piece of data possible such as made shots, made three throws and made three point shots in an effort to improve on last year’s 7-3 record. According to Howard the result of tracking these data sets will be having the right people in the program and the right people in the right spots on the floor when the season begins.
Coach Howard says he expects the Lady Knights to be better prepared and in better shape due to the off-season workouts. It’s also giving him and his staff the opportunity to install new and improved offensive and defensive schemes. Howard feels that this will put Vance Charter’s program ahead of many others. His team will feature four seniors and he singled out rising freshman Amber Reavis as someone the team will rely on heavily.
Last year’s 7-3 season ended with a 44-33 loss at the hands of Gates County in the state playoffs, but this year will find Vance Charter in a new conference. Howard says the new conference will be interesting. Meanwhile, the Lady Knights have two more weeks of workouts to get through.
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Cheerleaders are known for the support they give their sports teams, whether at the high school, college or professional level. The community has a chance to return the favor by supporting a local cheerleader squad at a fundraiser next week.
The Vance Charter School Varsity Cheerleaders will have a trout dinner fundraiser on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021 at 220 Seafood Restaurant, according to the group’s advisor, Kim Hedgepeth.
The fundraiser runs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 a plate, which includes trout, fries, slaw and hush puppies. This is a take-out only event.
Tickets are available from any cheerleader or at the restaurant on the day of the event.
Come out and support the Vance Charter School Knights cheerleaders!
Trey Snide and Ron Noel welcome Lance Stallings, Athletic Director at Vance Charter School, to SportsTalk. Stallings discusses the difficulties of overcoming delayed tryouts and practices due to Covid 19. He also touches on the growing and learning process for basketball teams at the school and the excitement coaches feel now that the season is underway.
Stallings also spoke on other sports that are about to get underway or resume at the school. These include volleyball, lacrosse and soccer. Stallings also said that senior night for the volleyball team had taken place this week when they played East Wake and that the cross country team would be playing for the conference championship this week.
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In the second half of the show, Trey and Ron discussed a six player trade in Major League Baseball involving the New York Mets and the Cleveland Indians. The trade will have major impacts on both teams.
They also discussed local high school basketball including upcoming games for Granville Central, South Granville, JF Webb, Warren County, Louisburg and Bunn.
Several local games for Vance Co. High School have been cancelled due to Covid-19 related issues and Victory Christian School has cancelled its entire season.
