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Friday Night Football 9-23-16 on WIZS

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Vance County Friday Night Football 9-23-16:

Northern Vance is on the road to Webb in Oxford.  That’s our play by play game of the week on 1450 AM WIZS as well as live streamed on wizs.com and WIZS on Tunein Radio.  We will have live score updates of Southern Vance at Louisburg as well.  Join Bill Harris and Doc Ayscue for the kickoff at 7:00 p.m. following the Joy Christian Center broadcast.

Scouting Reports from Jeff Jenkins of WIZS:

NV @ Webb — Webb Warriors head Coach Tony Midgette was only partially joking when he described his team’s lack of depth during the first week of practice this summer. J. F. Webb is one of the smallest 3A schools in the state, and Coach Midgette told his players that many of them would have to be prepared to play three or four positions.  The Warriors have been working with line-up changes during their five nonconference games and some combinations have, of course, worked better than others.  Last year, with similar challenges, Webb started strong, going into conference play with a 3-2 record, averaging scoring 29 points per game, and holding their nonconference opponents to 22 points per game.  This year, they have started 1-4, losing to both of their county rivals, Granville Central and South Granville, and by a large margin to Franklinton last week.  And their stats reflect this start – a scoring average of 20 points per game and 36 points allowed per game.

The Vikings’ nonconference statistics have compared favorably to the Warriors both last year and this season.  Last year the two teams were almost neck and neck and their 2015 match-up showed it.  Both teams started conference play with 3-2 records; both teams averaged scoring 29 points per game prior to their meeting; and the Vikings were allowing just under 20 points per game while the Warriors allowed 22.  Their contest last year went down to the wire with Northern Vance squeezing out a 35-34 victory.  Webb did not win another game last year and finished 3-8; but the Vikings won their last game against Cedar Ridge to finish 5-6.  This season, Northern Vance, like Webb, is scoring right at 20 points per game, but the Vikings have allowed only 11 points per game compared to Webb’s 36; so Defense will be the biggest difference tonight and the Vikings have the edge on that side of the ball.

And the Vikings will need to play Webb tough, regardless of the score, because the Warriors do not quit.  Three of their five games have been close, and two were high-scoring affairs that show the Warriors’ ability to take full advantage of teams with struggling defenses.  Webb took their only victory this season off Southern Vance in Week two by hanging around in spite of a 42-26 4th quarter deficit and taking full advantages of Raider errors to score 16 points in the last 3 minutes of regulation.  Then, two weeks ago at home against Louisburg, the Warriors came up just one score short in a 48-40 shoot-out.

Northern Vance will need to think shut-out tonight – because the Vikings’ best games have been shut-outs, and Webb has a leaky defense that should allow enough scoring with the Viking defense shutting down the passing game that has kept Webb alive to the very end of its two best games this season.

SV @ Louisburg —

After two consecutive playoff appearances as a small 2A team, and another as a newly reclassified 1A team, Louisburg crashed an burned last season with a new coach, a short roster, and injuries to some key starters.  The 2015 Warriors finished 1-10, averaged scoring 18 points per game, and allowed 45 per game.  They started last season 0-4, and then lost to Southern Vance 56-7, by far the raiders’ best game of 2015.  So far this season, Louisburg looks improved, beginning 1-3 with a close 48-40 win over Webb, and a respectable scoring average of 23 points, much better than last year’s 10 points for the first 4 games.

Second-year coach Dontae Lassiter has more to work with this year; he only lost 2 seniors to graduation and has 14 seniors to lead this year’s 39-man roster. And he is keeping things simple be counting on a run offense.  Senior Max Jones started last year wearing No. 81 as a tight end, played quarterback for part of last season, and returns this year as starting quarterback wearing No. 16.  Soph. back-up Cale Bolton has already seen action in 2 games. The rushing leaders so far are Sr. Quamon Person, with over 100 yards per game and 4 TDs, and Jr. Tyre Davis, with just under 100 rushing yards per game and 3 scores. Davis has also returned kicks for 330 yards, giving him a team high 724 all purpose yards, or 180 per game.

The Warrior defense is still weak, however, allowing 48 points per game so far, although to be fair, 54 of those points came last week in their 54-7 blow out by Bunn – a fate most of Bunn’s opponents will have to the accept this year.

Southern Vance, after one week off following their own big loss – 62-8 from Hertford County – also had a rough 2015, finishing 2-9, scoring 14 per game, and allowing 37 per game.  The Raiders, at 0-4 this season, have been hurt this year by injuries but, like Louisburg, have still managed to score in every game, even scoring 48 points in their 2-point overtime loss to Webb, the only opponents they have in common with Louisburg.  Those two games with Webb were similar in that both Southern and Louisburg scored 48 against the scrappy but undermanned 3A Oxford Warriors; although Louisburg came out on top, and the Raiders let the game slip away in the final 4 minutes.  Both of these teams are rebuilding, and tonight’s contest in Louisburg should be won by the team that commits the fewest turnovers and draws the fewest penalties.

Friday Night Football Scouting Reports

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WIZS 1450 AM provides double coverage tonight of Northern Vance hosting Bunn and Southern Vance hosting Hertford County.  All the radio coverage begins at 6:45 and continues until the final play is done.  Everything is On Air and streamed live at wizs.com or via WIZS on Tunein.

— Scouting Reports by Jeff Jenkins

Northern Vance finishes up a 3-game home stand with its most difficult test so far this season against regular 2A powerhouse Bunn.  The Wildcats form a team that seems to have everything a championship team needs every year.  Their coach, David Howle, has been in charge for 25 of the past 29 years (the last 4 years in a row), and they have not had a losing season since 1988, Howle’s first year.  Over the past decade, the Wildcats have been to the state playoffs every year.  Last year was the Wildcats’ best ever: They lost 2 regular season games to larger schools, but swept their Northern Carolina Conference, including a 51-18 win over Southern Vance, and went to the state finals for the first time, losing the championship game to finish 13-3 overall.  For the entire 2015 season, including playoffs, they averaged an almost unbelievable 48 points per game scoring, breaking a school record for total points scored, while allowing 23 per game.  Along the way to these impressive numbers, Bunn defeated Northern Vance handily last year 49-18.

How does this year’s Wildcats team compare to last year’s?  This time last year they were 1-2, with losses to Wilson Fike and Southern Nash, but still averaging 42 points per game scoring, and allowing 32.  This year, they are 2-1, losing to Southern Nash last week, but winning a 24-20 squeaker over Fike in their season opener.  Last year will be a hard act to follow, especially considering that so many key performers were lost to graduation, including school single-season rushing leader Tevin Perry, who gained over 2,000 rushing yards behind a huge, talented offensive line, all 5 of whom also graduated.  Even Coach Howle has admitted that an entire unit is hard to replace in one year.  However, Sr quarterback Quenten Wright is entering his fourth year as a starter, and backup Christian Murray has a strong arm, and he may see action with Wright lining up as a wide receiver.  Bunn has plenty of depth in one area – fullbacks.  Chris Bumpers, who gained 900 yards on the ground last year as a short yardage RB, returns for his senior season, and he is sharing the running duties with sophomore Raequan Dunston, who scored 2 TD’s last week on runs of 2 and 6 yards.  Also, starting defensive lineman Omar Rosa is again available as Bunn’s “human bowling ball,” lining up at fullback in short-yardage and goal-line situations.   One lucky addition for the ‘Cats is the addition of speedy running back D. J. Jones, a senior transfer from conference rival Roanoke Rapids, where he accumulated more than 1,800 yards on the ground as a sophomore.  Bunn continues its tradition of effective kickers with Thomas O’Campo, who hit a 25 yard FG last week at the close of the first half.

Even with a 2-1 start, a consistently excellent defense and a respectable 25 point scoring average, it would be overly optimistic to say that Northern Vance is in the same league as Bunn; but starting in 2017, they will in fact be in the same 2A conference, so it’s time for the Vikings to start figuring out how to play toe-to-toe against the Wildcats.

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Last year, Southern Vance traveled to Ahoskie to play the Hertford County Bears for the first time in recent memory – or maybe ever – and got their helmets handed to them in a 47-0 shut-out.  The 2015 Bears went on to finish 9-4, and second in their conference, the very competitive Northeastern Coastal 2A.  Hertford scored 38 points per game last year and allowed 24, and went to the playoffs for the 10th year in a row.  Their starting quarterback passed for over 3000 yards and 33 TD’s and scored 8 more times on the ground.  Then he graduated without leaving an experienced back-up.

In the Bears’ first three games this season, however, quarterbacking has not seemed to be a problem.  Jr. Lance Hunter has passed for 199 yards per game and 6 touchdowns, scattering his passes among eight different receivers.  Apparently the Bears coaching staff does not plan for Hunter to run the ball – he has only gained 11 yards on 7 runs – but he is flanked by Jr. RB Kyeem Perry, who averaged 115 yards rushing per game last year for 19 touchdowns, and who ran for 145 yards and 1 score in one game this year.  We are not sure why Perry did not play in the other 2 games, but the other Jr. RB,  Zion Riddick,  gained just under 100 all-purpose yards per game for all 3 games this season.  Only Perry and Riddick have gained significant yardage on the ground so far this season, which may explain the 1-2 start for the Bears.  The passing offense is alive and well, however, with 4 senior receivers available for Hunter as targets:  Jaquarii Roberson led the team last year with 113 yards receiving per game for 19 touchdowns, and he has started this season with 81 yards per game and 2 scores.  Roberson is followed by Justin Sessums, who has averaged 41 yards for 2 games. Rawshaun Beamon caught two touchdown passes in one game, but has apparently not played again;  and Perry caught a pass for a score in his one game.

Sr. Da’andre Beverly has also caught passes this season, but he is primarily an asset at defensive back.  Last season he averaged 4 solo tackles per game, led the team with 4 interceptions, running one back for a TD, and he blocked a FG and a punt.   The rest of the Bears defense is small-to-medium sized – their leading tacklers so far this year are Sr. OLB Alex Maxbaur, at 5’11 and 208 lbs with 11 tackles per game, and  Sr. DE Demetress Freeman at 6’1” and 200 lbs. with 10 per game.  The defense appears to work as a unit, however, with 4 more players averaging 5 or more tackles per game, and another 10 players with at least one tackle per game.

Offensively, Hertford County may be in for one of its weaker seasons, which seems to happen about once every 3 seasons, with very little running game, unless Kyeem Perry returns to the line-up. So the Raiders should be able to defend the pass and keep the score lower than last year.  But with no established starting quarterback until Corey Twitty Jr. returns from injury, with Malik Boyd missing playing time due to injuries, and with their tendency to stop themselves from scoring with turnovers and penalties, Southern Vance may be hard-pressed to avoid another shutout from this down-east traditional powerhouse.

The Raiders’ best bet will be to have one of the their 4 “quarterback committee” members throw the ball in the general direction of Zamari Ellis and let him out jump however many defenders he has on him at the time – a play which has produced at least one TD in every game so far this year.  Those 4 quarterbacks are also capable of gaining yards and keeping drives going – they rolled up well over 200 yards on the ground against Northern Vance last week – but the holding penalties will have to be minimized by the blockers – only 142 rushing yards went into the books last week because of the 6 or 8 penalties accrued on running plays.