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SportsTalk: Vance County Prepares for South Granville

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UPDATE – FINAL SCORE 

South Granville 33

Vance County 6

RECAP TUESDAY ON SPORTSTALK 

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The Vance County Vipers head to Creedmoor Friday to take on the South Granville Vikings in a non-conference matchup, and Head Coach Aaron Elliott hopes his team can add another win to 1-0 start to the season.

Elliott told WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle Thursday that the team had a good week of practice following a close call with the Warren County Eagles in the season opener last week.

“We worked on the little things,” Elliott said, pointing out that small mistakes like missed blocks and mishandled snaps added up during last week’s game.

Elliott and Vikings Head Coach Mike Hobgood go way back and have a long history of playing against each other.

“They’ve got a lot of speed,” Elliott said of this year’s Vikings team, with a good quarterback.

But mostly, Elliott said it’s the Vikings’ physicality that they’ll bring to the field.

“He does a good job coaching those guys up,” Elliott said. “Hopefully we’ve prepared our kids to be more physical – we know that’s what we’ll see from South Granville.” The Vipers spoiled the Viking Homecoming, taking a 12-7 victory, so he expects Hobgood and team to be looking for a little revenge.

Elliott said he’d make a couple of adjustments on special teams and said he’d had the punt unit working on clean snaps and catches.

He’d like to see the offensive output increase from last week’s sub-100 yard performance.

“Defensively, we did a fair job, but we gave up 135 yards rushing. We’ve got to be able to stop the run, control the pass. If we can force them to do things they’re uncomfortable doing, we’ll be in good shape,” he said.

He said each year, his teams have improved their record on the road, which he’s happy about.

“This game is pretty important,” he said. “Each week, it gets harder and harder. Getting a win this week will get us ready for Jordan…it only gets harder from here on out,” he said of this season’s schedule.

Vance County travels to South Granville for Week 2 of the 2025 season on Friday, August 29th 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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Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Vance County Football Week 1 Recap

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Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue recap Vance County’s win against Warren County on Friday Night. The guys also give an update on other scores in Week 1 for high school football, in addition to Louisburg College Football’s season opener.

High School Scores from Week 1:

  • Vance County 13 Warren County 12
  • Franklinton 29 Person 20
  • Southern Durham 47 Wake Forest 28
  • Heritage 29 Wakefield 20
  • Southern Nash 42 Knightdale 26
  • East Wake 42 Riverside 6
  • J.F. Webb 46 Western Harnett 22
  • Bunn 18 South Granville 0
  • North Raleigh Christian 19 Wake Prep 6
  • E.C. Glass (VA) 28 Mecklenburg County (VA) 0

College Games of Interest in Our Area:

  • Louisburg College 28 Methodist 3
  • North Carolina Central 31 Southern 14

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SportsTalk: Vipers Ready for Season Opener

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UPDATE – FINAL SCORE 

Vance County 13 

Warren County 12 

RECAP MONDAY ON SPORTSTALK 

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Tonight’s County Line Clash pits the Vance County Vipers against neighboring county rival Warren County Eagles. It’s a non-conference game, but Vipers Head Coach Aaron Elliott said his squad is ready to kick off the season in a big way.

“The energy these kids have, they’re ready for Week 1,” Elliott said.

Despite the fact that the Vipers and Eagles are in different conferences – the Vipers are a 6A and the Eagles are a 2A, Elliott said he expects the season opener to be competitive.

“I like it because it fires up the kids for Week 1 and gets them ready,” Elliott said on Thursday’s Sports Talk with WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle. “We try to tell them to treat it as a normal game, but it’s hard to do,” Elliott said. The first game of the season against a rival, even though it’s a non-conference game, brings with it a lot of emotions and nerves, the head coach said.

“We’ve got to limit the mistakes, win the turnover battle,” Elliott said. If the Vipers can do that, “I really feel like we’ll be excited in the fourth quarter.”

Last season’s matchup was a close one – with the Vipers leading 7-0 at the half. The Vipers pulled away in the fourth quarter to finish out with an 18-0 win.

Warren County’s team is young, but they’re a seasoned group that’s seen some good playing time.

Elliott said he’s counting on Warren County to bring their best effort to Viper Stadium for the 7 p.m. kickoff. “They’re ready to play football. They’re going to test us a little bit.”

Elliott said he got a chance to see them in action at the recent Jamboree in Louisburg, noting that they’re a “typical Warren County team – well coached, giving 100 percent on every play, with plenty of energy and effort.”

But Elliott said the Vipers are up for the challenge. With Senior Marcus Thomas at quarterback and Aiden Foster, the team’s “Swiss Army knife,” showing up on defense and offense, he said this team is going to be fun to watch.

And then there’s the depth at running back – there are five or six guys at that position, none of them seniors, Elliott noted.

Aiden Labra is back this season to add to the kicking game. Labra gets his kicks in on the football field, then heads over to soccer practice. Elliott said the Viper kicker got a personal best on Wednesday with a 47-yard field goal.

“We practice special teams every single day,” Elliott said. “If you want to be good at it, you’ve got to practice.”

The team starts out each practice with special teams, when they’re fresh, so they’ll be ready at the end of the game. “We’ve got to do everything right when we’re tired too,” he said.

Elliott and his coaching staff installed a new defense that he hopes will work well for this year’s team.

“The kids love it,” he said. “It allows them to fly around and make plays…we’re interested to see how that plays out and works for us.”

There are 14 seniors on the varsity roster, and Elliott said this season’s Vipers team includes a dozen players from the Early College, one from Vance Virtual Academy and a couple of homeschooled students.

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TownTalk: Vance County Friday Night Football A Month Away

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The Vance County Vipers 2025-26 football season kicks off Friday, Aug. 22 with a 7 p.m. home game against non-conference opponent Warren County.

Head Coach Aaron Elliott and his staff are preparing for the upcoming season that puts them in a new conference, thanks to a huge realignment back in March by the N.C. High School Athletic Association. As part of the realignment plan, the NCHSAA expanded from 1A to 4A classification to an 8A classification. VCHS is in the 6A classification.

VCHS is one of six schools in the Northern Six conference, along with 6A Franklinton High School, and four 7A Wake County high schools: East Wake, Heritage, Knightdale and Wake Forest.

WIZS’s Scout Hughes discussed the upcoming season with SportsTalk regulars Doc Ayscue and George Hoyle on Tuesday’s TownTalk. The first game of the season is just one month away, and the trio chatted about this year’s team and the opportunities that lie ahead.

“I’m ready for some football,” Hoyle said, adding that he’s looking forward to the new season and getting off to a strong start in a new conference.

Ayscue said he’s interested in seeing new faces and new names on the field “and how they improve as year goes along – how you start and how you finish,” he said.

Hoyle said that although the team will miss some key contributors from last year, he is hopeful that the Vipers will hold their own in conference play.

The Wake County schools are newer schools, he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be right there with them,” he said of the Vipers’ competitiveness.

WIZS’s longtime game announcer Bill Harris phoned in with a question about how the lack of local teams on the schedule may affect attendance.

“With this schedule, there’s no Oxford Webb, no Louisburg, Bunn,” Harris said that would ordinarily draw local interest.

“Football is a sport that brings a lot of ‘gate,’” he said.

Indeed, J.F. Webb is not on the schedule, but the Vipers are set to play Granville County’s other high school, South Granville, in an away game on Aug. 29.

Ayscue said he hoped Webb would return to the schedule.

Both Granville County high schools are classified as 5A.

The non-conference teams included in this season’s lineup all made the playoffs last year, it was noted.

Hughes said, “Coach Elliott is trying to make them better, more prepared for the post-season” with the schedule that he’s built.

Last year’s regular-season game against Rocky Mount, for example, was a hard-fought battle that ended with a 23-22 W for the Vipers on the road.

Hughes’s prediction: Folks who follow Vance County football are going to be “very excited” about the prospects for this season.

 

 

Here’s the complete schedule for the Vance County Vipers football season:

Aug. 22 – Warren County (home)

Aug. 29 – South Granville (away)

Sept. 5 – Jordan (home – Military/First Responders Appreciation Night)

Sept. 12 – Rocky Mount (home – Homecoming)

Sept. 19 – Northeastern (away)

Oct. 3 – Wake Forest (away)

Oct. 10 – Knightdale (away)

Oct. 17 – Heritage (home – Breast Cancer Awareness Night)

Oct. 24 – East Wake (away)

Oct. 31 – Franklinton (home – Senior Night)

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High School Football Recap and Playoffs

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— by Jeff Jenkins

Following a close 20-14 Optimist Bowl victory over Northern Vance last Friday night, Southern Vance finished the 2017 football season with a 6-5 overall record — the Raiders’ first winning season since 2011 ! Although the Raiders’ 5-3 Northern Carolina 2A Conference record was not quite good enough for a playoff berth, first year head Darry Ragland and his team hope to carry some momentum into the offseason, with plans to rebuild around a crop of young players who will return without their senior leaders: QB Elijah Stewart, WR Kyree Ford, RB Tyrese Henderson, and wounded warrior Zamari Ellis, who missed the entire season with a foot injury.

Meanwhile over at Northern Vance, first year head coach Antwain Cook and his Vikings will remember the 2017 season as one of mostly disappointments, but with evidence of better things to come. Their offense, which had to completely regroup after Elijah Stewart and Kyree Ford transferred to Southern Vance, was shut out in 3 of their first 4 games, but improved over the last two-thirds of the season, scoring points against Warren County, Roanoke Rapids, and Bunn, and collecting their two wins against Louisburg (17-14) and Webb (33-13). Almost as sweet as another win, the Vikings led Southern Vance 14-0 at the half of last week’s Optimist Bowl, and the outcome was closer than most anyone predicted!

AND NOW the playoffs begin, with undisputed Northern Carolina 2A Conference champs South Granville (11-0) seeded #3 in the 2AA East, Bunn (8-3) at #8, and Roanoke Rapids at #13. Granville Central, only 5-6 overall, but the NCC’s 1A champs (via their win over Louisburg) is seeded #4 in the 1AA East and has a Bye this Friday, while all three 2A teams play their first round this Friday.

Check out this same spot on the Web next week for a report on which NCC teams survive the first round.

@NorthernVanceFB @SVHS_Athletics

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It’s the big game, the Optimist Bowl, and you need to be there in person at Southern Vance High School.  Like and share on Facebook, Tweet your friends, bring a neighbor.  And, if you can’t make it to the game, be sure to listen live on 1450 AM WIZS and online at wizs.com.  Click on Listen Live!

Pregame show at 6:45 p.m. and the kickoff follows at 7 p.m.

Scouting Report by Jeff Jenkins

Northern Vance at Southern Vance — Friday 11/3/2017

Friday’s Optimist Bowl will feature the leading passer in the Northern Carolina 1A/2A Conference, Southern Vance’s Elijah Stewart (1999 yards), and the league’s leading receiver, Raider WR Kyree Ford (692 yards). On top of that, Southern RB Tyrese Henderson is number 2 in rushing yardage (1065), Number 5 in total TDs (12), and number 4 in total points scored (80). Raider DB Malik Boyd has 4 interceptions – good enough for 3rd in the conference. With an even 5-5 overall record, and a 4-3 winning record in the conference (currently 5th place), a win tonight for Southern Vance will probably not lift them into the playoffs, but a Raider victory would result in an overall winning record for the first time since 2011, as well as taking the Optimist trophy back from the Vikings, who won the match-up 27-6 last year.

Northern Vance pales in comparison to these impressive stats: The Vikings and new head coach Antwain Cook had a difficult time overcoming the loss of Stewart and Ford, who both transferred to Southern Vance when former Viking offensive coordinator Darry Ragland took the Raider head coach position. Northern’s Coach Cook, who was the defensive coordinator for Northern before his promotion to the top job, did not find a consistent quarterback until sophomore Samien Burell took over the signal calling and the Vikings began to avoid shutouts (they failed to score in 3 of their first 4 games). Northern got their first victory in week 7 over 1A conference member Louisburg, failed to defeat the other 1A member Granville Central the next week , but then caught fire last week for their second win, a 33-13 thrashing of J. F. Webb in Oxford. This surge of offense is great for the 2-8 (2-5) Vikings, but it remains to be seen whether it will be too little / too late against the Raiders. Both teams allow opponents an average of 28 points per game, but Southern scores 30 per game, while Northern has averaged just under 10 points per game.

In the past 10 years, this rivalry has been pretty close: Southern Vance holds a 6-4 lead in the series for that period, but Northern has the largest margin of victory with a 42-0 victory in 2008. Since 2013, the teams are locked at 2-2, with Northern holding the trophy from last year’s victory.

@NorthernVanceFB @JFWWarriors

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Scouting Report by Jeff Jenkins

Listen live to 1450 AM and click on Listen Live on wizs.com for the play by play of tonight’s game.  Northern Vance at J.F. Webb.  Airtime is 6:45 p.m.  Kickoff is at 7 p.m.  The stream also works on your phone, tablet and smart TV.  Tunein Radio is also an option.  Search for WIZS.

Note: Southern Vance is off this week, preparing for its final regular season game next week: the annual Optimist Bowl against Northern Vance. The Raiders will also be awaiting word on whether they will make the playoffs, which may well depend on the outcome of the Southern-Northern game. MEANWHILE . . .

Northern Vance at J. F. Webb
Friday 10/27/2017

The Vikings and Warriors enter Friday night’s match up in Oxford in the same position they have been in for many years: struggling to avoid a last place finish in their conference. Northern Vance is 1-8 overall and 1-5 in the Northern Carolina 1A/2A, while Webb is 2-7 overall (thanks to a nonconference victory over 1A KIPP Pride) and also 1-5 in the NCC. Both teams got their one conference win over 1A Louisburg, and both teams missed their best chance at another conference win by falling victim to scrappy 1A Granville Central — the Panthers beat Webb 20-14 and Northern was shut out last week at home 21-0.

Webb’s Warriors have an edge over the Vikings on paper, scoring an average 17 points per game and allowing 29. In spite of some lopsided losses and a season opening shutout loss, the Warriors have not been shut out in league play, and they came within 4 points of upsetting Warren County (losing 28-25). Even though Northern can move the ball, they struggle to put points on the board, repeatedly stalling in opponents’ red zones. The Vikings average under 7 points per game, and their defense, although capable of stopping passing attacks, still allows 30 points per game, mostly on the ground. The Vikings have been shut out 4 times this season, twice by conference opponents.

Northern has won this matchup the past three seasons, but this might be Webb’s year to break that streak. Although Louisburg seems destined to lock up last place in the Northern Carolina, the loser of Friday’s game in Oxford will likely finish last among the 2A members.

@SVHS_Athletics at Warren County and @GCHS_PANTHERS @NorthernVanceFB

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Vance County Friday Night Football coverage on WIZS this week will feature Southern Vance at Warren County and Northern Vance hosting Granville Central. Join us on air and online for the live play by play. 1450 AM on your radio dial and wizs.com on your phone, tablet and smart TV. Airtime is 6:45 for a 7 o’clock kickoff.  You can also use the Tunein Radio App.

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Scouting Report — Southern Vance at Warren County — Friday 10/20/2017

Going into tonight’s games, Roanoke Rapids, Southern Vance and Warren County are jostling each other for third place in the Northern Carolina Conference (South Granville and Bunn are both 5-0 NCC).  All three teams are 4-2 in the league, but Roanoke Rapids has an edge with a 7-2 overall record and a win over Warren, while Warren has a 6-3 overall record, and Southern Vance is 5-4 after winning 4 of their last 5 games, including a surprising but decisive 44-27 victory over Roanoke Rapids.  Tonight’s meeting between Southern Vance and Warren County could sort out that group, since a win for the Raiders would put them in front of both of the other teams by way of head-to-head wins.  A win for the Eagles, on the other hand, would severely damage Southern’s chances for a playoff spot, since the Raiders would drop to 5-5 overall.   Roanoke Rapids is idle this week, getting ready for its own showdown with Warren County next Friday.

The teams are evenly matched, at least on paper:  Warren County scores an average of 29 points per game, and allows 25.  Southern has gotten better every week, and now averages 30 points scoring per game, while allowing 28 points.   These stats suggest that both teams have trouble on defense.  Both teams are also prone to mistakes, and penalties and turnovers nearly cost the Eagles an upset loss to Webb last week, when Webb forced an overtime with a late field goal, and the Eagles had to win it with a 3-point kick of their own.  Warren will not have to worry about offsetting field goals tonight, since Southern Vance has no kicker, even for extra points.  This has not been much of a handicap for the Raiders so far – their only close loss, a 34-30 disappointment to Bunn, would not have been helped by a kicker.  Against Warren, however, with the teams so close on paper, three points may well decide the outcome.

Much is riding on tonight’s game for both teams, and the determining factor could well be who scores the most in the first quarter, and how effective each pass defense can be.  Raiders QB Elijah Stewart has only thrown 2 interceptions this season, but Warren’s secondary has 10 picks, with Cornell Hendrick has accounted for an amazing 8 of those himself.  Eagles QB Cornelius Davis has been picked off 8 times this season, but the Raiders have been a easier to pass against, with only one takeaway.

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Scouting Report — Granville Central at Northern Vance — Friday, October 20, 2017

One and seven Northern Vance had an open week to regroup from a 54-7 thrashing from Bunn, and to find its way back to the winning ways that began on September 29 with the Vikings’ first victory of the season, a 17-14 squeaker over 1A conference member Louisburg.   Tonight and next Friday the Vikings have  the opportunity for back-to-back wins over 1A Granville Central and 2A Webb, which would improve their record to 3-7, and give them some momentum going into their season finale – the Optimist Bowl against Southern Vance (currently 5-4, 4-2).  Northern Vance is grouped with Webb, Louisburg and Granville Central at the bottom of the Northern Carolina Conference, all at least 3 games back of Warren County, which currently sits right in the middle of the pack.  All four teams suffer from similar deficits – low scoring an soft defenses – but Northern and Granville Central both have one conference win, and tonight’s match up will move one of those teams one game above that bottom level, at least for a week.

On paper, Granville Central has a slim advantage over the Vikings.  The Panthers from Stem are 3-5 overall, and won their two nonconference games (a 7-6 thriller over 2A Bartlett Yancey and a 33-8 morale booster over regional 1A doormat KIPP Pride). But GC was rudely introduced to its new 2A conference mates with a 46-0 loss to Roanoke Rapids in their conference opener.  The Panthers showed spunk in their 50-19 loss to Southern Vance (in the Raiders highest scoring game of the season), and took a 38-7 licking from Warren County.  Then, however, after a 28-0 nonconference loss to North Duplin, the Panthers defeated cross-county rivals J. F. Webb 20-14 and held Bunn to 17 points, although they were unable to score themselves.  Granville Central averages just under 11 points per game on offense, and allows over 25 points.  Northern Vance has scored 8 per game and has allowed opponents 31 per game.  The Vikings should therefore hope that tonight’s game will be a low-scoring affair, like their 17-14 win over Louisburg, while the Panthers will be looking for a game like their 20-14 win over Webb.  The final outcome could therefore be decided by a field goal or a two point conversion.

@SVHS_Athletics vs @LouisburgHSFCS

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Vance County Friday Night Football is on the air Friday night at 6:45 pregame and 7 p.m. kickoff.  Live on 1450 AM and on wizs.com!  Listen for all the live play by play.  Northern Vance is off this week.  Please see full schedule below the scouting report.

Southern Vance is now 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the Northern Carolina Conference !  The Raiders are tied with Warren County for 4th place in the NCC, which sets up a fascinating match up between Southern and Warren next week that may detemine the playoff fortunes for both teams.

To Recap the Raiders’ season so far:  After a very impressive 2-1 start to their conference schedule, followed by a very physical (almost brutal) 51-6 beating from undefeated South Granville 2 weeks ago, Southern had the difficult task of preparing to meet the other unbeaten team, Roanoke Rapids, last week.  Raiders’ Coach Darry Ragland certainly did something right during the week running up to the home game with the Yellow Jackets, because his team, which left Creedmoor the preceding Friday night severely battered,  pulled off a stunning 44-27 win over RR to knock the Jackets out of the unbeaten ranks and into 2nd place in the league. That win can be rightly called an upset, given the disparity in the records of the two teams, but it did not look much like an upset while it was happening.  Raider QB Elijah Stewart, who was knocked out of the South Granville game at halftime with a foot or ankle injury, never passed better, and his receivers were never more sure-handed, than they were against the Jackets last week; and the defense, which had not been a consistent strong point for Southern this season, kept the Roanoke Rapids running backs bottled up for most of the game.

Southern Vance has gotten back on the wining track at a good time, and their home game against Louisburg this Friday night gives the Raiders every opportunity to improve to a winning record of 5-4 going into the Warren showdown.  Southern has already bested the other 1A member of the conference with their 50-19 victory over Granville Central, and should be able to knock off Louisburg.  Although the Warriors won their season opener 41-0, that was against KIPP Pride, which has been shut out or clobbered by most of the area 1A and 2A teams, (e.g., Granville Central beat the Pride 33-8), and Louisburg has been struggling mightily ever since.  They were the victims of Northern Vance’s first win of the season two weeks ago, and they come back to Vance County this week dragging their 1-6 record behind them like Marley’s chain.  They have had a week off to recover, but the Warriors do not seem to have what it takes this year to compete with a team which, like Southern Vance, has tasted the blood of victory and is on its way up.

Louisburg has been shut out three times this season and has a 13 point-per-game scoring average.  They have a freshman quarterback who might be quite good in a year or two, but who only passes for about 25 yards per game.  The Warriors rely on a running game centered around Sr. RB Amonte Moses who has averaged 66 yards rushing per game, along with another 20 yards per outing in receiving yards.   Moses has 2 of his team’s 9 TDs this season, and Soph Elijah Mitchell has 2 rushing scores.  Five other players have rushed for TDs, which suggests that Louisburg does have some depth in the backfield, and can look forward to a better season next year.

@RRSchools @SVHSRaiders and @NorthernVanceFB @bunn_athletics

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Vance County Friday Night Football returns to WIZS 1450 AM and wizs.com Friday night at 6:45 p.m. for airtime and 7 p.m. for kickoff.  Double coverage of Southern Vance hosting Roanoke Rapids and Northern Vance at Bunn.  Tune in for Live Play by Play and score updates of both local teams.

The Yellow Jackets of Roanoke Rapids are unbeaten this season, which places them alongside South Granville at the top of the Northern Carolina Conference. With no open date so far this season, Roanoke Rapids is 7-0 while South Granville is 6-0. So when those Jackets come swarming into Southern Vance’s Raider stadium this Friday night, it will be the second week in a row for the Raiders facing off with a high-powered conference opponent. Southern Vance took a 52-6 beating from South Granville last week, losing starting QB Elijah Stewart to a foot injury in the first half, and his status is unclear for this week’s game. Stewart’s backup was also knocked out of last week’s game, so Coach Darry Ragland might be improvising against the Jackets.

Roanoke Rapids might be looking at this game as a chance to stay loose going into their own home game with South Granville next week – a matchup that should decide the conference championship, although both of the top dogs must still tangle with Bunn, which, although not in top form, is still a formidable team and the 2-time defending league champion from 2015 and 2016. Although not as dominating on paper as South Granville, which has 3 shutouts this season and has broken 50 points in 3 games, Roanoke Rapids has a right to feel confident this week. The Jackets are averaging scoring 39 points per game, and they allow their opponents under 10 points per week. That’s a bit better than South Granville on offense, but a looser defense than South, which has allowed under 4 points per game. The Yellow Jackets have no 50-point games (but 3 games in the 40s) and their only shutout was a 46-0 pasting of 1A Granville Central. Northern Vance has played both teams, and while the Vikings were shut out by South Granville 54-0, they scored 10 points on Roanoke Rapids before falling 35-10.

Southern Vance started the conference season with a tough 34-30 loss to Bunn, which gave them the confidence and momentum they needed to rack up their two road wins before colliding with South Granville. The Raiders came into their South Granville game last week with a satisfying 3-3 overall record and back-to-back conference wins over Webb and Granville Central. Along the way they improved on their stats: the Raiders averaged scoring 31 points per game, and allowed 26, BC (Before Creedmoor). This is not a formula for a brilliant championship season, but it can certainly get a team to over .500. They are now 3-4 and 2-1 in the league and are firmly established in the middle of the conference standings just below Warren County, which has not yet played either of the top two.

AC(After Creedmoor), however, the Raiders’ scoring average dropped to 28, and the points against rose to 30 points per game. If last Friday’s massacre were just a bad loss, Southern would be in a better position to bounce back against Roanoke Rapids, but the loss of some key players, especially Stewart, my be too much to overcome. At least this game is at home for the Raiders, because playing in Roanoke Rapids is always a disadvantage.

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The Bunn Wildcats host Northern Vance this Friday, planning to bring the Vikings back down to earth after Northern collected its first win of the season last week against 1A conference opponent Louisburg. It was a happy Homecoming last Friday at Northern Vance, but the narrow 17-14 victory over the Warriors may not provide enough momentum for the Vikings to match up well with Bunn. The Wildcats, with their first new coach in almost 30 years, have been struggling a bit this season, at least by “Bunn standards.” The two-time defending conference champions, who fell a couple of touchdowns short of the state 2A championship in 2015, were 1-2 going into conference play, and have not blown conference opponents off the field with their running game as they have in past seasons. They are 3-0 in the conference, placing them in third place behind the two unbeaten heavyweights, South Granville and Roanoke Rapids, but they just barely got by Southern Vance 34-30 in the conference opener and gave up 128 penalty yards in last week’s 56-35 win over Warren County. They were tied 29-29 with Warren at half time, and then shut the Eagles down until late in the 4th period.

At 4-2 overall the ‘Cats now average scoring just under 32 points per game. The problem is that they also allow opponents to score the same number of points – a rare scoring differential for the Wildcats, who scored 48 points per game last season and held rivals to 23. But Bunn would need to slip much further than they have to give the Vikings a chance this week. Northern has scored less than half as many points as Bunn this season, and has allowed a few more points per game. The Vikings actually have a competent defense, especially against the pass, but Bunn hardly ever passes the ball, so . . .