Tag Archive for: #vcfnf

@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 . . .

@SVHSRaiders and @NorthernVanceFB Scouting Reports (Sept 29)

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— Scouting Reports by Jeff Jenkins

Vance County Friday Night Football is on 1450 AM WIZS live beginning at 6:45 p.m. Friday nights as well as live streamed on wizs.com.  Kickoff is at 7 p.m.  Please see our full schedule following the scouting reports.

Southern Vance at South Granville

Southern Vance finishes up a 3-week road trip through Granville County tonight (Friday) in Creedmoor to meet the mighty Vikings of South Granville. The Raiders are riding pretty high after back-to-back victories over 1A conference member Granville Central (50-19) and Webb (28-7), but this week will be their toughest match up of the season. South Granville is 5-0, has shut out its first two conference opponents by over 50 points each (okay, they were Northern Vance and Louisburg), and is better on paper than the other unbeaten conference team, Roanoke Rapids.

South Granville, under veteran coach Mike Hobgood, has always relied on running for its offensive production, a strategy that has taken the Vikings to the state playoffs for six years straight. Last year’s offense was a bit more varied: with QB Tucker Brown passing for over 1200 yards and 11 TDs and leading the team in rushing with just under 800 yards, South finished 8-5, averaged scoring just under 30 points and allowed 20 per game. So far this season, the Vikes have scored an average of 35 points per game and have allowed just under 4 points (that’s right, four). Clearly headed toward one of their best seasons, they are doing it on the ground. QB Brown, now a senior, has only passed for 35 yards per game and 1 touchdown, but he has continued to contribute to the running game with 44 yards per outing and 3 TDs. The other 220 yards rushing per game has been spread around to a stable of backs, led by late-blooming Sr. RB Allajah Mitchell, a 6-1 220 lb Division I college prospect, with 115 yards per game and 11 touchdowns. Senior Antonio Lassiter has 2 rushing scores, and three other players have run for scores. Like most really successful teams these days, the Vikings have a reliable kicker in Jr. Robert Torrence, who is 22 of 26 on extra points, and 1 for 1 on field goals (a 26-yarder).

The South Granville defense, allowing 3.8 points per game (I had to say it again !), led by their linebackers, including Jr. MLB Justin Bullock, who has 10 stops per game, Sr. Sean Deuger who has 9 per game, and Mitchell, who starts at OLB and has 7 stops per game. Mitchell also leads the pass rush, with 6 sacks on the year.

SO…the 3-3 (2-1) Southern Vance Raiders will clearly have their hands full tonight, and they know that. With numerous penalties and turnovers in previous games, the Raiders have often been their own worst enemy, and there will be no room for those mistakes against the Vikings. With average scoring of 31 points per game (thanks to their 50 points against 1A Granville Central) Southern’s offense is clearly able to score 4 or 5 times per game, but their defense has also allowed an average of 26 points per game, and they have not played against an offense like South Granville this season. It is interesting though, that South Granville has also had a pretty easy schedule, at least in the conference, so they might be a bit soft coming into this game. These teams are also very familiar with each other, having played in the same conference for the previous four years and maintained a regional rivalry off and on before that. Southern Vance upset South Granville in 2013 and has not beaten them since, so a win for the Raiders this week would be a glorious upset, but stranger things have happened, and the Vikings usually slip up once every season.

Northern Vance hosting Louisburg

When 1A Louisburg comes to Viking stadium Friday night for a Northern Carolina Conference game, we will see two teams who are really easy to compare. In addition to statistics like won-loss record and average points per game for and against each team, we have the luxury of looking at two teams who have already played 4 common opponents this season.

Both Northern and Louisburg played the newly-3A Franklinton as a nonconference game early in this season: The Vikings lost to the Red Rams 12-0 in their season opener, while the Warriors met up with the Rams for the final nonconference game and got shut out 46-0.

The Vikings opened their conference schedule against South Granville, unbeaten then and now, and the Creedmoor Vikings demolished Northern 54-0. Louisburg clashed with South Granville just last week, also taking its lumps in a 52-0 shutout.

Both of tonight’s teams have also endured games with the other conference heavyweight, Roanoke Rapids: Louisburg took a 48-14 whipping, while Northern Vance lost 35-10 last week, in a game that actually showed some improvement for the Vikings.

Finally, both teams have played Warren County and the Eagles, traditional rivals of both the Vikings and the Warriors, have surprised some people this season, rolling up a 5-1 overall record to place them in 3rd place in the conference behind South Granville and Roanoke Rapids. However, Warren owes its perfect 3-0 conference mark to the fact that they have only played Northern, Louisburg and Granville Central so far. But to give them their due, they bested Northern 25-15 and Louisburg 27-14.

And so, we have Louisburg Northern Vance, facing the Vikings this Friday night with very similar results against common opponents this season. The Warriors are 1-5, and they have averaged scoring just under 13 points per game – which includes their 41-0 shutout over Kipp Pride in their season opener – and they have allowed 31 points per game. Against three conference opponents, they have scored 28 points total (14 in each game) and been shut out once. Northern Vance is 0-6, has averaged scoring only 6 per game (the Vikings wee shut out in their first two nonconference games), and has allowed 30 per game. In the same three conference matchups, the Vikings have scored 25 total points, and also been shut out once. If there were ever two evenly matched teams, it is these two. Louisburg has had success against Northern Vance in the past. The most recent series ran for 4 seasons between 2009 and 2012. The Warriors won that series 3-1, and there were a couple of great games, like the one-point 37-36 Louisburg victory in 2010 and the 38-35 win for Northern Vance in 2011. These teams are natural geographic and historical rivals, and they have continued to face off in 7 on 7 drills and jamborees in the last few off-seasons.

After joining the Tar-Roanoke 1A conference in 2013, the Warriors had two winning seasons in a row, ending up 8-4 in 2013 with a perfect 5-0 conference run and a playoff appearance. The next year they were 8-5 (4-1), but everyone graduated and the Warriors finished 1-10 in 2015. Louisburg came back last year finished 6-4 in the regular season, and second in their league to Granville Central, with a 4-1 mark. Unfortunately, they were again relying on seniors in their exclusively run-oriented offense, and lost all of their top producers to graduation. Rebuilding again, coach Dontae Lassiter and his Warriors are still counting on their running game, although Freshman QB Jaheim Brown has passed more in the first 5 games of this season than last year’s senior starter passed in the whole season. This year’s leading rusher is one of the few seniors, Amonte Moses, with 77 carries so far for an average of 66 yards per game and has 2 touchdowns on the year. Sophomore Elijah Mitchell also has two scores, and Jr. Devon Ingraham, the 255 lb fullback, has one TD but contributes 42 yards per game. Altogether Louisburg averages 163 yards per game rushing and 23 passing. They have not scored through the air yet.

The strongest part of the Vikings’ game this year is pass defense, and they have interceptions in every game. The Vikings offense has been rendered inconsistent by penalties and turnovers, as well as opposing defenses. The offensive line is small and still developing, so the talent of the several running backs (195 lb Sr. Abraham Wright, also a defensive standout, Sr. Jameel Johnson, who also plays some QB) like to pass, now that they have settled on a Soph Samien Burell as starting QB, and Burell is beginning to zero in of recovers Mikel Brown, Phadol Jordan, Taquan Lyons and others. They have also discovered a reliable kicker in Sr Brian Lopez, who has been steady on PATs and short field goals the past few weeks. Louisburg seems to have all the same problems that Northern Vance does this year, and if Northern can keep their mistakes to a minimum, they have a good chance for their first win this week.

SV at Webb and NV vs RR Previews

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Full Vance County Friday Night Football and Team Schedules are below.

— by Jeff Jenkins

SV at Webb Preview

After last Friday’s trip to Stem, to dish out a serious 50-19 beat-down on 1A conference-mate Granville Central, 2-3 Southern Vance continues its 3-week tour of Granville County tonight (Friday) with a short trip to J. F. Webb in Oxford. With a good chance to even up their season at 3-3, and to improve their conference record to 2-1, Raiders’ Head Coach Darry Ragland would love to see his team play tonight like they did against the Panthers last week. If they do, the Raiders should come away with a win. Although the 1-4 Warriors scored 40 points in their win over Carrboro 2 weeks ago, they were shut out by Beddingfield in their opener 39-0, lost to 1A Gates County 42-28, and then last week took their medicine from Bunn in a 41-9 thrashing. They are averaging scoring just under 20 points per game, and they are allowing 33.

Webb’s last winning season was 2008, when the Warriors finished 9-4 overall, 3-2 in the conference, but missed out on post season play. In 2007, they were true contenders for a state championship, finishing 11-4 after a 4-1 conference record, and a deep playoff run that ended with a narrow loss in the 4th round. In those days. Webb was coached by John Hammet, who became Granville Central’s first football coach and Athletic director in 2010. Since 2011, the Warriors have finished 3-8 four times and 2-9 twice, and 5th year coach Tony Midgette has found a winning formula yet. This history sounds a lot like the Raiders last three seasons, and Webb defeated Southern Vance in both of the past two meetings. The Warriors won convincingly in 2015 by 34-18, but had to come back from a wide deficit last year to win a crazy overtime shootout 50-48. Unfortunately for Webb, those games were nonconference, and tonight will really count.

Furthermore, coaching changes and transfers have given Southern Vance a very consistent offense, with the potential for big plays, especially though the air. Thanks to last week’s production, the Raiders’ scoring average is up to 32 per game – at least a 7-year high; but even before last week, Southern was scoring 27 points per game, and they played Bunn much closer than Webb did, losing by only 4 points, 34-30. They also scored 30 in their opening day win over Bartlett-Yancey. The Raiders defense has struggled at times, allowing 33 points per game before holding Granville Central to 13 points last week until the Panthers slipped in a touchdown near the end.

The Raider defense should be effective against Webb however. The Warriors offense runs better than they pass, and they rely on one or two players for their ground game. The new starting QB, Soph Jordan Pugh is improving, but he has a 30% completion rate, for an average of 40 yds per game and 2 TDs on the season. Sr. WR Unique Heggie, a familiar name from last year’s game, has caught both TD passes, and has caught 6 passes total. On the ground, the Warriors rely on Sr. RB Tyrone Clark, Jr., who averages just under 110 yds per game and has scored four times on the gound. Clark finished with just under 1000 yards last season. Sr Jaquan Brandon only averages 30 yds per game, but he has 3 rushing TD’s. The 215 lb linebacker goes in on short yardage situations. Southern has had trouble against strong running teams, but those were teams like Red Springs and Bunn with stables of strong runners who could rotate in and out smoothly. Webb seems to have one small, fast back who can gain 100 yards a game, and one larger back for short yardage – and that might not be enough for a whole 4 quarters of football.

NV vs RR Preview

The Vikings of Northern Vance are happy to be home tonight (Friday), and they know they have to play Roanoke Rapids this season, and that the yellow jackets are in the same conference, but the Vikings would probably like to wait another few weeks to play them. Roanoke Rapids is undefeated at 5-0, and is destined to meet South Granville, the other 5-0 team in the league, on October 3 in what might be the conference championship game. The Vikings, with an 0-5 record, are coming off two exhausting losses: a not unexpected 46-0 drubbing from South Granville, and a disappointing 25-15 home loss to Warren County last week that could have gone the other way if the offense had been able to take advantage of a few of Warren’s numerous turnovers.

Roanoke Rapids got a new head coach in 2014, and immediately improved from 2-9 to 10-4, defeating Bunn for the Northern Carolina Conference crown, and losing to the #1 seed in the 3rd round of the playoffs. The Yellow Jackets lost to Bunn the past two years to finish second in the league, and they have not gotten past the 2nd round of the playoffs, but they have continued to dominate opponents during their regular season. They had a perfect season going last year until the lost to Bunn, but they still finished 11 and 2 overall, averaging 33 points scored per game, and allowing only 17 per game, both their best averages under coach McDaniel. So far this year, the Jackets have only had one close game – their opener against regional rival Northampton, which they won 30-22. Since then they have played four 1A schools, including back to back beat-downs of conference mates Granville Central and Louisburg. In those four games RR scored an average of 43.5 points per game and allowed only 7 – They shut out Granville Central 46-0, and allowed Louisburg 14 points.

The Yellow Jackets run up all those points with a pretty balanced attack. The Jackets have scored 18 times on the ground, with Sr RB Da’raj Watson scoring 8 of those while rushing for 529 yards in the 5 games. Jr. FB Ajalon Brown, at 5-9 and 231 lb, has 5 TDs in short yardage situations. Jr RB Cory Jenkins has crossed the goal line 3 times during his 200-yard season so far. The passing game is not just an afterthought, but clearly part of the game plan. Sr. QB Jack Neville has passed for 345 yards, with 7 TDs and 3 interceptions. Receiving is evenly divided among Sr. Montrell Govan, with 10 catches for 92 total yards, and 3 TDs; RB Jenkins; and FB Brown. The Jackets also has a reliable kicker in Sr Chase Johnson, who is 20 for 21 on extra points. The defense is obviously tough. Specifically, they have only allowed 10 points in 5 games, and they have 4 INTs and 9 fumble recoveries. They have blocked 2 kicks, and they are BIG, and experienced.

I hate to say it, but Northern Vance will do well to score on Roanoke Rapids. But the Viking Defense does have a knack for swarming the runners and has interceptions in every game. Their best strategy might be to work on keeping the Yellow Jackets to 40 points. Another intangible is that RR has only played 1A teams, and might be a little soft going into the game. A quick score like the Vikings had last week against Warren would be a real moral booster, and would no doubt keep the defense pumped.

Week Five Vance County Friday Night Football Preview

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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.

VCFNF: Northern Vance at South Granville

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— by Jeff Jenkins

Northern Vance and South Granville, – both sets of the Northern Carolina’s 2A Vikings – will kick off their conference schedule tonight (Friday) at Creedmoor, and these two teams could not be more different right now: Northern Vance is 0-3 after is three nonconference outings, and did not locate the goal line until last week at 28-12 home loss against a tough Beddingfield squad out of Wilson. Both of those touchdowns came from Sophomore quarterback Samien Burwell, who started his first game last week and passed for one, 64 yards to Phadol Jorden, and ran 30 yards for the other. The Northern defense, in spite of allowing an average of 23 points per game in the first quarter of the season, has shown some ability to defend the passing game with good pressure on the passer and close secondary work that has produced at least one interception per game. But they do not do well against a good solid running offense, and that will be a BIG problem tonight.

South Granville, under veteran coach Mike Hobgood, has always relied on running for its offensive production, a strategy has taken those Vikings to the state playoffs for six years straight. Last year’s offense was abit more varied: with QB Tucker Brown passing for over 1200 yards and 11 TDs and leading the team in rushing with just under 800 yards, South finished 8-5, averaged scoring just under 30 points and allowed 20 per game. So far this season, QB Brown, now a senior, hasn’t even been called on the pass the ball much. At 3-0, the South Vikings squeaked by 4A Person County 7-0, easily handled 3A South Johnston 21-7, and then ran wild over independent Ravenscroft 41-12, all by rolling up an average of 273 yards per game on the ground (over 300 in the last two game), to only 9 yards passing. Brown has continued to run the ball, with 50 yards per game, but late-blooming Sr. RB Allajah Mitchell, a 6-1 220 lb D-I college prospect, is leading the team with just under 120 yards per game so far (he only had 21 yards rushing total last season). 5-7 170 lb Sophomore FB Bryson McCall, who had a good freshman year with just under 50 yards per game, rushed for 114 yards against South Johnston this year. The South Granville defense is led by their linebackers, including Mitchell, who starts at OLB and has 7 tackles per game, fellow Sr. Sean Deuger, who, at just 159 lb, has 10 per game, and Jr. Justin Bullock, the 198-lb middle Linebacker, who also has 10 stops per game.

VCFNF: Southern Vance vs. Bunn (Sept 8)

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— by Jeff Jenkins

Southern Vance begins conference play at home tonight (Friday) against Bunn, a team that has been in the running for Northern Carolina conference champions every year since at least 2004, and is on a 12-game Northern Carolina 2-A win streak stretching back to Halloween, 2014. In 2015 the Wildcats were Eastern 2A champions and lost the state 2A Championship to unbeaten Monroe, ending the year with a 13-3 record, and a 48-point per game scoring average. Last year they were nearly as good, especially on defense, allowing only 17 points per game, including the playoffs, where they were upset in the 2nd round to end former Coach David Howle’s 34-year career at Bunn.

Everyone should expect some changes and challenges for the Wildcats this year under new head coach David Weathersby, a former assistant under Howle who is known for bringing Bartlett-Yancey from a can’t-win program to respectability and the playoffs in 2 short seasons. But the Bunn faithful were probably not prepared for the 1-2 start the Wildcats have had this season. While it is not uncommon for Bunn to lose a nonconference game – coach Howle always gave his team some tough tests to start each season – two unusual things have already happened. First, Bunn won its season opener to North Lenoir by only one point 31-30, and historically, Bunn rarely loses a close game. next, the Wildcats lost to Franklinton, their cross-county former conference rival 32-22, the first loss for Bunn in that rivalry since 2011. And finally, Bunn suffered a 55-7 pasting from 3A Southern Nash last Friday night. The Wildcats have always had trouble with Southern Nash, with almost no wins over the 3A program in the past decade, but the last time the Wildcats were beaten that badly was a 66-6 playoff defeat by Reidsville. in 2009.

Southern Vance and Bunn traded 1st and 2nd place finishes in the Northern Carolina 2A every year from 2004 to 2007, but the Raiders have not won a match-up with the Wildcats since 2007. But with Bunn’s struggles in nonconference match-ups this season, history could change tonight: Going into the conference opener against Southern Vance, the mighty Bunn Wildcats are 1-2, the same as the Raiders; they have averaged scoring just under 20 points per game (against the Raiders’ 26 per game), and have allowed over 38 points per game (to 28 allowed by SV). For the first time in recent memory, then, Southern Vance has an advantage over Bunn on paper going into tonight’s game. Furthermore, the two teams faced similar quality opponents in the past 3 weeks, and the Raiders can claim more momentum than the ‘Cats, since Southern scored 36 points in 14-point loss last week while Bunn score one TD in a 48-point thrashing.

Bunn is continuing its tradition as a run-oriented offices, but the team was decimated by graduation, Coach Weathersby does not have last year’s top three runners, two of whom scored 18 TDs apiece, or last year’s starting QB. Bunn is averaging 175 yards per game rushing so far, and only 43 yards passing, as Soph QB C. Collier settles into his role. The leading runner so far is Sr. D Moses, who only ran for 217 total yards last season, and has 54 yards per game this year. Moses is followed by fellow Sr. T Davis with 36 yards and Soph J Rogers with 37 per outing. Rogers, who rushed for 100 yards in his only varsity game last year, has scored 2 of the Cat’s 5 rushing TDs.

High School Football Tonight (Thursday)

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The Northern Vance High School football game versus Beddingfield is tonight.  That game was scheduled long ago.

The Southern Vance High School football game at North Lenoir originally schedule for Friday night has been moved up to tonight due to the threat of heavy rain.

Listen Live on WIZS 1450 AM or online starting at 6:45.  Spread the word.  The remainder of the season schedules are posted below as well.

Vance County Friday Night Football Week 2 Preview

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by Jeff Jenkins

Southern Vance

The Red Devils of Red Springs traveled nearly 150 miles from their home south of Fayetteville to visit the Raiders tonight.  Southern Vance, of course, hopes this will be a long wasted trip for the Devils, but the Raiders will have to bring an A game that they might not know they have.  Like Southern, Red Springs is a 2A member of a pretty large mixed 1A/2A conference that includes many of the teams they have become accustomed to playing over the past few years.  But unlike the Raiders, the Red Devil have been quite successful against those accustomed opponents.  Last year, Red Springs finished 6-5 for the regular season, and only 3-4 in their conference; but the wins they had were big ones. The Diablos scored 49, 50 and 75 points in their three conference wins, and had much closer losses.  They ended up averaging 32 points per game and allowed 24.  Their conference was so large that their 5th place finish allowed them into the playoffs for the 2nd straight year.  2015 was even better, with an 8-4 overall finish and a 4-3 league record.

Red Springs, also like Southern Vance, has a new head coach this year; and like Southern, they seemed to be on the same page as their new coach for last week season opener.  The Raiders stumbled around for much of the game last week – Coach ___ told the dispatch that he kept seeing the light flicker while his team was on the field but he could not keep it burning – but eventually found their way and hung on for a 30-22 OT win.  The Red Devils had an easier time of it, judging from their 33-0 victory over 3A south Brunswick.  On the way to the lopsided win, QB, Soph. Denym McKeithan passed for 117 yards, with three TDs. Sr WR Wilkerson  Monte’ caught two of the TD passes, and accounted for 71 total yards.  Soph TE Corey Newton caught the other scoring strike, and Jr. RB L McLean ran for 115 yards on 18 carries and a score.  The Defense was devilish, too, adding a touchdown on Sr Safety Bobby McCrea’s 38-yard return of an interception – one of four total picks.

The Raiders will, of course want to play the way they did abut ½ the time during last week’s game against Bartlett-Yancey.  The 30-22 Overtime win to end Southern’s  16-game losing streak seemed miraculous, in light of the numerous dropped passes score-erasing penalties and other errors committed by the Raiders, but they player and their first year coach hung in an drew power from the memory of a deceased teammate to come out on top.  This is a clear improvement over last year, when the Raiders had a big problem coming back from behind.  If they can cut down on enough penalties to keep the touchdowns they score and hang a bit tougher on defense, Southern Vance may have a shot against the Devils – also a young team with a new head coach, but one that scored 75 points in one game last year and 33 points in their season opener last week.

Northern Vance

The Vikings travel to Durham tonight to take on a new opponent – the Pirates of Riverside, led by former Vikings coach Cory Lea.   Over the past four years, Northern Vance received some of their worst thrashings at the hands of Southern Durham, so the Vikings may not be anxious to go back to the Bull City, but Riverside is no Southern Durham, and tonight’s contest looks pretty even on paper.  The Pirates finished near the bottom of their 4A conference the past two years – 4-7 overall in 2016, with a 2-4 league record, and only 3-8 overall in 2015.  Records like these made it necessary for Riverside to seek out a new head coach, and Coach Lea, who started pulling Northern Vance out of their doldrums with back-to-back 5-6 seasons during 2015 and 2016, made an attractive candidate.  Coach Lea was an assistant at Riverside before taking his first few head coaching positions, and found it impossible to pass up a chance to go back to Durham, even though he would probably agree that his work with the Vikings was not finished.

Coach Lea has inherited a similar challenge at Riverside to the one he had here in Henderson:  his new team only scored 15 points a game last year, while allowing 18;  The Vikings wee a bit tougher last year, scoring an average of 18 points per game and allowing 18.   Last week’s opener was tough on the Vikings, ending in a 12-0 shut out to Franklinton, while the Pirates opener against Chapel Hill had to be finished on Monday for bad weather, but ended in a hard-fought 22-14 win for Riverside.  Riverside showed to dame kinds of first-game problem that Northern did :  fumbles, interceptions and penalties, and Chapel Hill scored once on a 95-yard fumble run-back.  But the Pirates won the game through the air:  Sr. QB Cole Infinito hit Sr. WR C.J. Bell, Jr. for 2 TDs of 30 and 57 yards.  Sr. DB Ryan Odom returned a punt to the Tiger O yd Line, but the Pirates could to cross the goal line on that possession.  The Pirate defense held when it counted, forcing the Chapel Hill into a 4th and 10 on its final drive and sacking the Tiger QB to ice the game.

With only one game to go by, its hard to tell, but it appears that Riverside relies on the pass for its offensive production, but can be rattled by a good pass rush.  Last year, with the same starting QB, the Pirates only passed for 45 yards per game and rushed for 125.  Last year’s leading receiver graduated; but last year’s leading rusher, Jr. Kaligah Murrell, with 80 yards per game,  does not appear on the roster this year.  The Pirate defense is capable of causing fumbles and interceptions, but so is Northern Vance, and if the Vikings can keep their heads and pressure the Pirate backfield, this could be a close game.

Vance County Friday Night Football On-Air Schedule

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WIZS will provide double coverage of tonight’s Vance County Friday Night Football matchups.

Both the Raiders and the Vikings are at home this week. Southern takes on Bartlett Yancey High School out of Caswell County. Northern defends home against an old southern rival in Franklinton.

The pregame broadcast begins at 6:45 with the kickoff of both games set for 7:00. WIZS provides the broadcast over the airwaves of 1450 AM, as well as online at WIZS.com and the free TuneIn Radio App.

This season’s broadcast schedule is below. Please tell a friend, like and share on Facebook and re-tweet on Twitter! The links to share on social media are just below the schedule.

Vance County Friday Night Football is on the Air

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Tonight.  Double coverage of Southern Vance hosting Bartlett Yancey and Northern Vance at Southern Durham.  Pregame at 6:45 p.m. following the Joy Christian Center broadcast.  Kickoff at 7 p.m. for NV at SD and 7:30 p.m. for SV vs BY.  Join us for the live play by play on 1450 AM WIZS plus the live stream on wizs.com and via the Tunein Radio App on your computer, smartphone or tablet.

Scouting Reports by Jeff Jenkins:

For the past four years, the Spartans of Southern Durham have had good reason to consider themselves the best in the Big Eight 3A conference, and they were justified in believing they were the best 3A team in the state.  After being re-classified from 4A to 3A in 2013 and joining the Big 8, Southern swept the conference two consecutive years, won the State 3AA championship in 2013, got upset in the Playoffs in 2014, and went back to the championship game again last year.  They lost to Crest, the school they beat for the crown in 2013, to enter this season as the reigning state 3AA runners-up, but then last year’s Big 8 title – and last five wins – were forfeited due to fielding a player whose participation was based on an physical exam form that expired in late-season. The Big Eight title crown went to Orange County, which had finished second to Southern for three years running.  Whatever the record book says now,  everyone had to admit that the Spartans looked like a team that would contend with the state’s best again this year.  Head coach Darius Robinson admitted that his team had lost a few stand-outs from last year, but felt his 17 returning starters would make his team even more experienced and deeper.  Returning veterans include all-conference quarterback Jalen Greene and all-conference defenders Tackle Bobby Fuller, middle linebacker Andre Purvis, and end Ezekial Jennette.

But something went wrong.  As usual, the Spartans started their season against four tough 4A teams, all of which reached the playoffs last year. But, instead of beating 2 or 3 of the big schools and entering Conference play with their usual record of 4-1 or at least 3-2, Southern came out 2-3 against nonconference opponents.  Then, they lost to Orange County for the first time in recent memory, and by an eye-popping score of 49-7 – the Spartan’s worst defeat since 2012.  Orange was gunning for Southern, and with good reason – the Panthers had been conference runners-up to the Spartans for three straight years, AND fell to Southern in the playoffs in two of those three years as well.  Orange is undefeated this year and, with Southern Durham out of the way, they are likely to stay that way throughout the regular season.

Statistically, the Spartans do not look like an elite team; before the Orange game, they were scoring 23 points per game, compared to 34 last year, and they allowed 24 per game, compared to 19 last year.  The Orange blow-out does nothing to improve that picture.   The Offense averages a respectable but unspectacular 325 yards per game in total.  Sr. QB Jalen Green has passed for 143 yards per game and 6 TDs, and he is also the #2 rusher on the team with 53 yards per game and one TD.  Sr. WR Montrel Cooper, at 6’4,” averages 64 yards per game receiving for 2 of those TDs, followed  by Sr. Marcus McDonald at 6’3” with 53 yards per game and one score.  The rushing game is surprisingly mediocre, with only 130 yards total per game and Sr Joey Strong Jr leading the team with 83 yards per game. As predicted by Coach Robinson, Southern’s defense is indeed being led by Sr MLB Andre Purvis with nearly five tackles per game, and Sr. Tackle Ezekial Jennette with over four, but Sr. Tackle Bobby Fuller has missed three of the six games, and has not been a factor.  However, Soph DB Taron Beauford, Jr. utility player Ryan Bond and Sr. LB Dezmon Criss-Barnard have all stepped up with four or five Tackles each per game.

Northern Vance will still need to play their best game of the season to come out on top tonight, but there is a real possibility that the Vikings can go toe-to-toe with the 2016 Spartans, something they could not even hope for in previous seasons, when they were thrashed by Southern by scores of 62-6, 69-0, and, last year, 42-13.

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The Buccaneers of Bartlett Yancey, the only high school in Caswell County, invade Raider Stadium tonight under the leadership of second-year head coach David Weathersby, who is being credited with changing a culture of losing that gripped the school’s football program around the turn of the 21st century.   In Weathersby’s first game as coach, the Bucs won their 2015 season opener against Raleigh’s 4A Enloe, ended a 19-game losing streak, and laid the groundwork for a 5-6 record and their first playoff appearance since 1996.  Graduation robbed Weathersby of his starting quarterback and some other key players, but the winning season brought out a good crop of new players, and “the new BY” is continuing to rebuild.  Enloe got their revenge with a 58-35 win over the Buccaneers in this season’s opener, and 4A Person County beat them in week two, but Bartlett-Yancey has now won three in a row to bring a 3-2 record against the Raiders, who lost last year’s meeting 42-8 in Yanceyville.

This season, B.Y. features 14 seniors, including starting QB Tre Dildy, and several experienced receivers, including Sr. Jaylon Jeffries and Jr. Brandon Budd.  Among the talented newcomers are 6’2” Fr WR and kick returner Dequondre Newman, the team leader with 316 yards receiving for 4 TDs.  In the five games this season, Dildy has a 61 % completion rate, passing for 549 yards and five TDs, and rushing for three more scores.  Sr RB Shay Jeffers rushed for over 1200 yards last season on his way to an all-conference selection.  So far this season, Jeffers is on schedule to exceed his 2015 production, rushing for 1120 yards and 9 TDs so far.   In a 19-14 win over Granville Central two weeks ago, the Bucs had 477 total yards, with Dildy passing for 117 yards, and Jeffers rushing for a whopping 261 yards.

The defense is led by the linebacking group of Sr. MLB Tyree Foster who was a leader in the first five games last year, before an injury ended his season;   Jr. Joe Durden, this year’s leading tackler with 8 tackles per game; and  Jr. Hart Modlin.  As a RB,  Durden has also rushed for 2 short-yardage TDs

The Bucs offense is averaging 27 points per game, an improvement over last year’s 21 per game.  As a result of their high-scoring losses to begin this season, the defense has allowed 34 points per game, but only 19 per game in their 3 wins.  Overall the Buccaneers tend to lose big and win close, suggesting that their defense needs more improvement.  Their 42-8 win over Southern Vance last year was their highest scoring and most lopsided win of that season.