SportsTalk on WIZS 12:30 p.m. M-Th
Scout Hughes and George Hoyle talk with Vance County Head Football Coach Aaron Elliott as they prepare for Rocky Mount on Friday night.
Vance County travels to Rocky Mount for Week 2 of the 2024 season Friday, August 30th 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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SportsTalk on WIZS 12:30 p.m. M-Th
Doc Ayscue and Scout Hughes recap Vance County’s win this past Friday against Warren County.
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SportsTalk on WIZS 12:30 p.m. M-Th
With football season in the Tar Heel State ramping up tomorrow night, high schools all across the state are looking forward to finally getting back on the field for the 2024 campaign. Vance County’s head man Aaron Elliott joins SportsTalk with Scout Hughes and George Hoyle to talk about Vance County’s matchup tomorrow night against Warren County.
Coach Elliott feels better about the season opener against the Eagles now that they have a few scrimmages under their belt. “At the Jordan Scrimmage we made a lot of mistakes mentally. Just as for like not lining up right and just being in a bad position to make plays. I told the kids after the game, if we would’ve done everything right, it wouldn’t have given us anything to work on going into the season. It really helped us expose some of our weaknesses against a good team.”
Even though Coach Elliott is in his second season at the head of the Vipers program, he has had a lot of encounters with Warren County Head Coach Victor Hunt. “We’ve been playing each other for just about my whole coaching career. Even when I was at Louisburg, we played Warren County every year. Coach Hunt has a big respect from us. He does a good job with low numbers each year. We’ve played some tight ball games back and forth. With this rivalry, at the end of the day it’s like Duke and Carolina.”
Week 1 starts a season of what could be a great year for Vance County. Especially after achieving the first 10-win season by any team from Vance County since Southern Vance won 13 games in 2007. Coach Elliott wants Vance County to go to higher heights in 2024 and beyond. “We’ve been talking about it ever since the end of the year last year, you know having a championship mindset. That’s been our main goal and main focus coming into this season, thinking about the future a little bit. Thinking about what we gotta do to be able to compete for a state championship. We’re not satisfied after the end of last season with Terry Sanford knocking us out in the first round. It put a sour taste in our mouths.”
In preparation for Warren County on Friday, Coach Elliott states that practice went well this week. “We have been really, really drilling these kids talking about the mindset aspect of the game…we’ve got to have consistent days of practices that are great. This week even though it’s a rivalry game and they love playing this game against Warren County…this week has been a great week of practice.” Coach agrees with WIZS’ George Hoyle that you have to practice like you’re going to play. No injuries have plagued the Vance County squad Elliott says, which is always a good thing.
Warren County, a member of the Tar-Roanoke Conference, is a 1A school and since Vance County Schools consolidated, the Vipers have beaten the Eagles every time they’ve played each other. Coach Elliott wants to make sure that his team doesn’t overlook their opponent this week. “That game (Vance County vs. Warren County) has came down to the last play of the game or even the last drive of the game every year…I want to put an emphasis on our mindset and that we don’t feed into the hype as much. We focus on what we’re doing and what we’ve got to do to get better for ourselves. Minimizing mistakes and everybody doing their job.”
Coach Elliott is excited to get the season started and said, “Come out and support the Vipers. After last year, everybody is excited to see how we respond and rebound off of that early playoff loss. We have a good returning class, a lot of returners back on both sides of the ball. Everybody is excited to watch us play football.”
Vance County travels to Warren County for Week 1 of the 2024 season Friday, August 23rd 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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While Kerr Vance Academy has suffered few disruptions due to Covid, Vance County High School is not as fortunate. According to the school’s athletic director, Joe Sharrow, this Thursday night’s scheduled JV Football game and Friday night’s varsity game and next week’s JV and varsity football games have all been cancelled due to a Covid exposure. The school hopes to be able to make up the games at some point in the near future.
The WIZS family is mourning the loss of one of its own, Ron Noel, who died Wednesday. Noel co-hosted the Tuesday and Thursday sports show with Trey Snide. Thursday’s show was dedicated to Noel, in appreciation for his enthusiasm for local sports, especially in Vance and Granville counties.
Joe Sharrow, Vance County High School athletic director, shared the mic with Snide on today’s program, and the two shared memories about their colleague and friend.
“He was a great man,” Sharrow said. “He was the type of person who wouldn’t want things to stop because of him,” he added.
WIZS colleague Bill Harris called in to the show to remember Noel. “When I would fill in for you on Sports Talk,” Harris told Snide, “I would rely on (Ron’s) wealth of knowledge of local sports to get me through the program.” He could talk about coaches and players on various teams and various sports, Harris said. “I would let Ron go on because he just knew so much.”
Noel loved baseball, but he was interested in, and knowledgeable of, other sports as well.
“He was always prepared,” Snide said. When he’d come into the studio at 12:30 for the 1 p.m. show and the sports news was a little slow, Snide said Noel would simply say “let’s do local.” “That’s what we’re all about,” Snide said, appreciative of the fact that his co-host was always game for talking about what’s going on in the community.
“We love you, we appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” Snide said in remembering his friend and colleague. “We loved your excitement,” he added, saying that Noel listened to the show every single day.
Sharrow said Noel “always had a positive twist on things…he had a long-term vision – you lost this one, but you’re going to be all right down the road,” he said Noel would say after a tough loss.
Whether he was walking into a gymnasium in Vance County or Granville County, or a favorite spot to meet buddies and swap stories – the Oxford Bojangle’s – it seemed that Noel greeted friends wherever he went.
“He was ‘the guy,’Sharrow said. “He knew everything that was going on anywhere – in Vance, Granville – it could be anywhere in the state,” he said. He lived in Granville County, but he worked at J.C. Penney in Henderson for many years, so his love for both counties was evident.
John Charles Rose phoned in to express condolences to Ron’s wife, son and extended family on behalf of the radio station. “We thank Ron for the contributions he’s made over the years and for his family sharing him with us,” Rose said via telephone. He said Ron “always came in with a topic to talk about,” and really enjoyed talking about local sports.
Sharrow said the local sports community has lost several important figures recently – Joe Stepusin, Clay Faulkner, and Wilton Baskett.
Baskett was known for being a flashy dresser, and sporting school colors courtside, Sharrow recounted. The yellow coat at Northern Vance, then the green coat at Vance County High School games – Baskett wore them proudly. “He really believed in dressing professionally,” Sharrow said, adding that Baskett told him that he’d never coached a game without a tie on
“Ron was his tailor,” Sharrow said. “Ron is the one who picked those clothes out!”
Snide recalled Noel’s thoughtfulness to others, but especially to him before airtime. He would call up before coming to the radio station and ask if we wanted something for lunch – chicken or hotdogs, usually. “That just goes to show what kind of person Ron was,” he said.
Later today, Noel’s son, Ray, will probably be on the sidelines at Granville Central High School in Stem as the Panthers host East Wake Academy in the second round of the baseball playoffs.
Sharrow said he talked with his friend and GCHS athletic director Wednesday night and the younger Noel said he was going to be there. “He said, ‘this is what my dad would want me to do,’” Sharrow said.
Sharrow and others in the local sports community will be there tonight to support their friend and colleague. “And,” Sharrow said, “I’m absolutely pulling for the Panthers tonight.”
Hosts Trey Snide and Doc Ayscue spoke with Vance County High School Athletic Director Joe Sharrow Monday on SportsTalk. Sharrow spoke about the season opening football game for Vance County as they take on Chapel Hill Thursday evening in Henderson. “I’m really excited,” Sharrow said. “The offense is in a rebuild mode. The defense will be the star of the show,” Sharrow added. Vance County participated in a scrimmage against Goldsboro over the weekend and, according to Sharrow, played well.
In regards to Covid 19 and its impacts on schools Sharrow said “We take pride in keeping kids safe”. Sharrow also said that Vance County High School is the only school doing regular testing in the entire state. While state guidelines allow for 100 people to attend games, Sharrow says Vance County has not been allowing anyone to come to any sporting events but the policy is being reviewed this week. “Athletic Directors are trailblazers,” Sharrow said when talking about how school systems have worked to have athletic events during the pandemic. He added that many local and conference teams have far less players than in previous years. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see some schools back out of football this season,” Sharrow commented.
Vance County’s team has a new coach this season with Hunter Jenks taking over the program. Sharrow said that over the long term he believes Coach Jenks will put together a really good football program at Vance County High School.
Vance County takes on Chapel Hill Thursday at 6:30 Thursday at Vance County High School. The game will be broadcast live on WIZS.
With high school football scheduled to kick off next Friday, Trey Snide talked with Vance Co. Vipers head coach Hunter Jenks to discuss the game against Chapel Hill to begin the football season. Despite having fewer players than last year’s squad, Jenks says, “The kids have been fantastic. They’ve had great attitudes.” Jenks hopes that once in-school instruction returns on March 9th that the team will be able to add more players. With only seven regular-season games this year, it will be important for the Vipers to hit the ground running. “We have a good knowledge of the Chapel Hill team,” Jenks says. Film study has given the staff some insight into what Chapel Hill will bring to the field in Henderson next Friday night.
Like all other high school teams, Vance County has challenges. The team has only had two contact practices and must contend with replacing Samein Burwell at quarterback. “We have two players battling for quarterback,” says Coach Jenks. Jenks has not named a starter for the opening game but did say he hopes that whoever does start will be able to “step in and play to the best of their ability.” Additionally, Jenks said many players have had to fit practices around his player’s work commitments including students who work full time.
Originally, the Vipers were scheduled to have a scrimmage against Goldsboro tomorrow, Feb. 19th, but that has now been pushed back to noon on Saturday.
Once again, the Vipers welcome Chapel Hill for the first home game of the season on Friday, Feb. 26th. The game will be broadcast live on WIZS.
Hosts Trey Snide and Ron Noel discuss local sports including South Granville’s weekend basketball game, the name change for the Burlington Sock Puppets in Minor League Baseball. They also spoke with Brian Howard, Varsity Women’s Head Basketball Coach at Vance Charter about their upcoming game against Falls Lake. Howard says “our team has grown a lot over the past couple of weeks.” He also said the team is almost 100% healthwise. During the show, Jy’lik Davis, of Vance Charter, was named WIZS player of the week after his performance in Vance Charter’s win over Oxford Prep.
Hosts Trey Snide and Ron Noel announce this week’s Player of the Week Winner. Cheyenne Owen, senior center/forward for Kerr Vance Academy takes the award this week. Due to Covid 19, Kerr Vance has only been able to have six players on their team this year and Owen has been instrumental in the team’s on court success.
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Host Trey Snide speaks with Player of the Week winner Asher Fulk of Crossroads Christian and his coach, Scottie Richardson. Fulk said playing and attending Crossroads is “just like being a part of a family and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Richardson said about his player “he is like a son to me and a big brother to my son.” Richardson also described Fulk as being the quintessential captain and team player. Fulk is a senior at Crossroads Christian.
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