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)
Click Play!
