Embracing the role of underdog, Vance football ready for mighty Richmond Senior
Vance High linebacker Stefon Thompson said the Cougars are used to being the underdogs.
“All four years I’ve been at Vance, it’s been that way,” Thompson said.
So Thompson said he and the Cougars (11-2) don’t have a problem playing that role again in Friday’s N.C. 4AA state semifinal at Richmond Senior (13-0).
“The odds are stacked against us at all times,” Thompson said. “We’ve just got to go down there and come back with a (win).”
Vance plays in a conference, the I-MECK 4A, that is dominated by national power Mallard Creek. The Cougars also played in the shadow of nationally ranked Myers Park this season. So despite beating Myers Park in the state semifinals in 2018 and making the first state championship in school history, Thompson said he and his teammates felt a little underappreciated.
“So we took that underdog mentality and used it as motivation,” first-year coach Glenwood Ferebee said. “The kids are playing with a chip on their shoulder and saying, ‘Hey you doubted us. So let’s go out and show them.’ That’s the motivation we’re playing with. It’s like we’re going to make people respect us, even if they don’t.”
It’s taken a little while for Vance to get rolling, Ferebee said. He was hired late in the 2018-19 school year and replaced Aaron Brand, who had become an institution at the school before leaving for a job in Irmo, S.C.
Vance’s loss to Hough a wake-up call
After starting 3-0, the Cougars lost 17-7 to Mallard Creek. Vance then rolled off five straight wins, led by its ferocious defense, before a shocking 42-28 loss to Hough on Nov. 8. Before that game, Vance had allowed 72 points all season.
“The defense was nursing some injuries,” Ferebee said. “You don’t make excuses for that, but when your top top guys (Thompson and junior linebacker Power Echols) are nursing ankle injuries, it’s hard for guys to do what they normally do. You see the difference now that the guys are healthy.”
That Hough loss dropped Vance down to a No. 10 seed in the playoffs and forced a road to a championship game that’s as tough as any in recent memory: at No. 7 seed (and three-time state champ) Butler, at No. 2 seed (and three-time state champ) Mallard Creek, at No. 3 seed West Forsyth and now at No. 1 seed Richmond Senior, which is trying to get in position to win an eighth state title.
But Vance has allowed 14 points in three playoff games and is one win away from going back to the state finals. The Cougars lost 9-7 to Wake Forest last season.
In retrospect, Ferebee said, the Hough loss may have been the best thing for his team.
“Sometimes,” he said, “your head can get a little too big. So that game brought us back down and it was more of an ego check and we needed to get back on track. It’s like, ‘Hey we’re not going to just walk through this thing. We’ve got to play.’”
And that was exactly the message he gave his team.
“On Monday after that loss, he was like, ‘Alright, we can’t do that anymore,’” quarterback Austin Grier said. “I think we were looking forward to the playoffs and after that Hough game, it made everyone flip a switch. We knew it was win or go home.”
Vance again the underdog
So now, Vance will head to Rockingham, again as the underdog, to play in one of the toughest places in North Carolina.
Ferebee, as always, likes his team’s chances.
“I think my kids are going to thrive on it,” he said. “My kids want to play in environments like that. We play better in environments like that. I don’t think the (large Richmond crowd) will affect us, but it will bring the best out of us. We’ve played Mallard Creek and Myers Park. We’ve been to the state finals. We’re battle-tested.”
