#TheLastVance has 1 game left. Cougars overpower Myers Park, advance to state finals

Langston Wertz Jr.
·3 min read

There is one game left for Vance High School’s football team.

Forever.

The Cougars overpowered previously unbeaten Myers Park 42-7 Friday to advance to next week’s N.C. 4AA state championship against Rolesville High, which is about a half hour’s drive from Raleigh.

That game will be played next Saturday at N.C. State.

Vance (9-1) will play in its third straight N.C. 4AA championship game and will try to win its second straight title. Vance beat Leesville Road 24-3 in the 2019 final. It lost 9-7 to Wake Forest in 2018 as Wake Forest won its third straight ring.

Next week will also be the final time a Vance team plays football. The Cougars have used a hashtag, #TheLastVance, to commemorate the season.

The school is officially changing its name to Julius Chambers High School in July. The predominately Black school is currently named for Zebulon B. Vance, a former N.C. governor who owned slaves and tried to keep Blacks from voting after the Civil War.

Last year, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board voted unanimously to change the school’s name in favor of Chambers, a civil rights leader and attorney who spearheaded a desegregation case that integrated CMS in the ‘70s.

On Friday, Vance scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, sparked by sophomore Daylan Smothers, who rushed for 117 yards and two scores in the first half. Vance led 21-7 at halftime, and after forcing a three-and-out on Myers Park to start the third quarter, a heavy rush forced a short punt.

Vance took over in Myers Park territory. The Cougars scored quickly and led 28-7. It was pretty much over then.

For the game, Smothers ran 13 times for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Austin Grier threw for 150 yards, and Songa Yates had a 90-yard kick return in the first half after Myers Park had tied the score at 7. On defense, Vance defensive end James Pearce had three sacks.

Myers Park (9-1) was playing in its second state semifinal in three seasons. The Mustangs lost to Vance in the 2018 semifinals. The Mustangs have never been to the state finals.

Mustangs quarterback Lucas Lenhoff threw for 177 yards, but the Mustangs could manage only 51 yards rushing. Myers Park, however, reached the state semifinals after head coach Scott Chadwick left for an assistant job at Maryland just before the season began.

Interim coach Mark Harman took over a team that lost All-America QB Drake Maye to early graduation and led the Mustangs to nine straight wins and a Southwestern 4A championship.

Vance 0 21 14 7 — 42

Myers Park 0 7 0 0 — 0

V: Joseph Morris 4 run (Melvin Benitez kick)

MP: Andrew Bookman 1 run (Thomas Walker kick)

V: Songa Yates 90 kickoff return (Benitez kick)

V: Daylan Smothers 14 run (Benitez kick)

V: Austin Grier 9 pass (Benitez kick)

V: Smothers 46 run (Benitez kick)

V: Asauni Allen 5 run (Benitez kick)