By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — An opportunistic Ragsdale men’s soccer team took advantage of almost every Watauga mistake on Nov. 13 at Jack Groce Stadium, edging the Pioneers, 3-2, and eliminating the High Country’s favorite sons from the state playoffs in Round 2.
That is hardly the end of the story, though. Watauga has a championship pedigree, always contending for a Northwestern Conference title and looking to go deep into the 4A state playoffs. But after losing 13 seniors to graduation a year ago, 2024 was supposed to be a rebuilding year — NOT!
Somebody forgot to tell this year’s roster of five seniors, 10 juniors, and seven sophomores that expectations were low. They promptly went out and recorded an undefeated Northwestern Conference championship season (10-0), going 19-4-2 overall and advancing into the state playoffs’ second round.
Against Ragsdale, Watauga controlled possession for a good portion of the first half but the Tigers fashioned a counterattack after roughly 10 minutes of play that ended with senior midfielder Ethan Lam headiing a ball into the net from a corner kick for the game’s first score.
The Pioneers answered some five minutes later on a long crossing kick from the right side to the middle by midfield David Ganley, to open space just outside 10 yards from the goal face to an awaiting Ben Myers. The well-placed pass from Ganley served to pull the Tigers’ goalkeeper, Jairo Ledezma out, but the senior arrived just a bit too late as Myers’ shot at goal zipped past him and into the net.
GOOOAAAALLLLL!!! The Ben Myers sequence
Knotting the score at 1-1 proved only temporary, however, as Ragsdale sophomore striker Owen Justice crafted two more goals for the visitors, giving the Tigers a 3-1 lead going into intermission.
The second half was a defensive battle royale, with both teams’ goalkeepers playing central roles in turning back challenging shots for saves. To their credit, Ragsdale looked to protect that 2-goal lead and dropped players into more defensive positions, making Watauga’s mission that much more difficult.
With under 10 minutes to go in the game, however, Quincy Honeycutt proved up to the challenge, leaving Ledezma sprawled out on the right side as he maneuvered past him to tap the ball into the open goal.
Honeycutt’s goal gave the Pioneers inspiration and momentum but they were unable to send the game into overtime with another goal (or win it with two quick goals).
Perhaps more than any other opponent Watauga has played at least in recent games, the Tigers were able to close space more quickly in defense and disrupt Watauga’s one- and two-touch passing for possession and advancement.
After a two-hour bus ride from Jamestown, N.C. (on the eastern outskirts of High Point), Ragsdale was ready to stretch their legs and play.
“We got here in plenty of time,” Ragsdale head coach Brien Braswell said, speaking to his team’s game day preparation. “We scored first but they scored right away, too. We knew this was going to be a good ball game. We knew we had to score goals. We didn’t score as many as we could have because they didn’t make it easy. Watauga is a good team, very fast. They are a class act. We were able to keep them out of the net just long enough.”
For his part, Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt had nothing but praise for his players and what they both endured and accomplished this season, especially post-storm in the condensed conference schedule.
“I am proud of the guys. They fought hard and never quit. I knew they would do their best to battle back,” said the veteran Pioneer coach. We just made a few early defensive mistakes, getting caught high, allowing Ragsdale to get behind and flick the ball on, into space. That cost us.”
Honeycutt added how important it is for his team not to lose focus on the Pioneers’ preferred style of play, keeping the ball on the ground with short, possession-centric passes and working the ball down the field.
“I thought we were the better team, that early in the game we had better possession and in moving the ball but once we allowed their game to dictate our game… It became ‘boom ball’, they started winning. If we keep the ball on the ground and possess, they are just going to chase us and we win the ball game. But we lost control when we started playing their style. It hurt us. They caught us with the counterattack three times and that was the difference in the game.
“Ragsdale is a good team, very fast, which allowed them to take advantage of those counterattacks. If we play a full first half (with our style), I think we win the ball game,” added Honeycutt. “This is the playoffs. In both the first and second rounds we faced teams that may have finished No. 2 or No. 3 in their conference for the regular season, but they are from strong conferences and are really high quality opponents. That was the case for Palisades as well as for Ragsdale. When we get to the playoffs, the seedings don’t mean anything other than we want to be as highly seeded as possible to have home games. We have to play our very best to win in the playoffs, no matter what the opponent’s seeding number is on the bracket.”
Watauga’s five seniors this year includes Curtis Sevensky, Thomas Moss, Orin Ellis, Bennett Munson and Alex Aguilar. That quintet of athletes will be missed, but with 10 juniors and seven sophomores returning from the 2024 roster, but some talented, up and coming freshmen, Watauga is poised for a strong showing in 2025.
BONUS PHOTOS
