By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was a beautiful, if warm evening of football on Aug. 15, with Watauga hosting North Surry, Maiden and South Point. Here is a sampling of the action at Jack Groce Stadium.

All images captured by photographer Jared Everett, processed for High Country Sports by David Rogers

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was only an early, preseason scrimmage but the Watauga and East Surry high school teams and their fans got a late summer taste of what the upcoming season will be like. Yes, football at all levels is fast upon us, so time to get a glimpse of some of the action.

All images captured by photographer Jared Everett and processed by David Rogers for High Country Sports. Click on ANY image for larger display in Slide Show mode.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — With a promising display of roster depth, Watauga High School’s volleyball team swept visiting West Wilkes, 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-16), on Aug. 12 at Lentz Eggers Gym.

After the match, Pioneer head coach was all smiles, especially in having seen a consistent level of play throughout, regardless of which student-athletes were on the floor, representing Watauga.

“This was an opportunity to try a lot of things. The strength of the opponent we saw yesterday vs. Hickory doesn’t allow you to make some of the (early season) changes you really want to make, so seeing the consistent level of play and, in some cases, a rising level of play from the players coming in, was really good to see. I was able to make subs and we were able to continue the game plan. There was no drop in the level of play. We have a strong team, all the way through.”

Leading 2-0, Pryor substituted freely early in the third set and there was an opening period of concern when West Wilkes jumped out to a 6-0 lead. That advantage didn’t last long as the new group of Pioneers found their footing and sparked a rally. Pryor said she was confident that her group could play through and overcome the deficit.

“I was pretty confident they could pull it together. We were losing focus a little bit, being the first game (of the year for several of the players). And they did. They brought the focus back in and dominated,” said Pryor. “Overall tonight, we were able to execute things according to the game plan, both on offense and defense.”

We were playing together and we were winning.

It was another match where hard-hitting senior outside hitter, Emma Pastusic, was again featured in both the front row as well as at the service line. The 2-sport athlete has developed significant arm and upper body strength while training for volleyball as well as for discus and shot put in track and field. And yet, her explosiveness — elevation off the floor — may be one of the defining skillsets to mark the Watauga season. Her strong connection with setter Lainey Gragg was obvious, with Gragg racking up 35 assists, about half leading to one of Pastusic’s 17 kills.

“My serving was a little off last night (vs. Hickory), but I worked on it in practice today,” said Pastusic. “(On the throws up) I was able to get the ball a little more in front of me, so I was able to direct the ball a little better. I obviously have my top-spin serve, which is the most aggressive, but it also remains a high risk serve so there may be more misses. If I need something more reliable, I go to a float serve or standing serve. With a top-spin serve, you are throwing the ball higher so you are able to get the top spin on it. It is designed to go over the net and drop really fast. With the float, it is more of a flat serve that runs off of people’s platforms.”

On her explosiveness off the floor, especially in kill shot opportunities, Pastusic is reaping the rewards of plain, hard work in preparation for the season.

“I have definitely been working on my vertical this summer,” said Pastusic. “I reached 10 feet during the summer and 10-feet, two inches in a game. It’s starting to ramp up and my work is starting to pay off.”

Almost all, if not all, of the Watauga players compete with travel teams in the summer, most with Appalachian Volleyball Club but some off the mountain as well. As much as they enjoy those opportunities to compete and hone their skills, they are universal in wanting to play for and represent Watauga High School.

“It is just amazing. We all play ball in the summer, but with these girls as teammates, on this court and with all of these fans, it is a different kind of feeling,” said junior outside hitter Ashlyn Smith. “With the loss last night, we had (extra motivation) to do better. We were playing together. We were playing united and that showed up on the court. We were playing together and we were winning.”

Team Statistical Leaders

• Kills – Emma Pastusic (17)
• Assists – Lainey Gragg (35)
• Receptions – Ashlyn Smith (30)
• Blocks – Kora Knight (3)
• Digs – Caroline Childers (26)
• Serving Aces – Lainey Gragg (3)

Now 1-1 in the young season, Watauga has a rematch with Hickory on the road, Aug. 18, with first serve slated for 5:30 p.m. in the Red Tornadoes’ gymnasium.

BONUS PHOTOS

By David Rogers. TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. — It is just the beginning of the 2025 high school cross country season in the High Country but the Watauga Pioneers seem to have returned to dominant form in the new 6A/7A Northwestern Conference.

In the Aug. 11 NWC Triple Threat meet, the Pioneer men and women exceeded expectations in both times and finishing places.

The “Triple Threat” event is unique in that it is 5K of running — but broken into three separate races, each separated by 5-10 minutes. The three segments are 1-mile, a half-mile, and then a 1.5 mile run to finish things.

According to Pioneer assistant coach Scott Townsend, all the men start each segment, with the women starting 30 seconds later. Then, once the final women’s harrier has completed the segment, there is a five to seven minute break and the next segment starts.

“The race was held on the campus of Alexander Central and multiple terrain changes from grass, to trail to track,” explained Townsend.

Head coach Randy McDonough was pleased with what he saw.

“The kids really showed up today,” said McDonough. “The times most of the kids ran are times we hoped for at the end of the year. We are pretty excited about our chances this year.”

As usual, the Pioneers have a big contingent of runners this year, pushing each other as well as themselves. Some are in it to win, others for the camaraderie, and still more for their personal development when you talk to them individually.

In the Women’s 1.5 Mile race, Watauga had 37 student athletes competing, compared to St. Stephens with nine, McDowell with one, Alexander Central with three, Freedom with 13, and South Caldwell with three.

Watauga swept the first five places at the 1.5 Mile distance, led by Cali Townsend (No. 1), Janie Beach-Verhay (2), Josie Mayo (3), Lilly Kimbrough (4), and Nora Price (5). After St. Stephens’ Jade Gonzalez-Cardenas crossed the finish line at No. 6, Watauga captured the next four spots with Lainey Johnston (7), Sophia Stull (8), Susanna Goff (9) and Sydney Townsend (10). All in all, the Pioneers captured 17 of the top 25 finishing positions in the Women’s 1.5 Mile segment.

In the Men’s 1.5 Mile segment, Watauga swept the first six spots, led by James Bostrom (No. 1), Sean Rea (2), Zeke Walker (3), Grady Gates (4), Elliott Taft (5), and James Isaac (6). In total, the Pioneers took 12 of the top 25 places, with Cormac Walker, Brian Newmark, Levi Anderson, AJ McAulay, Parker Williams and Caleb Duvall rounding out the leading two dozen.

In the Women’s 1-Mile segment, Watauga swept the first six spots, with Townsend, Beach-Verhay, Kimbrough, Johnston, Mayo and Price capturing the honors. Again, the Pioneers were overwhelmingly dominant in taking 15 of the top 25 places.

In the Men’s 1-Mile run, South Caldwell upset Watauga in the team standings, thanks to a first place finish by the Spartans’ Bryce Corpening. Watauga nonetheless finished second, with nine runners in the top 25, led by Bostrom (No. 2), Rea (7), Gates (8), Zeke Walker (9), Taft (10), Anderson (13), Newmark (16), James (17) and McAulay (25).

In the Women’s Half-Mile, Watauga took the seven of the top 10 spots, including Townsend (No. 1), Beach-Verhay (3), Mayo (4), Johnston (5), Kimbrough (6), Price (7) and Stull (10). The Pioneers took team first place honors, including 14 of the top 25 finishers.

In the Men’s Half-Mile race, the Pioneers captured nine of the top 25 spots, led by Bostrom (No. 1), Zeke Walker (8), Gates (9), Newmark (12), Rea (15), Anderson (16), Taft (17), James (18) and McAulay (20).

The Pioneers’ assistant coach, Scott Townsend, put the early season performance into perspective.

“We performed well and have positioned ourselves for a great season,” said Townsend. “We measured up well against the conference competition and many of our student-athletes, when their times were compiled, are hitting their season goal times in just week 3 of the season. The summer work is paying off and both the women’s and men’s teams are poised to finish well at the regional and state levels.

“MileSplit NC has recently ranked the our women’s team No. 18 out of all classifications in North Carolina and No. 3 in the 6A class. The men’s team is projected as No. 5 in 6A based on last year’s returners. So we have work to do, but love where we are this early in the season.”

Next up for the Pioneer harriers is “Class of the Classes” on Saturday, Aug. 16, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Watauga High School home course, starting below the Football Stadium, down the gravel road to the starting field and to the Greenway.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Watauga jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half, but visiting Hickory battled back to earn a 2-2 tie on Aug. 11 at Jack Groce Stadium.

Near the end of a first half defensive battle, Watauga junior forward Evan Mawhinney attacked from the left, zipping a shot along the ground past the outstretched arms of Hickory goalkeeper Anthony Jarrett, to give the Pioneers a slim advantage going into halftime. He added the Pioneers’ second goal early in the second half, seemingly giving Watauga control, but the Red Tornadoes’ senior forward Braeden McCourt tallied two goals of his own in the second half, the final tying shot coming with seven minutes to go in the game.

Afterwards, Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt implored his charges not to relax at any point in a game, no matter how comfortable they felt a lead might be.

“Overall, it was a good game,” Honeycutt said after the final whistle. “First half, we played quality soccer. We did exactly what we wanted to do. We were able to exploit them with our speed, but then we didn’t finish our opportunities… We can’t let (teams) hang around and give them hope. We played great, but we got out of our style in the second half and got a little bit lazy. We lost track of their guy.”

Watauga’s preferred “style” is keeping possession with short, crisp passes, working the ball down the field.

“A long, diagonal ball works for us because we have speed,” Honeycutt said, “but we can’t rely on that. Ball control is our style. We have to stay composed, keep the ball and move it around. We can’t lean into what another team does.”

After a young team last year, Watauga could be a team to watch in the upcoming season and possibly into the state playoffs.

“We are loaded with juniors and seniors this year,” said Honeycutt. “We have two sophomores, 13 juniors and eight seniors, so we are very upperclassmen heavy. That is certainly something we need to take advantage of this year. They work well together and they are a great group of guys. It is a good opportunity to make something special this year.”

The Pioneers are back in action at Hibriten on Monday, Aug. 18 (6:30 p.m.), then back at home vs. Cuthbertson on Aug. 21 (6 p.m.).

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Certainly, a four-set loss (21-25, 25-20, 19-25, 22-25) to the visiting Hickory Red Tornadoes was disappointing, but the see-saw battle was something to build off of for the Watauga High School volleyball team.

“This was our first match coming into the season,” said Watauga head coach Kim Pryor, afterwards. “I feel great about where we are. We have a few adjustments to make but I am really, really pleased with what I saw today.”

Watauga is bringing a fairly young team into the 2025 season.

“We had a lot of sophomores last year that are now juniors,” said Pryor. “We grew together last season and I feel that will be even more evident as we get further into our season. Hickory is a tough team to play right out of the starting gate, but as we adjust and make changes and work on some things, we will be fine.”

In three of the four sets, the Pioneers jumped out to early leads only to have the Red Tornadoes scramble back and take control.

“Overall, as a team, we can be scrappier,” said Pryor. “We had a few lulls that are uncharacteristic of Watauga volleyball but we will fix those and move on.”

Starting libero Caroline Childers was one of the very few freshmen on last year’s varsity, so part of the growth from one year to the next — and comes into the season with a lot of optimism.

“I am very excited to be back playing. I love my team and I love my teammates. I think we are going to have a great season. Over the summer, I played travel ball with App Volleyball 15 Elite, but playing for the high school team is a little different. Tonight, I thought we fought pretty hard. There are some things that we can tune up but after a few more practices I expect we will do better, next time.”

One of the notable features of Watauga’s attack is senior Emma Pastusic’s powerful hits, including big serves.

“Emma has been working on her serves and, as a team, we have been talking about serving aggressively,” said Pryor. “She has multiple serves that can be effective, from a top spin to a (different rotation). We use her serves as an advantage for the team. She can attack on all levels, attacking back row, attacking front row. As we perfect that, and with everyone else doing the same thing, we should have great (results).”

Statistical leaders for the Pioneers:

• Kills: Emma Pastusic (17), Kora Knight (9)
• Assists: Lainey Gragg (35)
• Digs: Carolina Childers (26), Ashlyn Smith (12)
• Service Aces: Lainey Gragg (3), Caroline Childers (2), Gracie Collins (2), Ashlyn Smith (2), Emma Pastusic (1)

Watauga will have little rest before their next action, Tuesday, Aug. 12, vs. West Wilkes, also at Lentz Eggers Gym. The junior varsity match is slated for 4:30 p.m., with varsity scheduled to follow at 6 p.m.