SOCCER
VOLLEYBALL
By David Rogers. BOONE — Sept. 8 was a day of sweeps in Watauga middle school volleyball matches.
In a tri-match between Hardin Park, Parkway and Green Valley, Hardin Park recorded a 2-0 win over Green Valley before Parkway tested the Eagles, forcing a third set with a nail biter, overtime win in the second frame. Parkway used that measure of momentum to dominate Green Valley.
Another tri-match saw Cove Creek dispatch Bethel and Mabel in straight sets, but not before both rallied for second set threats. In arguably the most evenly-matched competition of the day, Mabel got by Bethel in straight sets.
The lone pairing: Valle Crucis defended its home court effectively with a straight set win over Blowing Rock.
SCORES
By David Rogers. LENOIR, N.C. — All but 1:20 had ticked off the game clock on Sept. 8, with West Caldwell holding a tenuous, 2-1 lead over Watauga men’s soccer. And that is when the game was called after a more than half-hour delay while school officials and EMS first responders tended to a seriously injured Warrior midfielder.
The player apparently went up for a contested header, shoulder to shoulder with an unidentified Watauga player, and collapsed immediately to the ground screaming in agony. Trainers and coaches got the player stabilized and holding still while waiting for paramedics and an ambulance to transport him to a hospital. As he was being moved to load onto a gurney, it was apparent that any movement was excruciatingly painful for the young man. The early reports on the sideline were that it was believed to be a neck-related injury but that has not been confirmed.
Play leading up to the moment of injury was fast-paced, marked by outstanding play on both sides of the ball. The Pioneers dominated possession, estimated at approximately 80 percent of play and keeping the ball while pressuring the West Caldwell defenders.
After a scoreless first half, within the first 10 minutes of the second half West Caldwell capitalized on a well-placed free kick from the left side, the ball crossing the face of the Watauga defended goal only to be punched into the net by a Warrior for the game’s first goal. Less than five minutes later, West Caldwell was able to push in a second goal as the ball caromed wildly off one player or another in front of the net.
Finally, with roughly 10 minutes to go in the game, the Pioneers’ forward line got in on the scoring action with Stryker Ward credited for the goal and Emmit Coffey getting the assist.
After the medics had cleared and teams shaken hands on the “no decision” result, Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt said, “That was a first for me, the first time I witnessed a player being removed from the field in an ambulance. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with that player and his West Caldwell soccer family. It was a very unfortunate end to this game.”
Of his team’s play, Honeycutt added, “We were complacent coming out of halftime. I told the guys during the break that just because we are dominating possession and controlling it 70-80 percent of the time, it does not mean we are going to win the game. We have to find ways to get the ball into the net. We have to find ways to score goals. It seems like we are doing everything else except that, scoring. We need someone to step up, to be hungry for goals.”
Next up for Watauga are four more, highly competitive non conference matches, including home against Northwest Guilford (Sept. 12), on the road at Davidson Day (Sept. 15), home against Ardrey Kell (Sept. 19), and home vs. Cox Mill (Sept. 21). The Pioneers open Northwestern Conference play at South Caldwell on Sept. 26 and at Alexander Central on Sept. 28 before a first home conference match vs. Hibriten on Oct. 3.
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was a straight set sweep on Sept. 7 at Lentz Eggers Gym, but visiting Hickory rallied to challenge Watauga volleyball’s roster depth, 25-11, 25-18 and 25-21.
The Pioneers’ big hitters, seniors Caroline Farthing and Brooke Scheffler, powered their way through the contest with 22 and 11 kills, respectively. Scheffler added 18 assists to her stat line, along with a serving ace, two stuff blocks and eight digs, reflecting her balanced production all across the court.
Junior Evie Robbins and senior Cam Norris were backcourt leaders, defensively, keeping the ball in play with 14 and 15 digs, respectively, and near flawless with only one receive error each.
“Hickory is a pretty solid team,” said Farthing after the match. “They’ve lost a few players since last year, but they are still pretty solid. Tonight we got to prove that we have a really deep bench.”
Farthing credited the closer results in the second and third sets to some of those personnel changes, something the Pioneers can afford to experiment with in early season, non-conference matches.
“We had completely different lineups,” explained Farthing. “Usually we come right out into the flow of things (with those changes), but tonight we had some communication issues.”
By late in the third set, Watauga had fixed the communication issues and staged their own rally to pull away from the Red Tornadoes.
Before the match, assistant coach Casey Gragg, on behalf of the team and school, presented head coach Kim Pryor with a hi-res team photo embedded on a plaque to commemorate Pryor’s 200th win. She has coached many of the Watauga athletes since they were in grade school, at different levels.
Watauga is now 7-1 on the still young, non-conference season, the only loss coming on the road at North Iredell on Aug. 19. The Pioneers continue to face strong opposition on Sept. 10, again on the road in a tri-match format against Northwest Guilford of Greensboro and Hough High School of Charlotte suburb, Cornelius.
SELECTED WATAUGA STATS
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Appalachian State freshman Ethan Lipham was named the 2022 season’s first Sun Belt Cross Country Men’s Runner of the Week, the league announced Wednesday.
In his debut for App State, Lipham was the first Mountaineer to cross the finish line at the Covered Bridge Open (Sept. 2), recording an 8K time of 25:49.43 to finish ninth overall. The Largo, Fla. native’s time helped the Mountaineers to a second-place team finish with 69 points.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Sept. 16, hosting the Firetower Project Run at the Don Kennedy Trails at State Farm in Boone.