By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Out of the creeping mists enveloping Jack Groce Stadium, the No. 8-seeded Watauga men’s soccer team tricked and treated their way to a second half rally. They spooked a talented No. 25-seeded West Cabarrus side, 3-2 — with two goals by senior Nathan Bishop in the final 15 minutes of play.
Seedings have proven deceptive in state tournament play almost every year, in every sport. Watauga knew that West Cabarrus might pose a problem in advancing to the next round, even though they were the fifth place team in the Greater Metro 4A Conference during the regular season. The conference produced five state tournament seeds compared to the Northwestern Conference just two (South Caldwell was awarded the No. 31 seed out of the 32 teams selected for the 4A West bracket of the state playoffs). The other four teams from the Greater Metro conference and their seedings are No. 4 Lake Norman, No. 11 Cox Mill, No. 15 Hickory Ridge, and No. 27 Mooresville. All five had winning overall records during the regular season.
The Pioneers dominated possession for the first 13 minutes of play against the Wolverines, highlighted by a rocket off the foot of senior midfielder Silas Jackson. Cleaning up loose ball, Jackson moved the ball left into space just outside the top right corner of the penalty box. Then, with one step he hammered a shot that curled around a mass of players and sliced into the upper left side of the net for the match’s first goal.
Then, with the first half clock having ticked down to 4:10 remaining before intermission, the Wolverines put together an attack that saw junior T J David, Jr. find the net off of a pass from junior midfielder Jason Hernandez-Salinas to tie the game.
Early in the second half, Hernandez-Salinas put the Wolverines ahead on a penalty kick awarded because of a Pioneer hand ball in the penalty box. That’s the way things stood until Bishops goals in the final 15 minutes.
Especially during the first three-quarters of the match, West Cabarrus often peppered the Watauga net with shots, including some challenging saves by goalkeeper Kyle Painter. By game’s end, Painter had been credited with six saves on the evening.
“I think we were the better team but they had a couple of really quality players with a lot of speed. No. 10 (junior striker Drew Waller) and No. 15 (senior midfielder Fabian Caceres) was very good with the ball,” said Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt. “The only thing they really looked to do was get the ball in space for No. 10. Overall, as a whole, we were better at possession, better at connections, better penetrating and better getting into opportunities that were dangerous vs. just kicking the ball to their speed. I am super proud of our guys.”
By the last 15 minutes of the game, the Wolverines looked to be tiring and the Pioneers didn’t hesitate to pick up the pace.
“I think our hard work and fitness level was a key factor in the second half,” said Honeycutt. “It was pretty easy to tell that we still had our feet on the accelerator and they were exhausted. They were tired.”
Honeycutt shared that stopping No. 10 was a primary objective coming into the match.
“We knew that the West Cabarrus offense ran through No. 10,” the Pioneer coach said. “He had scored 37 goals this season and the next most among his teammates was 16, so I assigned senior defender Noah Jamison to be his shadow. Everywhere No. 10 went, Jamison was there and he did a very good job of neutralizing him for this game.”
A half moon shone eerily across the field in the first half but even it became invisible as incoming fog hung over the stadium lights at intermission before descending down to envelop the playing surface. Only the keenest eyes could see any of the action occurring on an opposite sideline. Even then, there were startled shouts erupting as a ball would come into view. It was a night for fog-piercing glasses — or Ghostbusters — to be sure.
“They were difficult conditions with that fog,” admitted West Cabarrus head coach Demetrius Marlowe to High Country Sports after the match. “Both teams played well. Watauga has a great side and I wish them good luck as they move forward. Both teams played hard and fought, but someone had to win tonight. Unfortunately it went the wrong way for us tonight, but Watauga’s last goal was a great goal. It was great touch inside, then he turned and hit it.”
With the win, Watauga’s record improves to 12-8-1 overall. In advancing to the second round of the playoffs, the Pioneers will leverage their high seed to host Hough High School (Cornelius, N.C.) on Thursday, Nov. 3, at Jack Groce Stadium.
