By David Rogers. HUDSON, N.C. — It has been 41 games since Watauga’s Pioneers lost a 3A/4A Northwestern Conference football contest and the capper may well have been the team’s 63-19 thumping of longtime 4A rival South Caldwell on Nov. 8, at Spartan Field.
A 51-11 halftime score set up a running clock as soon as the High Country visitors scored early in the third quarter. It was almost as an inevitable afterthought.
Senior quarterback Maddox Greene secured another milestone: for the second consecutive year he has more than 1,000 yards rushing the football and 1,000 yards passing the football.
Coming into the game, Greene needed just over 50 yards to complete the 1,000 yard passing standard and he got it, and then some, completing 7-of-12 passes for 142 yards through the air, including three TDs against one interception. He already had the 1,000 season rushing standard, but added on in a big way against South Caldwell in carrying the ball 16 times for 170 yards and a TD.
An Evan Burroughs Sequence
As the score might indicate, Greene wasn’t alone in big play creativity. Evan “Swiss Army Knife” Burroughs caught six passes (out of six targets) for 99 yards and a hat trick (3) of TDs. He carried the ball five times for 50 yards. And he was in the middle of making lemonade out of some razzle-dazzle lemons — in which he hurled what became a 36-yard TD pass to Greene.
Hollywood could hardly have scripted Burroughs’ “making lemonade” play any better. Greene rolled right, handed the ball off to Everett Gryder sweeping back left on a reverse, who then flipped the ball to Burroughs in the center of the backfield, coming back right on a double reverse. But Burroughs errantly dropped the ball, it bounding to the turf and starting to hop forward with Spartan defenders littering the backfield, wondering where the ball would go next. The athletic junior, though, calmly reached down and picked up the ball and off one foot jumped in the air and delivered the intended pass downfield. Although not the “prettiest” pass in gridiron history, Greene was waiting for it. The senior leaped up, brought it down, and somehow carved a path through and around four would-be tacklers, sprinting to the end zone.
Pioneer head coach Ryan Habich acknowledged after the game how special Burroughs’ abilities are.
“There are very few athletes that could recover from the dropped ball, then jumped in the air to make that pass,” said Habich, smiling in saying that the fumbled ball was not part of the play design.
South Caldwell’s biggest moment came on the Spartans’ first offensive drive. After Watauga’s quick strike score on the game’s opening drive (4 plays, 64 yards, in just 53 seconds) featuring a 43-yard ramble by Greene before a 1-yard plunge into the end zone by Gryder, the Spartans looked to answer. On the first play, junior QB Corbin Mcghinnis found receiver J P Smith along the right sideline, the pass-catch-run covering 60 yards to the Watauga 5-yard line. Two plays later, on punches up the middle by running back Landon Borders, and South Caldwell was in the end zone. South Caldwell elected to go for a 2-point conversion and were successful on a run left by Bryson Genwright, leaving the early score 8-7, in favor of the Spartans.
But that was the only lead of the game for the Hudson hosts celebrating Senior Night. After Pioneer running back Matthew Leon capped off an 8-play, 65 yard scoring drive with a 1-yard dive into the end zone with still a little over 10 minutes remaining in the first quarter, Wilson’s PAT kick was successful this time, giving Watauga a 13-8 lead from which they would never look back.
The rest of the opening quarter was a battle with South Caldwell using nearly five minutes of clock on the next possession but being forced to punt after a couple offsides penalties turned the drive into a three steps forward, two steps back affair. The Spartans seemed to make the best of it with a punt downed at the Watauga 2-yard line, but Greene & Co. were undaunted by the awkward field position.
In fact, Watauga poured it on in the second period, playing inspired football on both sides of the ball. Taking advantage of Spartan turnovers and their own near-flawless execution with the ball in hand, the Pioneers scored 36 more points in the second period, taking the lead at halftime to 49-11. They did it with Greene rushes, Greene passes to Burroughs, Burroughs’ pass to Greene and rushes by Leon and Gryder. Backup QB and placekick holder Cade Keller even got in the act with a surprise 2-point conversion try.
By the second half, Watauga had the luxury of trying different things, just to give the players more experience in certain situations.
“We wanted Maddox to pass, not run in the second half because we know that in the playoffs we are going to rely more on passing,” said Habich later, in part explaining why Greene was even still on the field.
Among the good news for the rout: a lot of athletes saw playing time.
“Everyone on the roster played,” Habich said later, smiling about the position depth he was able to develop with player experience, resting his starting playmakers some — and getting his reserves a chance to prove themselves and having fun.
Watauga finishes the regular season, 10-0, an undefeated regular season they also achieved in 2023 and 2018 before falling deep in the playoffs.
Pairings for the first round are anticipated to be announced on Sunday, Nov. 10. As the top 4A team in the Northwestern Conference, Watauga is likely to receive a high seed and facing a lower seeded opponent but Habich has no illusions about the task ahead. He noted that not only 11 of the top 25 teams in North Carolina coming from the 4A West bracket, but the lower seeded teams coming out of highly competitive metro area conferences, especially from Charlotte, are really good programs who just happened to fall to the very best.
SCORING SUMMARY
- Q1 – WAT – Everett Gryder 1 yard rush for TD; PAT by Jack Wilson kick: 7-0
- Q1 – SC – Landon Brothers 3-yard rush for TD; PAT rush by Bryson Genwright: 7-8
- Q1 – WAT – Matthew Leon 1-yard run for TD; PAT kick failed: 13-8
- Q2 – WAT – Maddox Greene 5-yard run for TD; Greene run for PAT: 21-8
- Q2 – WAT – Evan Burroughs 40-yard pass from Maddox Greene for TD; PAT run by Cade Keller: 29-8
- Q2 – WAT – Maddox Greene 36-yard pass from Evan Burroughs for TD; PAT kick failed: 35-8
- Q2 – WAT – Evan Burroughs 23-yard pass from Maddox Greene for TD: PAT by Jack Wilson: 42-8
- Q2 – WAT – Everett Gryder 1-yard rush for TD; PAT kick by Jack Wilson: 49-8
- Q2 – SC – 42 yard field goal by Armando Gomez; 49-11
- Q3 – WAT – Evan Burroughs 9-yard pass from Maddox Greene for TD; PAT kick by Jack Wilson: 56-11
- Q4 – SC – Kaleb Flores 1-yard rush for TD; PAT run by Corbin Mcghinnis: 56-19
- Q4 – WAT – Cade Keller 8-yard rush for TD; PAT kick by Jack Wilson: 63-19
SELECTED TEAM STATS
- Total Yards: WAT 536, SC 256
- Yards Rushing: WAT 40 carries, 346 yards, 5 TDs; SC 21 carries, 77 yards, 2 TDs
- Yards Passing: WAT 9-of-14, 190 yards, 4 TDs; SC 13-of-26, 179 yards
- Penalties: WAT 2-15, SC 8-64
- Turnovers: WAT 1, SC 2
- 3rd Down Conversions: WAT 7-8 (88%), SC 4-9 (44%)
- 4th Down Conversions: WAT 1-1 (100%), SC 0-0
- Time of Possession: WAT 15:18, SC 19:10
SELECTED INDIVIDUAL STATS
Passing
-
- SC – Corbin Mcghinnis, 13-26, 179 yards, 1 INT
- WAT – Maddox Greene, 7-12, 142 yards, 1 INT, 3 TDs
- WAT – Evan Burroughs, 1-1, 36 yards, 1 TD
- WAT – Cade Keller, 1-1, 12 yards
Rushing
-
- WAT – Maddox Greene 16 carries, 170 yards, 1 TD
- WAT – Matthew Leon 9 carries, 58 yards, 1 TD
- WAT – Evan Burroughs 5 carries, 50 yards
- WAT – Everett Gryder 7 carries, 30 yards, 2 TDs
- SC – Khian Oates 5 carries, 24 yards
- WAT – Cade Keller 2 carries, 20 yards, 1 TD
- SC – Corbin Mcghinnis 3 carries, 19 yards
- WAT – Nyle Peays 1 carry, 18 yards
- SC – Kaleb Flores 3 carries, 15 yards, 1 TD
- SC – Kaden Loritts 3 carries, 12 yards
- SC – Landon Borders 6 carries, 7 yards, 1 TD
