By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — In roughly a month, Colin Phelps will have completed his time as a Pioneer. In less than six months, he will become a Falcon.

There was undoubtedly a point in the Watauga High School senior’s young life that he dreamed of going to college on a baseball or football scholarship. A football injury sidelined those ambitions but it turns out that he is still going to be “playing at the next level” — as a college golfer. He signed a commitment letter to Pfeiffer University on April 6, in an after-school ceremony with friends, teammates, coaches and family members looking on.

Life takes many twists and turns — differently for different people. The injuries, plus the impact of COVID-19 and all served to help Phelps take golf seriously.

“I played golf off and on when I was younger, but not competitively,” Phelps told High Country Sports after his signing ceremony. “Competitively, just the last two and a half years.”

Serving as emcee of the signing ceremony, Watauga head coach Klay Anderson recalled Phelps’ journey to golf for the estimated 50 fellow students, teammates, coaches and family members in attendance.

“When I met Colin, he and his family (father Jason Phelps is on the Health and PE faculty at Watauga and he serves as an assistant football coach) had just moved back here. I think Colin was in the 7th grade when he came up to me and asked if they could go play golf at Boone Golf Club sometime. He rode around with Jason and me after a football practice (both men were assistant coaches), asking questions. He didn’t know what club to hit, which one to pull out of the bag. He was just learning the game and hit it around a little bit that day but here, four or five years later, he is going to college on a golf scholarship.”

Anderson affirmed Phelps’ style of play.

“If you have never seen Colin hit a golf ball, from where he came not knowing what club to hit, well now the old school ‘grip it and rip it’ mentality applies to him,” said Anderson. “It is his nature and I mean that in a very complimentary way.”

Talking more about Phelps’ golf journey, Anderson was quick to add, “Colin is an old school baseball guy and didn’t want to play golf until his sophomore year. Then COVID-19 hit and football got moved to the spring. Because football was going at the same time as golf, he got to play just in the very last golf match his sophomore year.

“Then, as many of us in this room know,” continued Anderson, “he dealt with some football injuries his junior year and those kept him out of the entire golf season last year. So he had to get recognition in golf by going out and playing on the junior circuit around North Carolina, last spring, summer and fall…”

For Anderson, Phelps’ burgeoning success in golf has some personal significance.

“This year, Colin played No. 1 for us and we hope his successful seasons continue… I am really proud of him. This is a big deal for me, too. I have been coaching here for a long time. When I was the women’s basketball coach, we had some athletes go on to play at some smaller level schools, but it wasn’t as big a deal as it is now. This is my first time getting to see one of my own players have this signing ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments and development. I look around at my golf team members here in the room and I hope this is the first of a string of these signings. I hope we have a number of golfers wanting to sign (in the years to come) and go on and play at the next level.”

Jason Phelps, Colin’s father, was very appreciative of everyone in the room who came out to support Colin in his signature event, as well as all of the teachers, coaches and friends who supported him and his family.

“I have been to a lot of these signings as a coach,” said Jason Phelps, who is also an assistant golf coach, “but I have never had MY son do this before. So this is different. It is special for me and our family. I am here today more as ‘Dad’ than I am as a coach. I am very proud of him. I love him and looking forward to his going to the next level and doing the best he can. I’ve told him that it doesn’t matter what you do, you need to enjoy it. It needs to be something you have a passion for. if you do that you will never work a day in your life.”

Phelps admits that a “grip it and rip it” mindset suits him, even while acknowledging the old line, “Drive for show and putt for dough.” His favorite club is his driver, which he says he hits about 350 yards, consistently pretty straight. His putting is an area that still needs a lot of work, he said.

In choosing to attend Pfeiffer, Phelps credits several friends who went there, including his former baseball coach, Ethan Greene.

“Coach Greene played baseball at Pfeiffer,” said Phelps about his introduction to the school. “I didn’t want to play for a big school because I want to have fun playing golf and I didn’t like the big school pressure. Pfeiffer is a great fit for me, especially for my education. I just love it. It is also close to Boone and my family.”

Among everything else, Phelps finds golf relaxing.

“I just enjoy it, being out in nature, walking in the green grass,” he said.

For Watauga’s golf program under Anderson, Phelps receiving a golf scholarship to attend college could light a few fires among his younger Pioneer teammates.

“We have a bunch of young guys on the team, so being that kind of foundation leader for them… I hope they see it and hope they can run with it,” Phelps said. “We have a lot of young talent. They want to get better. I don’t know how many are interested in playing at the next level but I hope this encourages them, that they can do anything they want and to never give up.”

Already in his young career, Phelps counts the historic Pinehurst courses as among his favorite.

“I have played two Pinehurst courses,” he said. “Man, I love it down there. I would love to play Augusta some day.”

Not surprisingly, perhaps, Phelps’ current favorite player on the professional circuit just happens to be one of the game’s hottest names, Scottie Scheffler, who is No. 2 currently in the FedEx Cup standings, behind Spain’s Jon Rahm. Rahm won the Masters over the weekend, while Scheffler, the defending champ of the event, finished in a tie for No. 10.

Although he is a bit too young to have personally witnessed Tiger Woods’ impact on the golf world, the significance of what Woods brought to the game in helping broaden the appeal — and attract even more dollars to the sport — is not lost on Phelps.

In describing Pfeiffer University, Phelps said, “It is not very big and pretty quiet. The people there are so cool. They are pretty laid back and the campus is about five minutes from one of my favorite places, Badin Lake. And the head golf coach, Chris Jones, is a really gool guy. He wants to build the program, but is all about the team. Playing football here at Watauga, Coach Habich developed a culture. We have brothers, not just teammates. I am really excited about being part of a program with similar values.”

Although Phelps has been the No. 1 player on Watauga’s team, he acknowledged that, as the NCAA marketing tagline suggests, most college student-athletes “go pro” in something other than sports. And yet, he is still uncertain where his career path will take him except, “it probably will have something to do with sports.”

Now with 20-plus student athletes participating on the golf team, Watauga’s high school program is enjoying a resurgence.

“Coach (Klay) Anderson is certainly a big part of it,” said Phelps. “He is a great coach. And the middle school golf program is helping, too. A lot of guys started looking at it and started playing. I think a lot of younger guys started playing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of my friends came out this year and started playing just because we enjoyed being together.”

Phelps explained that 45 student-athletes came out for the golf team this year, competing for the 19 spots on the official team.

“We have one varsity team,” said Phelps, “but we have a practice team and a travel team. There are eight or nine guys on the travel team and the guys on the practice team have a chance to make it onto the travel team.”

With Boone Golf Club closed for the winter and early spring, most of Phelps’ and the Pioneer team’s time on a course right now is at Lenoir Golf Club, Cedar Rock Country Club (Lenoir), Oakwoods Country Club (Wilkesboro), Mountain Aire (Ashe County) and Brushy Mountain Golf Club (Taylorsville).

By David Rogers. HUDSON, N.C. — With yet another multi-goal performance on the still young Northwestern Conference season, Watauga striker Katie Durham, a junior, led the Pioneers on a 9-0 march past host South Caldwell in women’s soccer on April 5.

Durham not only posted a hat trick of three goals scored but added a pair of assists to her day’s offensive production.

This game was abbreviated at the 60th minute (roughly a third of the way through the second half) per NCHSAA “mercy rule” requirements when one team leads another by as many as nine points.

In addition to Durham’s three goals, other tallies were recorded by junior Georgia Parker, sophomore Kate Sears, senior Maya Nelson, junior Charlotte Cuthbert, senior Holly Needham, and sophomore Morgan Flynt.

In addition to Durham’s two assists, others were contributed by Parker, Nelson, Sydnee Bryant, Savannah Duvall, and two by Lucy Walker.

The Pioneer backline and senior goalkeeper Laurel Kiker were effective in shutting out the Spartans.

The Pioneers will be off for Spring Break but be back in action on April 19, at home against Alexander Central, before travelling to Lenoir to take on Hibriten.

By David Rogers. WEST JEFFERSON, N.C. — Four goals by Watauga center forward Katie Durham and three more by attacking senior Maya Nelson — and with Morgan Flynt scoring the first goal — sealed the deal for the Pioneers on April 4, in an 8-0 rout of the Ashe County Huskies.

It was a Northwestern Conference season opener for both teams and, from the get-go, it was going to be an interesting lesson about the importance — or non-importance — of early season, non-conference play.

The resurgent Huskies were arguably one of the stronger programs at the NCHSAA’s 2A level through the 2020-2021 season. In the 1A/2A Mountain Valley Conference, the Huskies’ conference records were typically 11-3 and 10-4, even going 14-0 in the 2014-15 season. They lost to Franklin in the second round of the state playoffs that year.

Designated a 3A school with conference realignment because of Ashe County’s enrollment growth, the Huskies were reassigned to the 3A/4A Northwestern Conference in 2021-2022. On the surface, the program seemed to stumble in posting a 5-13-4 overall record in its first year under head coach Wayne Cable. In NWC league play a year ago, Ashe County was 0-10.

But looks can be deceiving. In 2022-23 non-conference play, the Huskies came into their April 4 encounter with the Pioneers sporting an undefeated, 8-0 record. At any level, that is impressive and reflects the team’s marked improvement in Cable’s second year at the helm.

Watauga, on the other hand, arrived in West Jefferson on April 4 with, on the surface, a run-of-the-mill 4-2 record. Respectable, but not 8-0.

Looking at who the opposing teams were for both sides in non-conference action is where this becomes interesting.

Ashe County dominated its slate of eight non-conference opponents, all 1A and 2A schools. Representative of the scores: 8-0 and 9-0. The closest contest was a 3-0 defeat of Surry Central on March 29. If nothing else, they were great confidence builders and opportunities to test key game strategies.

Who were Watauga’s non-conference opponents? To start, they split a pair of matches with emerging 3A power, St. Stephens (Hickory), beating the Indians in the first game and losng later in the schedule. Watauga edged a strong 4A program in East Forsyth (Kernersville) and soundly defeated a respected 3A level team in Ledford (Thomasville). Their other loss was to perennial state playoffs entry, Weddington, another 4A powerhouse program.

“Even in losing to those strong teams like St. Stephens and Weddington,” said Watauga head coach Chris Tarnowski before the Ashe County game, “we learned a lot about ourselves and what it is going to take to do well when we enter conference play. We intentionally wanted a tougher non-conference schedule, taking a lesson from Josh Honeycutt’s men’s team last season.”

Most of the men’s non-conference schedule was against strong programs. They went 2-7-1 in non-conference, but it better prepared them for the NWC schedule and they went 9-1 the rest of the way, going undefeated in conference and losing in the third round of the state tournament.

The April 4 showdown between Watauga and Ashe County was a lesson in possession and exploiting opportunities. Most of both halves were played in the Ashe County half of the field and the Pioneers used speed and ball-handling skill to exploit opportunities in space. Not to take anything away from the athletes who punched the ball into the back of the net for the eight goals, but only one of them was unassisted. Often it was the assist that created the opportunity.

The Watauga tally:

Next up for Watauga (5-2 overall, 1-0 in NWC) is an April 5 date vs. South Caldwell (5-5, 0-1). The Spartans lost to Hibriten, 7-0, in their league opener on April 4.

Ashe County (8-1, 0-1) has a home conference game against Alexander Central (9-1-1, 0-0-1). On April 4, the Cougars tied Freedom, 1-1.

By David Rogers. WEST JEFFERSON, N.C. — Scoring four runs in the top half of the second inning was just a prelude for Watauga on April 4 at Ashe County. The Pioneers exploded for 12 runs in the third inning to race by the host Huskies with a “mercy rule” finish after five innings, 17-2.

The Pioneers’ offensive production came from up and down the lineup on a picture perfect afternoon for baseball. It included a home run by Cooper Riddle and a whopping seven doubles — two doubles by Jacob Dilley and one each from Cooper Critcher, Tristan Salinas, Maddox Greene, Johnny Ray, and J T Cook.

Cook was credited with the win, pitching four strong innings while limiting the Huskies to just one run on four hits, striking out two and walking two. He was backed by solid defense on this night, too, his fielders fashioning some sparkling plays.

Ashe County used four pitchers on the night, collectively giving up 17 runs on 14 hits and four errors.

KEY WATAUGA PERFORMANCES

• Jacob Dilley: 3-4, 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs. 2B (2), stolen base
• J T Cook: 3-3, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, 2B, and winning pitcher
• Tristan Salinas: 2-4, 1 run scored, 3 RBIs, 2B
• Maddox Greene: 2-4, 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs, 2B
• Cooper Riddle: 1-4, 1 run scored, 2 RBIs, HR
• Jameson Hodges: 1-2, 3 runs scored, 2 walks
• David Pastusic: 0-3, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, 1 walk

By David Rogers. VALDESE, N.C. — After sweeping Draughn on April 3, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18, a few trends are obvious in the Watauga men’s volleyball team’s first season.

First, the young Pioneers are quick learners and know how to win. After less than a month in existence and after the first three matches they are undefeated, 3-0.

Second, they tend to increase the margin of set victories with each successive set in matches.

Third, Watauga’s individual athletes are getting more skillful with each match, improving by leaps and bounds both in terms of their individual skills as well as in their team skills.

The Pioneers have already beaten men’s volleyball teams with longer competitive histories, some measured in years vs. the weeks or even days of existence that is Watauga.

“This start to the season has been pretty remarkable, pretty special,” said head coach Kim Pryor after the Draughn sweep. “It is testament not only to the athleticism these guys are bringing to the team, individually, but also how hard they are working to learn the skills necessary to successfully compete. This week we worked on defense and that showed tonight. And, very important, our timing from set to kill shot has gotten much, much better. The setters are doing a much better job of placing the ball for the hitters and the hitters are better at anticipating when the ball is going to be at its highest point and striking it there.”

That the team is improving rapidly is not lost on the players.

“The jump in our abilities from Game 1 to Game 2 was pretty significant,” said designated setter Steele Nealy as the celebration was subsiding after the Draughn win, “but the improvement from Game 2 to Game 3 continued and maybe was even a bigger jump. I think that will continue as we continue to get practices in and matches played.”

Asked about the team’s tendency to increase the margin of victory as the sets progress in a match, Trathan Gragg explained, “Definitely as we settle into the sets things are going better. In the first one we were a little nervous. We don’t know how they are going to play or what their style of play is, but as the sets go on we get more settled in. We play a lot better when we are more settled in.”

It turns out that the enthusiastic, even what some might call rowdy or rambunctious support from the bench players has been inherited from earlier years.

“When we played church (basketball), a lot of those chants and cheers came from those teams as well as from football,” said Nealy. “That support for one another is being brought over from other sports. It really helps the guys on the court to feel good and play better.”

Coach Pryor said that an area where the team need immediate improvement is starting matches less hesitant and more confident and aggressive right from the get-go but noted, “That confidence in their abilities will come naturally with time and experience.”

The Pioneers have roughly two weeks off before their next match vs. North Henderson in Lentz Eggers Gym on Tuesday, April 18, 5 p.m.

KEY STATS

• Steele Nealy – 22 assists, 2 kills
• Jackson Pryor – 11 kills, 1 service ace, 3 solo blocks, 5 digs, 4 service receptions
• Trathan Gragg – 11 kills, 2 service aces
• Patrick Nguyen – 2 service aces, 6 digs, 2 service receptions
• Brady Lindenmuth – 3 kills, 1 service ace, 1 solo block
• Bennett Lappin – 1 service ace, 2 service receptions, 3 digs

BONUS PHOTOS