By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — In soccer terms, it was a thing of beauty. Just minutes into the Watauga men’s soccer match vs. West Caldwell at Jack Groce Stadium on Aug. 16, Curtis Sevensky gathered the ball along the right sideline, then deftly lofted a crossing kick. In one fell swoop, teammate Micah Duvall nailed the ball on the fly from about 15 yards out in front of the left post, pounding the ball past the stunned goalkeeper for the first of Watauga’s eight goals.

As it turned out, that goal set the tone for the entire match. The final score was 8-0, but maybe we should give the Pioneers another half point because a ninth tally hit the back of the net while the final horn to end play was still blaring, even if the horn sounded before the shot was taken.

“I am very pleased, obviously, after all the hard work just two days ago in earning a draw against highly ranked Ardrey Kell, at their field in 100-degree temperatures,” said Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt. “Coming into this game, our objective was to not take a step back but to continue to get better, to build. Regardless of who we play, that is the message we preach. It doesn’t matter who your opponent is, that’s the guy you have to beat. We did that today and I am super proud of our guys’ mentality knowing it is going to take our best effort to win.”

Honeycutt added that it is always nice to play on your home turf, but was deservedly guarded in facing West Caldwell.

“They beat us down there last year,” he recalled. “We may not have given them our best game for whatever reason, but they beat us. We weren’t sufficiently prepared so I chalk it up as an early season blunder.”

Honeycutt described the mentality of his team as “… hungry to win and wanting to destroy every opponent.”

As you might expect in an 8-0 drubbing of an opponent, several Watauga players stood out on the day, including seven players getting goals and six assists spread among five players, but perhaps none came to the fore with consistently good play than freshman newcomer Gavin Lapinsky, who was one of those seven players finding the back of West Caldwell’s net.

When Honeycutt was asked about Lapinsky, the coach said, “He’s becoming a great player. He has lots of skill and puts in a lot of hard work. And, frankly, he has lots of soccer knowledge for his age. He has the ability to know where to be and when to be. He is just a really intelligent, hard-working player who puts himself in the right position, with a desire to be the best he can be.”

Watauga soccer has two home matches next on the team schedule, vs. West Forsyth (Clemmons) on Aug. 21 and Forbush (East Bend) on Aug. 24. What follows are four successive road matches at East Lincoln (Denver), R J Reynolds (Winston-Salem), Mt. Tabor (Winston-Salem) and A C Reynolds (Asheville).

After two non-conference home games vs. Lake Norman (Mooresville, Sept. 12) and Cox Mill (Concord, Aug. 14), Watauga opens Northwestern Conference play at home vs. South Caldwell on Sept. 20.

WATAUGA SCORING VS. WEST CALDWELL

• Alex Aguilar (2 goals)
• Micah Duvall (1)
• Ayden Johnson (1)
• Jossue Galan (1)
• Kohen Pitts (1)
• Gavin Lapinsky (1)
• Jack Wilson (1)

ASSISTS

• Thomas Moss (2)
• Curtis Sevensky (1)
• Gavin Lapinski (1)
• Lars Best (1)
• Ben Myers (1)

DUELING CAMERAS

BONUS PHOTOS

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Scoring was balanced for Watauga men’s soccer junior varsity on Aug. 16, as the Pioneers routed West Caldwell JV at Jack Groce Stadium in “mercy rule” fashion, 9-0. With eight goals in the first half, Watauga added the ninth in the first two minutes after intermission to abbreviate the game.

Watauga JV’s Lucas Straub got a hat trick, scoring three goals, while Quincy Honeycutt sent two into the back of the net, with the others spread among multiple guys.

“It was balanced, to be sure,” said Watauga JV head coach Vern Collins afterwards. “The beauty of this game… It was a shared effort. We had multiple guys score, which is what we like.”

Collins said that in spite of the 9-0 result, there were areas of disappointment.

“I am actually thankful that we didn’t get that ninth goal in the first half,” said Collins, “because it gave us a chance to have an instructive conversation at halftime. These guys always want to win by the mercy rule, beat a team by nine points and end the game early.  But in light of that, we don’t want to be a team that just hunts for goal. We want to play Watauga soccer, work the ball around and look for opportunities and play together as a team. In this match, we went away from that as the first half went on, although the goals kept coming. So halftime gave us a chance to get back to creating quality opportunities.”

Watauga soccer has two home matches next on the team schedule, vs. West Forsyth (Clemmons) on Aug. 21 and Forbush (East Bend) on Aug. 24. What follows are four successive road matches at East Lincoln (Denver), R J Reynolds (Winston-Salem), Mt. Tabor (Winston-Salem) and A C Reynolds (Asheville).

After two non-conference home games vs. Lake Norman (Mooresville, Sept. 12) and Cox Mill (Concord, Aug. 14), Watauga opens Northwestern Conference play at home vs. South Caldwell on Sept. 20.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — As a season opener, it doesn’t get much better for Watauga women’s tennis team than its 9-0 sweep of East Wilkes on Aug. 16 — unless, of course, you are new head coach Phoebe Boeschen.

“I am very proud of our girls for the first match of the season,” said Boeschen. “Obviously, there were a lot of nerves going into it. A 9-0 team score sounds dominating, but several of those matches were much tighter. That said, I am really proud of the outcome.”

With six seniors on the team last year graduating, Boeschen knows that she is inheriting a lot of new faces to the program and only a couple with much varsity playing experience.

Among the veteran returnees is junior No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles player, Siena Davidson, who dispatched East Wilkes’ No. 1 singles player, sophomore Ava Darnell, 6-2, 6-2.

Moving into the No. 2 singles slot for the season opener was Watauga freshman Addison Cohen. She had more of a tussle vs. the Cardinals’ No. 2, freshman Emerson Simmons. The match was more of a see-saw battle, with Cohen taking the first set, 6-1, but Simmons rallying to earn the second set, 6-7, including a 3-7 tie breaker. Cohen rebounded with a tense, 10-8 third set victory.

Boeschen is building upon on strong Watauga program led previously by head coach Jennifer Pillow. She brings an accomplished playing and coaching pedigree of her own to the Pioneers.

Boeschen played high school tennis for Rock Ridge HS in Columbia, Mo., mentored by head coach Ben Loeb, who was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. Having won 1,212 dual meets and 19 state championships, he is regarded as the winningest tennis coach of all time in Missouri.

Wataiga’s new head coach played college tennis at Missouri State University, then moved into the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at Southeast Missouri State, then high school coaching stops where she mentored several doubles team, women and men, to high finishes at the state level.

“I am really excited to be a part of this program,” said Boeschen. “There are a lot of new faces — we have 24 student athletes competing for spots — but these girls are very athletic and they work really hard at their tennis. I am very grateful for this opportunity.”

FULL TEAM SCORES

Singles

• No. 1: Siena Davidson (WAT) def. Ava Darnell (EW), 6-2, 6-2
• No. 2: Addison Cohen (WAT) def.  Emerson Simmons (EW), 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 10-8
• No. 3: Larson Berry (WAT) def. Valerie Schubart (EW), 6-2, 6-3
• No. 4: Kennedy Moore (WAT) def. Kali Cook (EW), 6-4, 6-3
• No. 5: Fiona Russell (WAT) def. Diella Ward (EW), 6-2, 6-1
• No. 6: Abbi Shuman (WAT) def. Kelsea Absher (EW), 6-4, 6-4

Doubles

• No. 1: Davidson-Cohen (WAT) def. Darnell-Simmons (EW), 8-1
• No. 2: Berry-Moore (WAT) def. Schubart-Cook (EW), 8-2
• No. 3: Russell-Shuman (WAT) def. Ward-Absher (EW), 9-8 (7-1)

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — At first glance, Watauga Volleyball’s 3-0 sweep of Southwestern Randolph (Asheboro, N.C.) on Aug. 15 may look like it was a proverbial walk in the park, but the set scores suggest otherwise: 25-23, 25-19, 25-21. In short, it was exactly the kind of early season test Pioneer head coach Kim Pryor was hoping for when scheduling the Cougars as the 2023 season opener.

“Southwestern Randolph is a solid program with a great coaching staff, so you know coming in they are going to be a strong adversary,” Pryor said after the match. “Blocking was critical this evening and at critical moments. Southwestern Randolph had a great attack all the way across the net. Our blockers responded and our defense responded. It was fun to watch.”

There were thunderous kill shots from both sides of the net and courageous digs on the other end of them. In between, there were dramatic saves, timely passes, and perfect sets. It was as entertaining a high school volleyball match as anyone could imagine near season’s end, much less at the beginning of the 2023 Watauga campaign.

And it was hardly surprising, given the programs’ respective pedigrees. Under the direction of head coach Darby Kennedy since 2013, Southwestern Randolph has developed into a North Carolina volleyball power. As late as 2020, the Cougars were ranked in the top 25 in the state at the 3A classification, according to data maintained by MaxPreps. Declining school enrollment moved the school down to 2A in 2021, when NCHSAA did the periodic realignment of more than 500 schools in North Carolina — and the Cougars promptly won the 2A state championship title, then carved a path to the 2A state semifinals a year ago.

Watauga has long been an accomplished, 3A/4A contender under the leadership of Pryor (2007, 2008, 2009; 2020-present) and Kris Hagaman (2010-2019), including seven consecutive 3A/4A Northwestern Conference championships and deep runs into the state playoffs, including a No. 3 finish in the North Carolina 4A West Division in 2022 with a 23-3 record. Pryor and her staff have long been involved in the High Country region’s youth volleyball programs that eventually lead to the high school team.

BACK AND FORTH

Both the first and third sets of this contest were nailbiters. Every time Watauga looked like they might pull away, Southwestern Randolph would rally to even the score, even poking ahead for a point or two before the Pioneers finished with a flourish. In the second set, the Cougars jumped out to a 9-4 advantage before Watauga began to nibble away at the deficit, then run away with the set.

Even after losing all-District performers Caroline Farthing and Brooke Scheffler and other key senior performers to graduation last spring, Watauga seems to have a never-ending supply of athletes in the development pipeline to sustain the winning culture.

“I’ve been playing volleyball here since the 4th grade, so six or seven years now,” explained Brooklyn Stanbery, one of the latest big hitters to grace the Watauga volleyball stage. “We work hard all summer. Our team is always like a family. We always have good relationships with one another. We are all friends even outside of volleyball. We spend quality time together and that helps us be better together on the court.”

Stanbery, a senior outside hitter, recorded 17 kills in the three sets vs. Southwestern Randolph, including a whopping 0.444 hitting percentage and a 47.2 percent kill percentage out of 36 kill attempts. She plays much taller than her height might otherwise suggest.

“I am not as tall as most hitters, so I have to get up there. I do a lot of weight training and conditioning. A lot squats, a lot of lunges, and a lot of jump roping,” Stanbery shared. “I have to be prepared to do my part in the attack. There are a lot things that happen before the kill shot, things that others on the team are accomplishing before the ball gets to my opportunity. Someone has successfully received a serve or dug out an opponent’s kill shot, keeping the ball in play. Someone has passed the ball to one of our setters. Then that setter has put the ball in the best position possible for me to go for the kill shot. I have to be prepared to do my part in that entire sequence.”

Watauga libero and designated setter Evie Robbins, also a senior, is also a part of that sequence. For her contributions, which included two service aces and 16 digs, Robbins was named “Player of the Match” by the coaching staff.

“Good play results from a lot of repetitions,” said Robbins. “Every single day in practice. It might get boring but it really does help. Serving every day. Passing every day. Setting every day.”

Stanbery was not the only big hitter against Southwestern Randolph. Emma Pastusic, just a sophomore, recorded 18 kills in 34 attempts (52.9 percent).

On Aug. 12, at the scrimmage tournament hosted by Catawba College, Watauga’s head coach told High Country Sports in an interview that one of the Pioneer varsity’s better skills in 2023 was blocking. They needed every bit of that against Southwestern Randolph.

Pryor deftly deflected a question about individual Pioneers for this match.

“Honestly, the strength of this team is the team,” she said. “We have people doing special things in every single position, throughout the rotation. When you have that, it is hard on the opposing teams because they can’t pinpoint a weakness. No matter what kind of (talent) we had in the past and has moved on, these girls have the same goals and they work hard. The next generation of girls have stepped in and kept up. We are not missing a beat from last year and it is amazing. I am really, really proud of the work they put in and the way they are stepping onto the court with confidence. They are playing their hearts out.”

INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS

• Brooklyn Stanbery: 17 kills, 1 service ace, 13 digs, 20 serve receives
• Emma Pastusic: 18 kills, 1 block assist, 4 digs
• Evie Robbins: 2 service aces, 16 digs, 2 assists, 17 serve receives
• Madi Combs: 23 assists, 8 digs, 1 service ace
• Olivia Kop: 3 service aces, 6 digs
• Kasey Gragg: 2 kills, 1 block assist, 3 serve receives
• Lainey Gragg: 16 assists, 7 digs
• Kora Knight: 2 kills, 2 block assists
• Kate McCullough: 1 serve receive, 2 block assists, 2 kills
• Sara Marlowe: 1 kill, 1 service ace, 2 block assists, 1 dig
• Grace Tillery: 12 serve receives, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 1 kill

BONUS PHOTOS

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Sophomore Lilli Combs and freshman Ava Zaragoza combined for 28 assists — 14 each — on Aug. 15, helping lead the Watauga Pioneers junior varsity to a decisive 2-0 sweep of Southwestern Randolph on Aug. 15, 25-10, 25-16.

Taking advantage of the setters’ deft work were the Pioneer JVs’ big hitters on the day, Gracyn Blanton (13 kills) and Athena Elliott (8 kills).

Sophomore Lilli Combs recorded three service aces over the course of the two sets, her work behind the service line helping the Pioneers jump out to a decisive lead with consecutive point runs in the first set.

Watauga head coach Casey Gragg told High Country Sports after the match that her staff was able to get all eligible JV players onto the court during the contest and that was reflected in digs, where four Pioneers tied for team-high honors, with four, including sophomore Bella Wade, freshman Zaragoza, sophomore Combs, and sophomore Lillon Henline.

The JV team’s performance vs. Southwestern Randolph was decidedly more polished than what they were able to do four days earlier at the Catawba College scrimmage tournament.

“At Catawba,” explained Gragg, “we specifically used three or four different rotations. I wanted to see how the girls paired with each other as setters and hitters. We wanted to see which combinations of passers, setters and hitters were likely to be more successful when on the floor at the same time.”

The scrimmage experimentation paid off because, based on their performance against the Cougars in the official season opener, Watauga’s JV team clicked — to the point they might well have defeated many of the varsity teams in the Northwestern Conference.

“These girls already have the kind of ‘gel’ that we might ordinarily see halfway through the season,” said Gragg. “I am really proud of how they have worked together and gained the kind of court confidence that should allow us to compete very well in our matches this year.”

Outside hitter Gracyn Blanton may well have surprised even herself with her jumping ability, allowing her to drive down on the ball while going over the net.

“I don’t even know where that came from,” said a smiling Blanton of the leaping ability demonstrated in this match.

“She works hard,” interjected her coach, Gragg. “All the girls work so hard. They are very disciplined in their approach to playing volleyball and they are very coachable, just like Gracyn, to learn the skills and work at them repetitively over and over again to the point where they are exhausted, but they don’t give up.”

Having played volleyball since the 4th grade, Blanton has learned to love the game.

“Especially here, there are so many people supporting what we do,” said Blanton of the game that gets her competitive juices flowing. “It is the environment here, but it is such as fascinating, fast-paced game. You are into every point and every play.”

Even for her young age, as a freshman, Blanton already wonders what the future holds. Certainly she wants to play varsity volleyball at Watauga, but that is as far as the “next level” she wants to think about at this point.

“Volleyball is so competitive in college and I don’t know if I will be there (skill-wise). Maybe. But we will see,” she said.

KEY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

• Gracyn Blanton: 13 kills, 2 digs
• Ava Zaragoza: 14 assists, 4 digs
• Lilli Combs: 14 assists, 3 service aces, 4 digs
• Athena Elliott: 8 kills
• Rylee Mitchell: 5 kills, 1 block, 1 service ace
• Bella Wade: 1 assist, 4 digs
• Lillon Henline: 4 digs
• Sofie Wade: 4 kills
• Sophie Kop: 1 service ace, 3 digs

BONUS PHOTOS

By David Rogers. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If soccer games were decided by who spends the most time in an opponent’s half of the field, Ardrey Kell was the clear winner on Aug. 14 in the 2023season opener vs. Watauga. That didn’t happen, though, because the Pioneers’ defenders turned back the Knights’ onslaught — including three dramatic saves by senior goalkeeper Kyle Painter in the 0-0 draw.

BONUS PHOTOS AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE

Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt is intentional in his non-conference scheduling, loading up the early slate of matches with the strongest possible competition before starting to campaign for a Northwestern Conference championship. At least in North Carolina, the Knights’ program is among the best. Competing in the highest, 4A classification, Ardrey Kell finished No. 13 among all of the 566 high school soccer programs in North Carolina by the end of the 2022 season, according to MaxPreps.com, which had Watauga listed at No. 83.

“Before the game, we were all sitting around looking at social media and stuff and my buddy, Ben Myers, showed me a power ranking for North Carolina 4A, and Ardrey Kell was ranked as No. 7. We weren’t even mentioned. You wouldn’t even know that Watauga existed. So, we had a bit of a chip on our shoulders tonight, feeling we had something to prove. Coming away with a 0-0 is a statement to any school in the state that we are not a joke or just a bunch of hillbillies. We can play.”

Honeycutt put the Pioneers’ season opening performance into perspective after achieving a 0-0 draw when the Knights dominated possession.

“I am super proud of these guys the way they battled all night long,” said Honeycutt. “Defensively, we were as solid as we could be. Ardrey Kell has an unbelievable attack, one of the best high school teams I have seen. They have lots of talent on the ball, lots of good runs and quick one- and two-touch passing. They are very difficult to defend and we came out here and kept it a 0-0 game. That just speaks volumes to what our guys leave on the field every time they come out to play soccer.”

Honeycutt had special praise for Painter’s performance.

“Kyle had a couple of great saves and he commanded the field. It all starts with him. He is very vocal, directing traffic. Our backline is soaking wet right now, drenched in sweat because they did an excellent job of man-marking and tracking, making sure we were staying goal side and giving Ardrey Kell as few opportunities as possible. For an opponent like Ardrey Kell, on their pitch in this heat, to come away 0-0 in the season opener… I will take that all day long.”

Although Honeycutt understood the significance of the draw against a very strong Ardrey Kell team, he also realized there is room for improvement.

“We have to do a better job of possessing in the midfield,” he said. “We had a couple of guys say beforehand that they weren’t feeling great, even nauseous, perhaps because of the heat, so we were shuffling guys in and out. There wasn’t a lot of continuity as we were trying to keep the guys hydrated. I think if we can build our midfield possession and allow it to be purposeful, to build the attack moving the ball forward, we will be a lot better off. We were a little on our heels tonight, but that is also credit to Ardrey Kell and how good they are in their attack.”

Senior defender Ayden Johnson credited his team’s communication on the field for much of the evening’s performance.

“On the field, we have to always be talking to each other, checking your shoulders and communicating,” said Johnson. “A big thing is also trust. I have to be able to trust my outside back, let them fight their battles and trust them to win those. We have a lot of connection and togetherness on this team.”

Watauga returns home, hoping for more favorable playing conditions on Wednesday, Aug. 16, for their opener at Jack Groce Stadium against West Caldwell (Lenoir).

“I am excited for it,” said Painter. “We’ve been talking to friends and looking for a big crowd. If we play as well as we did tonight, everyone gets to go home early.”

“Win big,” added Johnson, smiling.

BONUS PHOTOS

By David Rogers. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Giving up three goals in the first 13 minutes of play on Aug. 14 proved too much to overcome for the Watauga junior varsity men’s soccer. The Pioneers proved resilient in the second half, but fell to the host Ardrey Kell Knights, 4-0, in both teams’ 2023 season opener.

Watauga endured a three and a half hour bus ride to get to the Knights’ home pitch, the team’s arrival delayed three times by car crashes ahead of them on I-77. Upon arrival, they stepped out of the school bus into an oven — 96 degrees Fahrenheit and high humidity vs. the 71-degree weather they had left earlier in the afternoon, in Boone.

“Coming into it we knew it was going to be a tough matchup,” said Watauga JV coach Vern Collins afterwards. “As a program, we like to load the non-conference portion of our schedule with better teams because it is an opportunity for these boys to learn and to grow.

“It took us basically to the second half to play at the intensity level that we prefer,” Collins added. “We were sluggish in the first half. The heat was a shocker. Our mountain boys are spoiled! But seriously, we like to tell our guys that the heat and the conditions they can’t control. But what they can control is their level of play. Even though the scoreboard doesn’t reflect the outcome we wanted, we are very proud of the way they picked up the level of intensity in the second half.”

Collins pointed out that the Watauga JV team is quite young.

“We sent a lot of guys from last year to varsity this year,” he said. “We have a lot of freshmen, but there is a lot of talent on this team. We have been able to tell very quickly that these guys are buying into the culture of Watauga soccer.”

Watauga will play under more favorable conditions in their next encounter, on Aug. 16, when they host West Caldwell (Lenoir) at Jack Groce Stadium. The JVs’ kickoff is slated for 4:30 p.m., with the varsity to follow.

BONUS PHOTOS