By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Whether college or high school, “Homecoming” is always that much better when ye ol’ alma mater prevails with a big win in a fierce rivalry game. So Watauga’s 49-7 dismantling of South Caldwell on Sept. 29 at Jack Groce Stadium will be long remembered by the students and alumni packing the home grandstands.
After Watauga’s sophomore defensive back Evan Burroughs intercepted the Spartans’ Luke Williams pass on just the third play from scrimmage, there was a ripple of hope through the home grandstands that this game would be special. Although Burroughs’ interception return for a touchdown was called back due to a penalty, Watauga had the ball with good field position, near midfield. It was an opening reversal of fortune.
And the Pioneer faithful didn’t have to wait long for the rout to commence. It took only three plays — slashing runs by running back Everett Gryder and quarterback Maddox Greene — for Watauga to get in the end zone, punctuated by Greene’s 21-yard TD run. With Jack Wilson’s PAT kick, September’s full moon rising shone brightly on the Pioneers.
It was a high school football game with just about everything long. Long passes completed for TDs, as well as long passes falling incomplete just over the fingertips of the intended receiver.
There were LONG touchdown runs by two different Pioneers, each passing the century mark in yards, rushing, for the game. Everett Gryder ran 14 times for 166 yards and two TDs, his longest a 91-yard smash-and-sprint. Teammate Burroughs rushed just twice — for 102 yards, his longest an 83-yard TD scamper.
This game even had a LONG onside kick, Burroughs recovering for the Pioneers at the Spartan 39 when the South Caldwell special teams unit fell asleep on the kickoff.
Except for the fact that Burroughs is only a sophomore and has two and half seasons ahead of him in his high school football career, Homecoming 2023 against South Caldwell could well have been a “career game” for the young athlete. A pass interception, an 83-yard TD run, 102 total yards rushing, a 41-yard pass reception, and a deep onside kick recovery that should well be reclassified as a “heads up” play because the onside kick was unintentional, head coach Ryan Habich admitted after the game. What will you do next, Mr. Burroughs?
Did we say that this game had just about everything? Senior wide receiver Jackson Pryor received a lateral and turned it into a 37-yard TD run. He also had three pass receptions, two for TDs.
there is smart… and then there is football smart.
And this Homecoming game had pageantry in abundance. After their march down and through the stadium grandstands before kickoff, the Pioneers exploded onto the playing field through not just a banner, but a billowing cloud of manufactured smoke. There were the rousing introductions of the Homecoming court at halftime, each prince and princess greeted by lusty, enthusiastic cheers for their classmates from the student section.
Then, of course, there was the crowning of the Homecoming King and Queen, both multi-sport stars and top students in Eli Greene and Olivia Burroughs. The look on Greene’s face upon hearing the announcement was worth any waiting.
But the pageantry was not done. The Pacers dance team performed a “high kicks” routine worthy of the Carolina Snowbelles, if not Radio City Music Hall’s Rockettes. Then the marching band’s rendition of Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” closed the halftime celebrations.
our defensive guys were flying around tonight.
Was there a second half of football? Of course there was, but when the Pioneers recovered a South Caldwell fumble and Gryder ground out six successive rushes for a total of 24 yards, Greene hit Pryor for the senior’s second TD reception and the mercy rule was on: a running clock.
Habich told reporters later that one of the best things about a lopsided win is that a lot of players see action, which helps the coaching staff develop roster depth at every position.
“That roster depth will be important as we get further into our conference schedule and, hopefully, into the playoffs,” said Habich.
At quarterback, Watauga saw both Matthew Habich and Cade Keller enter the game in relief of Greene, allowing the Pioneer coaches to “see tape” on them. Same at running back, where young speedsters Matthew Leon and Nyle Peays received some opportunities to tote the pigskin.
Critical to Watauga’s Homecoming success was the play of its defensive and special teams units.
“Our defensive guys were flying around the field tonight,” said linebacker and tight end Trathan Gragg after the game. “South Caldwell came out trying to fire on us, tonight. They were trying to do some mis-directions, trying to get us to look the wrong way. But we read our keys correctly and the our guys did a great job. We missed a few tackles, but overall it was a good job by our defense. We’ll work on some things and next week be much more ready to tackle Alexander Central.”
What has become a trademark of Watauga’s special teams performance this season has been its short kickoffs, which don’t lend themselves to the potential long kickoff returns by oftentimes bigger, even more athletic opponents.
“Until we can kick the ball into and beyond the end zone,” said Habich, “we will kick short.”
While with short kickoffs you risk giving your opponent good field position to start their offensive possessions the upside is the potential of a long onside kick recovery, such as manufactured by Burroughs, even if not really an intentional onside kick.
Other Coach Habich soundbites:
- “We got up on them. Our defense made big plays early. We scored big plays right before half.”
- “Our second half wasn’t clean but we got a lot of people in the game and show what they can do on film.”
- “There were some penalties, blown coverages, missed tackles… We have to tighten those tings up.”
- “I liked the way we came out and played at the level we wanted to play at, not at the level of the other team. That’s a challenge every week.”
- “We haven’t played at home for a month, so it is great for us to be back here at Jack Groce Stadium. This is a new season, in conference. We have to win each rung of the ladder. We took care of South Caldwell, now our focus is on Alexander Central.”
- “We didn’t do a very good job tackling their running back, who is a good player. We tackled high. He picked up a lot of yardage their first three games then sat out the next two games, getting healthy. We didn’t do a very good job tackling him and have to improve on that.”
- “Evan Burroughs is a very dynamic player. He is still a young player, only a sophomore. We have to keep going in the right direction, mentally. He could be a very good player for us as we go through conference, go against better competition, and hopefully make the playoffs. But we something we saw last year is Evan is a dynamic player. He is a threat running the football. He is a threat catching the football. We have to make sure he is mentally ready to play varsity against really good competition. If he is, he can be a bigtime threat for us that adds to our others, lack Jackson Pryor, Everett Gryder and Maddox Greene.”
- “We have a base offense every year that is geared toward our personnel. Last year we were more geared toward our running backs. This year we have some guys with speed who can catch the ball really well, like Jackson Pryor, Morgan Henry, Evan Burroughs, Trathan Gragg, all of whom can get out into space. So we can throw the football now in bigtime situations. Plus, this is the third year for Maddox (Greene) throwing the football, so he make good reads. Plus, one of the things we want to do is get the ball out into the perimeter because it opens up our inside run game. If we can run inside and pass the ball, it just makes us better against good competition.”
- “Trathan Gragg is emerging as one of our defensive leaders. There is smart, and then there is football smart. Trathan Gragg is both. He picks things up quickly.”
Watauga stays at home next week, Oct. 6, to host Alexander Central, the other 4A member of the 3A/4A Northwestern Conference. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., at Jack Groce Stadium.
