By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Drawing first and last blood, Watauga prevailed in a double overtime thriller on Nov. 3, defeating Cornelius-based Hough High School, 3-2, in Round 2 of the NCHSAA 4A Men’s Soccer Championships tournament at Jack Groce Stadium.
Played in front of the season’s largest crowd, including a large contingent of fellow classmates at the grandstands’ rail near the 50-yard line, it was one of those games you hated that either team had to lose. It was thrill-a-second high school soccer at its best, played by equals in almost every way.
Watauga senior Noah Jamison scored the first goal of the evening, still early in the first half. On attack, Jamison and Hough midfielder Matthew Barnes battled for control of the ball on the right side of the Hough-defended goal. The Huskies’ goalkeeper, senior Cole Kennedy, came out to secure possession, but during the three-way collision at the ball, it popped out toward the right goalpost. Jamison quickly chased it down to put it away, striking it across the goal face and into the left side of the net before Hough senior defender Bryson Waller could scramble back to challenge him.
Hough, which captured the Queen City 3A/4A Conference regular season title over North Mecklenburg and Hopewell, battled back to take a 2-1 lead with 25 minutes to go in the second half as the two teams raced up and down the field. Nearly out of breath, a sideline official quipped to a photographer, “I’m afraid I might pull a hamstring!”
In the early going of the first half, Watauga was able to control possession, but not long after the Jamison score, momentum shifted and much of the rest of the opening half was played in the visitors’ attacking third. Only a stellar defensive effort allowed the Pioneers to take a 1-0 lead into intermission, but then the Huskies knotted the score at 1-1 early in the second half, and surged ahead in the 65th minute, 2-1.
Desperate to at least tie the game, Watauga couldn’t quite get it done until midfielder Andrew Hill secured the ball on the left side and whipped the ball around a mass of players in front of the goal — and a surprised goalkeeper — with just 4:10 remaining on the clock in regulation.
And that is where things stood at the end of the second half. In the first overtime period, the teams battled without scoring. Then, midway through the second OT, Watauga’s Stryker Ward cleaned up a lose pinball in front of the net to punch it home for a 3-2 Pioneer lead.
The final five minutes were tense for the Watauga faithful, as Hough mounted several attacks. At one point, a Husky forward seemed to have dead aim on an all but open Watauga goal when senior defender Kai Suyao flashed from across the field to clear the ball and avoid the Husky tally.
After the game, Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt pointed out the differences in the two teams’ approaches.
“We watched film and knew that No. 19 was their main goal scorer and No. 9 was their second guy. Then we knew that No. 20 was going to try and push in and get in on the attack,” said Honeycutt. “What we didn’t anticipate is how much they were going to boom the ball directly forward. Eventually, we were able to handle it and adapt, but it is challenging when your style of play is to keep the ball at your feet, try to possess and try to penetrate with possession and combinations. But then, every time they get the opportunity it is long ball, long ball, long ball… It is a difficult adjustment to make. But we were pretty effective, overall, minus a couple of marking letdowns that let them on the board. But I think we had an unbelievably effective defensive day.”
With a less competitive conference schedule, Watauga’s preparations for this matchup with Hough really began in the early, non-conference schedule, when the Pioneers lost seven of their first 10 games, mostly playing against teams that were likely to be in the state playoffs. Among the non-conference 4A opponents the Pioneers faced in the early going that made the playoffs were Cuthbertson, West Forsyth, Northwest Guilford, and Ardrey Kell. At the 3A level, North Iredell, Ledford, and Franklin were playoff bound, too.
“We could play a cupcake schedule and have great won-loss record going int our conference schedule,” said Honeycutt, “but to prepare for the actual playoffs at the end of the regular season, we needed to play against playoff-caliber competition. We get here now, and we are prepared.”
Part of the process against any opponent in any sport is making adjustments both at halftime, as well as during the game.
“We knew how hard we work, but on film it is hard to see how hard they would work,” said Honeycutt. “Credit to Hough. They were an unbelievably hard-working group. They were making it very difficult for us to possess and move the ball out of the back because they would press so quickly and so hard. We had to adjust there at halftime, to make sure that when we gained possession we could get it a little bit quicker into midfield, so we could secure possession and not give their forwards an opportunity to press us so much. At halftime, we said we have to go out and execute. They want to get us into the boom ball, long ball sort of game, but we have to possess to do what we do. Obviously, there were momentum swings”
Hough head coach David was very complimentary of the effort by both sides, telling High Country Sports, “I loved the fight in both teams. It was a well-played game and both teams played a pretty clean game. Watauga played with a lot of class and what it came down to was they made one more play than we did.”
Next up for Watauga is a trip south of Charlotte on Monday, Nov. 7, to face the West bracket’s No. 1 seed, Weddington, who defeated No. 16 seed Cuthbertson, 2-1, on Nov. 3 to advance. In other West bracket games, No. 12 Myers Park defeated No. 5 T C Roberson, 2-0; No. 4 Lake Norman swamped No. 13 Asheville, 5-2; No. 3 Northwest Guilford finished off No. 14 Charlotte Catholic, 1-0; No. 11 Cox Mill blanked No. 27 Mooresville, 4-0; No. 7 Ardrey Kell beat No. 23 Independence; and No. 2 Providence dominated No. 15 Hickory, 6-0.
