HobbsDailyReport.com
Watauga High scored 34 unanswered points – 27 of them in the second quarter – and rolled to a 53-21 victory over Ashe County on the road on Friday night.
The Pioneers (2-0) had 607 yards of total offense, 514 of it rushing, to win at Ashe County for the eighth straight time and win for the 15th time in the last 16 meetings.
Watauga led 34-14 by halftime and withstood a 314-yard passing night by Ashe County quarterback Luke Hudler, who hit Brayson Shepherd 12 times for 109 yards.
Sophomore Jayden Bond led Watauga with 224 rushing yards on eight carries and a TD, quarterback Anderson Castle ran nine times for 112 yards and two scores and Bryce Satterfield and Ben Critcher added two scoring runs each.
While happy his team won, Pioneers head coach Ryan Habich told WATA Radio “I thought we could play better. We need to play better.”
Watauga goes to Avery County for its next game, a 7:30 p.m. start on Friday at Avery County.
McDowell 43, Avery County 6
Playing on their new artificial turf field for the first time, the Titans evened their record at 1-1.
The victory featured an 85-yard kickoff return for a TD by J.C. Olivo and a TD pass from Adam Ranolph to Dequan Boyce had McDowell up 21-6.
Lake Norman Charter 22, Pine Lake Prep 6
Jackson Newton threw a TD pass and Josh Aruta broke a run 60 yards for a TD as the Knights evened their record at 1-1 with a road victory.
Newton hit Brendan Marcus for a score and Aruta’s run was the final score for Lake Norman Charter, which also got a TD run by Owen Thomas that finished off a long drive.
Newton is playing quarterback for the first time for the Knights, moving there after Cade O’Connell was ruled out for the season after being in an auto accident.
Lake Norman Charter plays again on Friday, entertaining Community School of Davidson.
Editor’s note: Game details from West Iredell versus South Iredell will be added as soon as they are available. South Iredell won 56-14.